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The last year has changed thinking
Covid-19 has already had a profound impact on this question . Many older people that have resisted the march of the smartphone and apps are becoming prolific Zoom users , online shoppers and experts with the NHS app . This has all come from the crisis . It ’ s often the only way to see the grandchildren , get food and order your repeat prescriptions .
They say that necessity is the mother of all invention . In this case , the needs of the pandemic have forced people into new technology . But I would say from many conversations that it hasn ’ t been anything like as bad as people expected .
Making life easier
Over the years , installers haven ’ t been the biggest users of computer systems . And the apps that were available weren ’ t much help to small trade businesses . There were a number of reasons for this . These included the fact that PC based systems were typically ultra-clunky and hard to use . As well as this they were completely unsuitable for someone who was out and about on the road .
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That ’ s all changed . Smartphones are now much more powerful than traditional computers . In addition , 4G means they are nearly always online . Along with a highly positive revolution in terms of ease of use , pretty much everyone can get to grips with a smartphone app .
‘ just another tool in the box
’ The widespread take up of Zoom has shown a lot more people how simple it is to use the technology and how rapidly people can pick it up . That ’ s just when there is sufficient motivation .
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Less writing , less typing , less time doing paperwork
There are plenty of people around who aren ’ t familiar with using keyboards . These might feel that using a system to run their business will be really difficult . But modern systems benefit from a whole raft of features and tricks to minimise the need to type things using keyboards .
One to look at is voice-to-text . All modern smartphones support this feature and if your app has been built properly , you can dictate notes when you are pricing up a job . It ’ s so much faster and easier than using a pen and paper .
Good apps will also be able to copy customer information straight from your
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smartphone ’ s contacts . And just entering the postcode will allow addresses to be looked up . It will also have other tricks to keep keystrokes to a minimum .
If you need to price or order materials for a job they should be priced by simply clicking on items from your favourite catalogue . That itself can be a huge time saver . Of course , you should have the choice of whether the details or just a summary of materials are included in your quote , while the full details are available to you . When a quote is accepted by the customer , you should be able to raise a purchase order on the supplier with one click . Then the supplier invoice can be created very easily straight from the purchase order .
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