Florists Scheduling Software

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Paul Tyrrell

If you run a floral shop, you likely have a team of delivery personnel, rushing around the city all day. Whether you have one delivery van or seventy, our florists scheduling software can help you manage your orders and your customers easily and efficiently, allowing you to focus on serving your customers.

Interaction with Third-Party Software

These days, floral shops are getting orders from all over. Gone are the days when your orders came by telephone or walk-ins. Our florists scheduling software will help manage your incoming orders from FTD, Teleflora, and more. You’ll be able to see the customer information, as well as the orders and payment information, through our software.

Manage Your Day

A florist’s day can be unpredictable, with last-minute emergency orders shifting all of your work around. Our software will work for you, allowing you to easily shift work around to accommodate these new orders while still meeting the needs of the customers who placed their orders prior to the emergency.

Since large events like weddings and funerals are such a big part of your day, you need software that will help you manage the many facets of a larger project. Our florists scheduling software will help keep you on track to meet all your deadlines, ensuring the large event goes off without any problems.

Capture Your Customers

Among the most important information you receive when an order is placed is customer contact information. Our database will save information even when the order comes from FTD or Teleflora, giving you an invaluable chance to gather a list for mailing specials and coupons. We’ll even enable you to easily create a mail merge from our customer database, making marketing easy and quick.

Our reporting module will allow you to create reports that will help you run your business better. Print out the schedule for any date you choose and you’ll have all your appointments at a glance. You can also print out your employees’ timesheets from this module. But perhaps the most valuable tool in our reporting module is the ability to determine what time of day and week are the busiest, which will allow you to better allocate resources.

Track Your Inventory

Being able to access information about every flower you have in stock can save you time when you’re on the phone with a customer who is placing an order. Our database will not only list out your inventory but allow you to search for a particular type of flower. When an order is placed using our florists scheduling software, it will automatically be deducted from your inventory, ensuring your information is always up to date.

In the busy world of a floral shop, it’s hard to find time to do paperwork and keep up databases. Our florists scheduling software will allow you to schedule employees, route delivery vans, and keep up with every flower you have in stock. This will take care of the administrative work, which will allow you to spend more time doing what you love best.

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Driving School Scheduling Software

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Paul Tyrrell

For driving schools, the constant influx of new students can make keeping up with customers difficult. Students begin training and take several lessons before obtaining a driver’s license and no longer needing assistance. Our driving school scheduling software can help your business keep track of your lessons to avoid accidentally overlapping appointments and other disasters.

Managing Multiple Employees

Let’s face it, managing a driving school takes time. Every second you spend on administrative functions is a second you’re taking away from helping your students. Our driving school scheduling software can help manage your lessons, whether you’re the only instructor or you have multiple instructors. Balance your workload to maximize your ability to help as many students as possible per day.

Our software will also help manage your vehicles to make sure you aren’t booking vehicles that are temporarily out of commission. When someone calls for an appointment, you can look at your schedule to see which of your instructors and vehicles are available at that time, avoiding double-booking or overlapping with another appointment.

Past and Present Student Information

Most scheduling software maintains a database of a company’s customers. Our driving school scheduling software will track your students, both past and present, allowing you to search at any time.

Thanks to our all-inclusive database, you’ll also be able to pull reports that will help you learn information that will help you recruit new students to your driving school. Our reporting feature will also allow you to extract information you need to manage your students, including class attendance, student rosters, and performance of your students. The database feature is also a handy way to keep your students informed of any scheduling changes or specials your driving school is offering.

Security Features

Our driving school scheduling software has security features that will ensure no one has access to your data that shouldn’t. Only authorized staff members will be able to get into the system, but using the granted username and password, that authorized staff will be able to access the system from home PCs and even mobile devices. This will allow your staff to keep track of their work schedules even while away from the office.

Customize Your Software

Your driving school has its own needs and students. Because we recognize no two businesses are alike, our driving school scheduling software is customizable. If you need something that isn’t available with our software, just let us know. We can customize fields and even reports to meet your business needs, making this the only software you’ll ever need to manage your business.

If you’re looking for a way to easily process payments, our driving school scheduling software can provide that, as well. Enter credit card information and print receipts for your students and their parents, making transactions easy for both parties.

If you run a driving school, our driving school scheduling software will help you organize your employees’ schedules, manage your vehicles, and keep up with your students. You’ll be able to let the software manage the day-to-day operations of your business so you can focus on your students.

