Digitize Inspection With All-In-One Fire Protection Software
The Overview – Fire Protection Company
For more than two decades, the founder, Shawn, worked in the fire protection industry. He used his expertise to build a family-owned business in the fire protection and inspection industry. He enjoys how this industry keeps racing with innovation and technology.
Shawn, whose expertise is in fire detection, has earned multiple certifications from the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies (NICET). These include certifications in both fire alarm panels and sprinkler systems.
He has been factory-trained on both flame detection and foam systems by the manufacturer of these systems, and so do his technicians.
The Problems – Existing Software Challenges
The escalating costs and issues with the current fire protection software cum sprinkler software; served as a significant challenge for the company. Their current software built, i.e., MHelpDesk, started showing signs of trouble after three years in operation. Since it was not configurable enough to adjust to their team’s growing needs. The team quickly discovered that the system had significant functionality issues.
- First, they couldn’t assign more than one technician to a job.
- Second, they had to import and export data manually.
- Third, they had issues with QuickBooks integration.
- Fourth, high credit card processing fees.
- Fifth and last but not the least, they had to manually update the forms and checklists through spreadsheets and paper notes.
They had to juggle between 3 different tools to manage their entire operations:-
- Mhelpdesk allowed them to schedule and track technicians and keep track of their job times.
- Invoicing clients and tracking income were made possible by the accounting software Quickbooks.
- Excel for documenting inspection reports and proposals.
- Lastly, an in-house bookkeeper manually reviewed technicians’ timesheets, which were transferred to Mhelpdesk.
Imagine having to spend so much time oscillating between these tools day in and out! Instead of cutting on the manual efforts, it was the other way around!
Plus, having such sensitive information everywhere was prone to being lost. This, ultimately, left the techs, the back office, and the owner feeling like the productivity was going downhill.
The founder, Shawn, worked in the fire protection industry for over two decades. He used his expertise to build a family-owned fire protection and inspection business. He enjoys how this industry keeps racing with innovation and technology.
Shawn, whose expertise is in fire detection, has earned multiple certifications from the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies (NICET). These include certifications in both fire alarm panels and sprinkler systems.
He has been factory-trained on both flame detection and foam systems by the manufacturer of these systems, and so do his technicians.
The Solutions – How ZenFire Helped Overcome The Challenges
Nothing slows you down when you use multiple tools to manage everything simultaneously. Shawn needed an all-in-one, reasonably priced, and effective fire protection software for his company that could manage their entire operations, from scheduling to accounting. It had to be simple, and it had to work across all of their devices.
A custom solution is excellent; having it automated takes it to a whole new level. We made sure to offer both. With a dedicated team of developers, engineers, and designers, we decided to streamline every step of the process.
Our mission was simple- for the technicians and admin at our company to use ZenFire without any limitations.
Here is what we helped Shawn with :
Fire Alarm Inspection Reports & Certificates
We have around 18-20 kinds of different NFPA forms built into the system so that Shawn and his team can access various of them at their convenience.
Our team prepared many unique forms based on the request of our previous customers in the hope it would be helpful to our future customers as well. If required, one can edit and share these existing forms from the field with their customers.
It works: once you open an existing ticket on ZenFire, you will see multiple options related to job details, invoicing, history, and checklists that will help fill your reports and forms query. If you at any point feel like customizing the template of the form, it’s possible with us. So, all they had to do was give us a template of the form they wanted to design, and it was done.
ZenFire offers tailored fire alarm inspection reports, or any domain, to meet your specific needs. We even offer some of our customers personalized business intelligence reports. It is emailed to them on their preferred schedule—yearly, monthly, weekly, or even daily!
Unassigned Jobs
With the unassigned section, one could temporarily block a job and keep it on the scheduler board for anybody to view it- like a draft. And as soon as the technician’s time opens up, they can schedule it immediately.
All they need to do is drag their names from the scheduler board and drop them in front of their names. Plus, your technicians will get an instant notification on their mobile devices or iPads with the date, day, time, and all the other details.
