Behind every great product, is a great story and Business Pilot is no different. In fact, it is the story of how we came to create Business Pilot that forms the foundation of how our solution hits the spot for so many of our users.
You see, our very own Jim (Breslin) set out to find a way to improve the systems and processes already used at his company, Cherwell Windows. As an installation company, Jim (like you) had a lot of ‘moving parts’ in his business. They were using a 20-year-old software programme, that had at one stage, been the best available solution. It was clear now that it wasn’t up to the job of managing a modern business. This was making a lot of people in Jim’s business unhappy.
Jim had run his installation business for the previous 25 years. Now though, things were creaking beyond what he thought was acceptable. It turned out to be a very simple thought that started this story. Jim thought “there must be a better way”.
Through a chance happening, which is of course the crux of every good story, Jim met Elton (Boocock). Elton had run a marketing automation business for 19 years. Elton’s experience was based on the ‘there has to be a better way’ doctrine, so you can imagine, they hit it off right away. Long story short, they took their different experiences and went through each area of the business asking, “how could this be done better”.
This was just the start of their quest. Armed with all their wishes, demands and desires, they set off to find a system that could cater for this new promised land of improved workflow. They spoke with their existing provider to see if their system could be updated to the modern world way of working. They looked at the ‘big names’ in CRM to see what would be involved in tailoring their software to meet some of these wishes, demands and even desires. After much toil, it became clear that the options were either not going to meet their needs or be prohibitively expensive. They had encountered the brick wall. They tried getting around it, over it, under it and even through it. All to no avail.
One day during the process, the light bulb moment happened. Jim looked at Elton. Elton looked at Jim. Almost in unison, they both declared “we can’t be the only people facing these problems”. And there it was. That very short sentence, that acorn of a thought, today has grown into something so big and all encompassing. However, we have only just begun the story and it’s no time to be leaving it there.
Jim and Elton enlisted the support of Ryan (Breslin). Ryan had been in the family business for 15 years and knew a thing or two about what needed to change. The trio began the arduous journey of building from scratch this modern world system that would set installation companies around the world free from the daily anguish of running an installations office. Winter came and winter went. At times the trio would look at each other and cry out “Are we sure there was no other viable system”. Alas, there wasn’t and if they didn’t forge ahead with their quest, then nobody else would. Just when all hope was almost lost, the trio came across a guide.
Through a twist of fate and another chance happening, Ryan met Ryan. Yes, we must deal with this confusion all the time, but back to the story. Ryan (Breslin) met Ryan (Schofield) on distant shores as Ryan explained to Ryan all about his quest with the other two. In a spooky coincidence, which is another key ingredient in any good story, Ryan had also been considering setting off on his own quest, having gone through the first part of our very own story himself.
Just as when two great armies come together to fight a common enemy, the trio quickly enlisted the new Ryan and once again, forged forward into the night of systems and process improvements, nearing the successful completion of their mission to bring a better, more modern way of doing things to the installations industry.
As you can imagine, new ideas came forth and the mission just became bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. By the time the crusaders were ready to share their solution with the world, it had already gathered so much momentum, that other installers were coming on board and using the solution to improve their own businesses.
Now that would make a perfect happy ending, if only it was the ending. At Business Pilot, we see it as just the beginning. If there was one lesson to come out of our adventurous quest, it was that when you stop thinking “there has to be a better way”, it is only a matter of time before someone has to embark on such a quest to restore balance to the lives of installers everywhere. We must put the story down for now, but rest assured, the journey continues, and we will no doubt hear from our crusaders again soon.
© Business Pilot (CRM) Ltd