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Maintenance Scheduling Software

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Paul Tyrrell

The job of a maintenance worker can be hectic, with the day bringing unexpected twists and turns. This can make scheduling a bit of a challenge, but thanks to our maintenance scheduling software, scheduling doesn’t have to be a headache anymore.

Team Management

Many property management companies are dealing with multiple crews, which can make balancing workloads difficult. Our maintenance scheduling software will allow you to keep track of your employees, dispatching employees in order of availability. By balancing your dispatches, you can maximize your team to take care of problems as soon as they are reported to you. This will result in happier tenants and better buildings.

When your customer calls to report a problem, your dispatcher will take the call and create a job. That job will then be immediately dispatched to the next available maintenance worker. If a maintenance worker is not currently available when the call comes in, your assignment will go in that worker’s queue to be picked up as soon as the worker’s current job is complete.

At the end of the job, the maintenance worker can close the job using his mobile device or assigned work laptop. That job closure will automatically generate an invoice that your administrative office can then use to bill the customer.

Manage Your Backlog

Many times, property managers feel overloaded with work orders. Our software will allow you to more easily view your backlog, determining where problems might be. You can make reassignments from here that will immediately go into the new worker’s queue. This lets you shift the burden from one employee to another.

Scheduling Maintenance

While much of your employees’ day involves putting out fires, figuratively speaking, routine maintenance is part of good property management. These appointments need to be scheduled at regular intervals for each of your property, working them in among your many emergency appointments.

Our maintenance scheduling software allows you to easily schedule regular maintenance. You’ll be able to see the calendar at a glance to determine how often certain tasks need to be performed. By plugging them into your workers’ schedules early, you can schedule your other assignments around them, ensuring they aren’t perpetually put off for that nonexistent day when nothing else is going on.

Customize for Your Business Needs

Our maintenance scheduling software can be customized for office space management, apartment building management, rental property management, and more. Chances are, your properties are different from other properties, even those in the same property type. It’s important for you to have the software you need to best manage your employees. Using our customizable fields, you can plug in the daily demands your employees face.

Property managers face unique challenges in managing multiple maintenance workers. Unique challenges need special software. Our maintenance scheduling software will help you achieve all of your goals as a property management company, keeping your tenants happy and ensuring they continue to stay on your property for many years.

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Landscape Scheduling Software

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Paul Tyrrell

Landscapers generally have a set client base, working in new customers as they come along. Because of this, landscapers need software that allows you to choose how often you’ll visit each customer as well as an included customer database that has everything you’ll ever need to know about your customers. With our landscaping scheduling software, you’ll have the tools you need to automate scheduling, allowing you to focus on servicing your customers.

Interval Scheduling

Unlike beauty salons and plumbers, when landscaping companies schedule a customer, generally it’s multiple appointments over a matter of weeks and even months. Your appointments are scheduled at set intervals—lawn maintenance every two weeks, for instance—and you need scheduling software that will let you do that.

Our landscaping scheduling software allows you to set up future appointments in bulk, giving your customer preference of time of day and week. This not only blocks off the appointment time that’s best for your customer, it allows you to book your schedule months in advance, starting at the beginning of lawn care season.

Map Your Route

You can spend half your day driving from one job to the next, wasting valuable time that could be spent squeezing in extra jobs. Using the route function of our software, you can map out the best path for all your jobs each day. This not only saves time but also gas and wear on your vehicles, especially if you manage a crew.

For landscaping companies with multiple crew members, our landscaping scheduling software will also allow you to manage your team to maximize your profit. Using our software, you can juggle employees with ease, making sure each staff member is allocated a section of town to cover. The software will also map your employees’ routes to ensure they are maximizing their time, as well.

Timekeeping

Landscaping companies often deal with multiple employees. Managing timesheets and keeping track of hours can be extremely time-consuming for a company. Our landscaping scheduling software will help you manage all your employees, logging their hours and gathering all the information you’ll need to process paychecks at the end of the pay period. If your employees log overtime, our scheduling software will help you manage that, as well.

Reports

Your business needs to keep track of its revenue. Our software includes a reporting function that will let you compare expenses to income and help determine areas in which your business can become more solvent. You’ll also be able to print a customer history in just a few clicks, letting you track everything from appointments to payments, easily figuring out where payments are due.

The nature of landscaping requires software specifically geared toward its business needs. Our landscaping scheduling software automates enough of the business end of your business to allow you to focus on fulfilling your customers’ needs. Our software can help you increase your productivity and squeeze more appointments into a day, which will mean more money for your business.

