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The field service industry is going digital and fire alarm inspection is no different. If you run a fire safety company, switching over to fire protection software can make your workers more efficient, increase customers satisfaction, and improve your bottom line. The time has come to make fire alarm inspection software work for you.
Paper: A Thing of the Past
Now look, we don't hate paper, but when it comes to record keeping, digital documentation represents the clear choice.
If you've spent a lot of time in the fire safety industry, you've likely used, and perhaps still use, a paper-based system. In this system, you write up and file work orders, job notes, and invoices manually. The problem here? Hard copy files can get lost, get wet, become smeared, or come back to the office covered with illegible handwriting. Sound familiar? Paperwork written by hand must get transported by hand and posted by hand, all of which takes considerable time.
Using digital documentation eliminates all of these problems. Field service management software automatically saves digital documents in real-time, and can even update customer files in your system as technicians complete jobs in the field.
Scheduling and Dispatching With Fire Protection Software
Instead of handing your technicians a stack of paper work orders, fire alarm inspection software can queue up day’s schedule right on their mobile device, no paper required.
With unified desktop and mobile applications, your office staff and field staff will always stay on the same page. Your technicians can carry tablets or smart phones into the field and maintain remote access to all the files they'll need.
When a customer calls in with an issue, your front office will simply plug the request into the software’s scheduling spreadsheets, which will sync with your technicians’ mobile app. In addition, the desktop scheduling feature gives a holistic view of work orders, allowing you to schedule similar jobs together and batch by geographical area, maximizing efficiency and cutting costs.
Many fire protection apps also include a navigation feature, helping to ensure your technicians arrive to jobs without a hitch.
Since technicians can see who created the work order from their mobile device, if anything needs clarification they can hop on a quick call to the office to speak to the dispatcher involved. Likewise, integrated GPS features mean that office personnel will always know the location of field technicians and where their next assignment will take them. Instead of placing customers on hold and fumbling for answers, customer updates become a breeze with real-time information constantly available.
Fire Protection Software In the Field
Now, let’s run through a field dispatch scenario.
Using the fire safety inspection mobile app, technicians will see their customer’s inspection history, completed jobs, scheduled maintenance, and work orders.
Say goodbye to the days of arriving at a job and sorting through files in the truck. When a technician arrives at a work site, they will greet the client and get to work right away. With the full customer file at their fingertips, customers will recognize and appreciate the expertise and professionalism of your technicians.
The benefits to your fire protection software don’t end there. In the fire safety industry, accurate documentation is essential. Dates of inspection, maintenance, and equipment models cannot get lost or overlooked. With field service applications, you can create custom PDFs for fire alarm inspection reports, install checklists, and more. Field personnel can fill in these reports on their mobile device and the application will instantaneously make the documentation available to your office team.
In addition, technicians can use their mobile devices to capture and store photo evidence of lineups, which will also save to the corresponding customer file. This protects your company from liability accusations and prevents embarrassing mistakes that could damage your credibility.
Learn more about customizing fillable PDF forms here.
Invoicing With Software
After finishing the work, technicians can invoice immediately through their mobile app. Forget about paper invoices that need to get manually logged by office staff. Fire safety technicians can collect payment details on the spot, and the software will auto-generate a receipt and send it to the customer contact on file.
The best part? The fire protection software can automatically import all of this finance-side documentation to accounting solutions like QuickBooks.
Bookkeeping
Paper bookkeeping is tedious and time-consuming. If you use paper bookkeeping, you would likely need two systems, one documenting work in progress and one documenting finances. If your field service app and accounting solution can sync up, data entry takes care of itself, eliminating mistakes caused by human error.
With accounting software and field service software working in tandem, you can make the best use of the smart reports and analytic features in your enterprise software.
For example, using the rich body of data stored in your enterprise solution, you can generate reports tracking job completion time, jobs lost, inventory, and more. This will allow you and your management team to focus on real value-added tasks, like optimizing workflows and customer follow up calls.
What It All Boils Down To
With GPS tracking for your office staff, remote access to view and update files for your field staff, and a continuous flow of data and analytics to help you streamline operations, it all boils down to a higher value service delivered to your customer and better business prospects for your team.
It's time to go digital with fire inspection software. What are you waiting for?
