Business Pilot is allowing other companies and organisations to integrate with its platform to create further benefits for customers. As MD Elton Boocock explains here, not everyone can do this.
It wasn’t that long ago when software developers designed their systems to keep everyone out. They created programmes that were unique to them and only people who were authorised to use them, or interact with them, could do so.
This was at a time when people built walled gardens and kept their developments a secret, and they didn’t want other people benefiting from their intellectual property.
Today’s forward-thinking software developers have other ideas. They want to collaborate rather than isolate. One buzz-word is ‘open-source’, and this underpins Business Pilot’s philosophy, according to Business Pilot’s MD Elton Boocock.
“We’ve always said that we are a community rather than a piece of software, because we believe that we can achieve more by working together than we can by working on our own,” he says.
“Not only that, but our customers benefit too. There’s nothing better than saying ‘wouldn’t it be great if we could do that’ and then realising that, actually, yes we can. And that the result of that realisation makes our customers’ lives immeasurably better.”
A case in point is Business Pilot’s recent integration with FENSA. Together they discussed ways that the Business Pilot software could benefit FENSA’s members, and one obvious way was simply to take away the hassle of double entry.
“If a window installation company is already using Business Pilot to manage their projects and resources, then all the information needed to complete the FENSA registration process has already been recorded by the system,” Elton says.
“With this in mind, FENSA created an API, which is a piece of code that allows Business Pilot to talk to FENSA’s database. Something that is very difficult to do if software has been designed to operate completely independently.”
Since the start of May, FENSA-approved window companies have been able to register their installations with the government-authorised scheme from within Business Pilot, reducing the possibility of errors, and saving time and money. They can complete the FENSA registration of an installation without dedicating extra time, manpower, or extra resources to the procedure; they simply click a button as part of the completion process and all the information is sent across.
“Thanks to our collaboration with FENSA, we’ve included a small step on the project timeline that allows the user to send that information across without having to leave the software,” Elton says.
Lis Clarke, Operations Director of FENSA, said accessing FENSA from within Business Pilot was part of the strategy to make professionalism within the industry straightforward.
“At FENSA, we are always looking to make like a little bit easier for our members,” Lis says. “We know that some companies bulk input their data once a month, or they pass over the responsibility to someone else in the team. While we already have labour-saving processes in place, double-entry of data and delaying registration can lead to errors.
“With the new Business Pilot integration, we use the information that has already been entered and double-checked, which means FENSA certificates are more likely to be delivered to the homeowner on time and error-free.”
These benefits also offer cost savings, so FENSA-approved installers should see an immediate improvement to their bottom line because processes have been removed.
Business Pilot has formed a similar partnership with Tommy Trinder, whereby all quotes created in the popular sales app are recorded and saved within Business Pilot, again saving time and reducing the possibility of error.
“The future success of technology in the fenestration industry lies in the partnerships between software companies and other organisations,” Elton concludes. “If you put up barriers then you are making your customers’ lives more difficult.
“We are building the Business Pilot community to take those barriers down.”