Adding Multiple Technicians On A Single Job
We’ve made it easier to assign multiple technicians to a single job. When you create a ticket, you can give all the necessary details—like start and end times—in one place. Also, there’s no limit to how many technicians can be assigned to your job.
In other words, get as many as your heart desires; no more holdups! You’ll get a confirmation screen once you’re done, along with your technicians’ receiving an instant notification on a new job assigned to them on their cell phones.
Low Credit Card Processing Fee
We are partnered with Quickbooks, and one of the features is that we use Fattmerchant for processing payments. Fattmerchant charges 2-2.1% instead of many other merchant accounts that charge 3-3.1%. You can keep 2-2.1% more of your revenue in your pocket!
The Results – How Things Improved
It’s understandable how hard it gets for a company, no matter how big or small, to learn a new tool, give it up, and re-learn another one. However, with the industry we are a part of and the domains we deal in, you cannot let your business grow and fire protection software age. It must remain up-to-date, efficient, and seamless as and when any updates are introduced.
Companies that rely on in-person customer interactions can’t afford to spend most of their time at their desks. We know that with ZenFire, you can focus your time and energy on what you do best. It will help you organize your business from the back office and the field. Our motto was to get them onto the platform and make it so familiar that they never worry about making a switch again.
When Shawn and his team started using the software, they had difficulty getting used to it and were slow to use it.
Data Scrubbing, Migration from Mhelpdesk & Quickbooks Integration
It all started when we were initially tasked with migrating their information to our fire protection software. Upon our initial examination of this data, we discovered it was disorganized and incomplete. We couldn’t leave them in such a state, so we elected to do a deeper analysis and get to its roots.
To ensure accuracy with their customer information, we spent one week providing their customer information in Mhelpdesk and matched the customer information in QuickBooks.
Their customer information was scattered with either missing fields or no information. For example- some customers had addresses listed in the wrong section or no address listed at all. Some customers had no name and a missing service location as well. Our data team and developers helped us in fixing these complex issues.
Due to constant touch, we could not close the communication loop with Shawn. We had 2 Zoom calls for 30 minutes, each exchanging multiple emails back and forth in addition to our weekly check-ins.
However, after one month of rigorous and multiple training, they use it heavily for scheduling, ticketing, estimating, forms & checklists, and note-taking on the field.
Digitized Excel Spreadsheets To Reusable Electronic Forms
We knew why Protection Software was looking for upgraded fire protection software. They wanted to eliminate fire alarm inspection form Excel sheets to manage their NFPA checklists and forms.
But as promised, we gave them an idea to help them out of their stressful situation.
We converted their spreadsheet into an electronic form so they no longer have to re-enter all the information every time. Once you create and customize a form as per your requirements, you can reuse it in the future as a template whenever required.
And if it’s the same customer you might have paid a visit to, basic details like name, address, service location, etc., repopulate without manually entering the details.
Customized Business Intelligence Reports
We also help our clients create customized business intelligence reports. Shawn was no exception. On the first of every month, he receives a thorough inspection report from our side via email.
There’s no additional work required on his part or his team’s—all at no additional cost. It’s easier for him to keep track of more information and understand what’s happening with his business and technicians. This seemed like a drag when the company was using Mhelpdesk.
The Bottom Line
ZenFire is a scalable system designed to handle your field service business. There are no big set-up costs, extra IT staff, or out-of-control maintenance costs. It’s the perfect solution for keeping your small to mid-sized field service business in touch with its customers.
Our powerful field service SaaS solution is a one-stop-shop for:-
- Scheduling service personnel
- Timely dispatching of jobs
- Keeping a live track of technicians
- Systematic entries of estimates, invoices, and accounting
- Customized BI reports for identifying patterns and trends
We would love to do the same (or more) for you too!
Let us give you a hand in managing, streamlining, or growing your field service business exponentially starting today!
DON’T SLOW DOWN YOUR FIRE PROTECTION BUSINESS WITH MULTIPLE TOOLS. GET POWERFUL WITH ONLY ONE SOFTWARE INSTEAD!
Taking The First Step Towards Digitizing Your Fire Protection Business Is Easy