Posted in Computer Services Job Scheduling, field services software, Landscaping Scheduling Software, scheduling field services managing people, Technology advice | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Wireless Printing

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Paul Tyrrell

Printing from an iPad or iPhone can be complicated. First you need Apple’s AirPrint feature on your device. That device needs to be connected to a wireless network. Then, on that same wireless network, you must have a printer that supports AirPrint. According to Apple, only five brand names (Brother, Canon, Epson, Hewlett Packard, and Lexmark) do.

So for many iOS users, the recent news that a variety of printer manufacturers are now creating printers that accept your iOS print jobs whether they’re on the same wireless network or not, gives them something to cheer about. Hewlett Packard has unveiled the new technology, which it calls Wireless Direct, and the good news is, it will be available on all of Hewlett Packard’s new printers.

How Wireless Direct Can Help You

Hewlett Packard feels small to mid-sized businesses are most ideal for this technology, since many smaller businesses don’t normally share passwords with visitors. Imagine showing up for a meeting and pulling out your iPhone or iPad to print something to the closest printer. You’ll wow everyone in the meeting, in addition to having the convenience of being able to print your documents on the spot.

HP’s new update will help out personal users, as well. iPhone and iPad users can print documents at a friend’s house or even within their own home without having to set up their home printer on their devices.

How It Works

A Wireless Direct printer use its own SSID on the network, allowing an iOS device to connect to them without knowing a password. And there’s good news for non-iPhone/iPad users, as well. Wireless Direct also works with Mac computers, Windows, and Linux, as long as the proper drivers are installed.

The best news is, when you use AirPrint, no software is required. Whether your phone and printer are on the same wireless network or not, you’ll be able to print directly to your printer without wasting valuable time downloading drivers. This can work whether you’re using a computer or iOS mobile device, allowing you to switch printers at a moment’s notice.

Additional Printing Features

All of HP’s new printers also include ePrint functionality, which adds a variety of electronic features to your printing options. ePrint allows HP owners to print to their printers from anywhere in the world using the print-to-e-mail feature. You simply send your document as an e-mail to your printer and out it comes.

ePrint also lets you print your documents on the go, using a downloadable app to print to nearby print shops, hotels, and airport lounges using the cloud. You’ll also be able to use Google Cloud Print to connect your printer to your Google account, printing directly from the cloud to your printer.

Technology continues to make our lives easier and with Wireless Direct, HP has added even more convenience to the process of wireless printing. No more struggling to try to get your printer to connect to your iPhone or iPad. With HP’s Wireless Direct, you’ll be able to print and go on with your life.

Posted in Field Services, mobile printers, scheduling field services managing people, Technology advice, Technology small mobile business | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pool Installation and Maintenance

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Paul Tyrrell

For many families, the thought of owning a pool brings daydreams of long, summer days spent lazily suntanning and happily splashing around. But many families don’t realize the maintenance that goes into pool ownership. While a pool can be a lot of work, there are thankfully quite a few tools to help you spend less time working to keep your pool clean and more time having fun. The following are a few helpful hints to let you know what to expect if you’re planning to own a pool in the future.

In-Ground vs. Above Ground

If you choose to go with an in-ground pool, you’re in for a project. Most pool owners choose traditional concrete, which means you’ll be able to custom-select your size and shape. You’ll likely want to get bids from several companies and make sure the company you choose is a reputable one. Even once you’ve chosen a company, however, plan for the project to take anywhere from one to three months.

If you’re looking for something less complex, you might want to consider a pre-formed pool, made of either vinyl or fiberglass. A hole will be dug to match the size and shape of the pool you’ve chosen and the pool will then be placed in that hole. While these types of pools are less expensive and installation is less involved, vinyl can be easily punctured and fiberglass pools must be shipped via truck and dropped into your back yard by a large crane.

Above ground pools are far less expensive and time-consuming than in-ground pools. Some people choose to set up an above-ground pool and build a deck around it. The good thing about above-ground pools is that they are portable. If you choose to move, you can take your above-ground pool with you, while an in-ground pool is typically sold with the house. In-ground pools are also taxed in many states, while above-ground pools are not.

Above ground pools are often less durable than in-ground pools, and the cost of replacement may negate the cost savings you experience when you buy it. Also, some have problems with the look of above-ground pool, which is why some choose to put a deck around it.

