Cloud-based software service Business Pilot has launched role specific dashboards to give installation companies even greater control over their day-to-day operations. Managing Director Elton Boocock explains more.
Working smarter and making the best use of resources is going to be key for installation companies this year if the home improvement market slows as predicted, making lead generation, conversion, project success and customer satisfaction ever more important.
Overseeing the day-to-day operations of a busy organisation can be a juggling act, with dedicated time needed to ensure that valuable leads are progressing smoothly through the survey, sales and installation processes, with staged payments received, customers happy and full payment made on completion.
Having all of this information at your fingertips not only allows company owners and managers to have complete oversight of the business, it also frees up staff to get on with more pressing tasks – and it’s completely achievable with CRM and business management tools such as Business Pilot.
In just under three years Business Pilot has established itself as the go-to platform for organisations of all sizes, offering end-to-end management of all jobs, from initial lead to the final customer telephone call to check all is well in order to close the job file. It is, in effect, a highly efficient admin person available 24/7 from any laptop or mobile device.
Major update
Continuous development is key to the success of Business Pilot, a cloud-based software service developed for installers by installers. It has recently introduced a major update giving users dedicated dashboards configured to their specific job roles. Previously users landed on a standard dashboard when logging in but the update delivers role-specific landing pages – for example a Sales Dashboard, Survey Dashboard, Service Dashboard and Ops Dashboard.
People who perform multiple tasks within a business can work across more than one dashboard – a particularly useful feature for business owners and managers who need quick and easy access to a full overview of the organisation, its performance and financial position.
It is a big visual change, and existing users have to opt-in to update their settings, but it gives quick access to the information they need most, further streamlining and speeding up processes as well as making it far easier to spot issues in any area of the business. Importantly, all dashboards are linked, ensuring information is shared.
Simplified
Each new dashboard simplifies what users see when logging in, presenting the information that’s most relevant to them and their job roles. For example, a sales person will see appointments for the day on the left hand side of the screen plus their sales summary and where they are against target for the week, month, quarter and year if they wish. People in the ops team will see the status of contracts as well as their appointments, and surveyors will have easy-to-reference appointment bookings. For those with access to multiple dashboards this information is simply a few clicks away.
Joined-up
With everything geared to the job users perform, and with each dashboard linked, Business Pilot delivers an incredibly effective, joined-up business management/CRM system designed to collate all the information relating to each client, streamlining and automating a host of processes to create more efficient and accurate operations backed up by full records about each client.
There’s a clear pathway from the moment a customer enquiry arrives – Business Pilot very cleverly interacts with installation companies’ websites to ‘read’ contact forms completed by potential customers, feeding their information into its system to create a GDPR-compliant lead. The aim then is for the installer to progress this lead as quickly as possible through the sales, survey, contract, installation and billing process – all of which can be dealt with by the Business Pilot software, allowing a complete end-to-end record of each job to be kept, including images, documents and notes. Its financial reports are QuickBooks, Xero and Sage compatible. And, because the system is cloud-based with unlimited storage, customers usually find no need to continue with other providers such as Dropbox.
The new role-specific dashboards support this customer pathway by passing the job ‘along the line’ as it progresses – so from sales to survey etc. It’s a logical process that ensures customer needs are prioritised, flagging up pinch points and ensuring total accountability; with every change of status to the project there’s a full history of who has done what and when.
Business Pilot also allows users to create tasks for colleagues, which are clearly shown on the dashboard. Not only does this ensure important messages are not lost in the company e-mail system, it creates an auditable history of actions.
Conclusion
Since its introduction in 2019, Business Pilot has been there to, in effect, hold the hands of its customers, assisting with everyday office functions to allow owners, managers and staff members to concentrate on their core business.