Basic Pool Maintenance

Whether you choose to go with an in-ground pool or an above-ground pool, you’ll still have to keep it clean so it will be safe for your family. While the ideal would be to pay a “pool boy” to come around and clean your pool for you, that dream isn’t a reality for most suburbanites. The main thing to know is that your pool has to have a pH balance that falls below 8.0 and an alkaline balance between 80-140 PPM. A variety of testers are available to help make this easier.

You can also purchase automatic pool cleaners, with vacuums keeping dirt from settling onto the surfaces of your pool. These are usually designed for in-ground pools, however, so you may have to settle for cleaning your pool the old-fashioned way if you go with an above-ground.

With so many affordable options in above-ground pools today, pool ownership doesn’t have to be a dream anymore. Be sure to check several prices to find the best value for you and you’ll be on your way to a fun summer for your friends and family.

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Pest Control Job Scheduling

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Paul Tyrrell

In the pest control industry, much of staffs’ daily routine involves routine maintenance on existing accounts. While some of your work will be one-time visits to businesses or residents with immediate, one-time needs, most of your customers will want to set up monthly or at least quarterly visits from your staff. This requires a special kind of software designed to track recurring appointments.

Recurring Appointments

Our software will give you choices when it comes to scheduling recurring appointments for the same customer. Depending on your company’s preference, as well as your customers’, you can set up your appointments months in advance, locking your preferred customers into place so they have first choice.

But some pest control companies may choose to set up a reminder system. On a pre-scheduled, intermittent basis, you can be prompted to contact your recurring customers, whether by phone or reminder postcard. Your customer can then choose to contact you to set up an appointment at their convenience.

Some companies choose to do a combination of the above, honoring each customer’s personal preference.

Multiple Appointments

Some larger jobs will require more than one visit by your pest control professionals. If you have large corporate accounts or even individual customers with pesky termite problems, your regular visit can easily turn into two or three visits spread over the course of a week or two. Our scheduling software allows you to break these appointments up while still retaining the cost and work information from your other visits.

One-Time Appointments

Whether you’re scheduling your first appointment with a new customer or you have a customer that prefers one-at-a-time appointments, our scheduling software makes one-time appointments a breeze. Because our software interacts with your contacts list, you’ll have easy access to a customer’s information the second time he or she calls for an appointment, making the process easier and impressing your customer that he or she is an important part of your customer base.

Employee Access

Our software will not only work on the PCs in your office, but your employees will be able to access it on the road. Using a smart phone or other mobile device, your employees can pull up their schedules and even edit them while en route. This will help you to keep up with your employees’ whereabouts while saving your employees time-consuming trips back to the office between jobs.

Manage Multiple Locations

Some of your business customers may have multiple locations, all of which contract with your company for pest control services. Each location likely has its own contacts and personal preferences. It can be difficult to keep up with the differences between each location.

Our software allows you to keep track of companies with multiple locations and contacts, adding in notes that will let you know about that location’s specific requirements. This information can be shared among all your employees, letting you send other employees to back up the regular staff member who treats that location if they can’t make it that day.

Your pest control company has individual needs, and our software can meet your requirements and even exceed them. We have the solution for your pest control business, allowing you to manage your customers more easily and maximize your profits.

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Electrician Job Scheduling

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Paul Tyrrell

An electrician’s day is so busy, sometimes it can be hard to keep up with everything. Thanks to modern technology, you can electronically organize your customers, along with all of your appointments and job costing information, accelerating your efficiency and allowing you to squeeze more appointments into your day.

Inventory Management

To do the right job, you need to have the right parts. Our software will help you maintain an inventory of all of the parts in your warehouse, even across multiple warehouses. Our software will also allow you to track purchase orders so you’ll always know what orders are outstanding. By being able to instantly access your inventory from anywhere, you’ll ensure you always have the part you need to do your scheduled jobs.

In addition to an ongoing inventory of your parts, our software allows you to also maintain information on all of your customers’ equipment. That a/c unit you serviced last year? With just a couple of clicks of your mouse, you can pull up the serial number, date purchased, and warranty information, which will help you with job costing. Our software also tracks the repair history of each piece of equipment, which will help customers when calculating warranty coverage.

Track Your Estimates

Job costing is one of the most important parts of your business. Without accurate estimates, you may undervalue the cost of supplies and man hours for a job, which can cost your business money and eventually undermine your success. Our software not only allows you to estimate your hours and cost, but you’ll be able to log everything you do to compare actual cost to estimated cost.

Schedule Jobs

Our scheduling assistant not only maps out your day for you, but it calculates the best route to help you minimize travel time throughout the day. If you have residences and businesses you routinely service, you can set that up in our scheduler as well. If you choose, you can set it to remind you that a customer is due for a service call, which will allow you to follow up with that customer to schedule an appointment, if you choose.

Thanks to our software’s contact list feature, you can import your customers to always have access to their information. When a customer calls, simply enter that customer’s name and you’ll have the latest contact information, along with that customer’s history with your company. This will allow you to pull reports on a regular basis, keeping up with your customer volume and determining how to target new customers.

Job Conclusion

Once you’ve closed a job, our software will automatically calculate all of the charges for that particular service call. With the built-in billing status updates, you’ll be able to determine whether or not a customer has been invoiced for the charges and whether the bill is still unpaid. Built into this section of our software is an ability to calculate commissions for your sales staff, saving your administrative staff time.

If you’re looking for a great way to schedule and track your team of electricians, our automated scheduling software can make a big difference in your day to day operations.

Posted in Electrician Job Scheduling, Electrician Scheduling Software, Field Services, field services software | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

How Mobile Printers Work

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Paul Tyrrell

Today’s electronics consumer is on the go. Whether you’re checking e-mail on your smart phone or paying bills on your iPad at the airport, you’re rarely in front of your printer when you need to print something out. For those who travel, mobile printing allows them to always be able to print without having to carry a large device around. Some units will even send faxes and make copies. But the key to understanding what kind of device you need is first understanding how mobile printers work.

Mobile printing is almost always wireless. Some mobile printers use Bluetooth technology. Older mobile printers used infrared signals to communicate with your computer or laptop. Gone are the days when you had to connect your printer to your device with a USB cable. Today’s printers don’t even require a wi-fi connection.

One recurring problem with mobile printing is print output. Many smaller mobile devices do not have powerful processors like your laptop or PC. To compensate, the device will reformat the image, which can result in your document looking different on the page than it does on the screen. Check to make sure the page size your printer outputs matches the needs of your staff.

For businesses looking for ways to make your workforce more mobile, keep in mind that these printers will often be far away from your office much of the time. You’ll need a low maintenance printer that your remote staff can maintain and troubleshoot without your tech support staff.

Battery life is also important in the selection of a mobile printer. Since mobile printers are often used anywhere from airports to automobiles, it will be far easier on your staff if they don’t have to waste time looking for a wall plug or car charger. Consider not only the average life of your battery between charges, but also the cost to replace the battery if it should fail during your printer’s life.

Security is also an issue for mobile printing in a business environment. All of your other devices are on a secure network, so shouldn’t your mobile printers be? Whether you choose Bluetooth or wi-fi as your connection method, be sure to employ the same strict security standards on all your mobile devices as you do your computers, laptops, and network printers.

Don’t buy more printer than you need. If your employees are merely printing labels, check to see if a mobile label printer might suit your needs. If high-quality, letter-sized printouts are more your interest, search for a printer with high resolution, even if it means sacrificing such things as the ability to fax and copy. While some printers boast the top speed in the business, hold the printer up to the same quality standards you’d expect from an office printer unless speed is ultra-important.

For portability, check out the mobile printers that will fit in your pocket or clip onto your belt. While some of these printers can fall in the high price range, some don’t require print cartridges, which can save big bucks over the life of your mobile printer.

If mobile printing can help your personal or business needs, check around and research the types of printers available on the market. You’re sure to find one that fits your need.

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Good Mobile Printers for Your Business Needs

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Paul Tyrrell

Whether you need a printer that fits in your pocket or a printer that can spit out 20 pages per minute, you may find there are more mobile printers on the market than you can comprehend. We’ll narrow down a few of the more highly rated printers and hopefully find one that will meet your business or personal needs.

Canon PIXMA iP100

Perfect for personal use, the Canon PIXMA iP100 prints high-resolution color photos, with a quality rating of excellent by many reviewers. But its power doesn’t stop with its ability to print a good color photo. Reviewers give points for its ability to print hundreds of pages without running out of charge in the battery. One con to the Canon PIXMA iP100, however, is that it does not include a wi-fi adaptor, but Bluetooth connectivity  is an option.

HP OfficeJet 100

If speed isn’t important but quality is, the HP OfficeJet 100 is the printer for you. The HP OfficeJet 100 prints high-quality black-and-white documents, with a resolution of 600 X 600 dpi. While it’s not ideal for graphics and color printouts, for people needing to print text documents, the HP OfficeJet 100 will be all the printer you’ll need.

Polaroid GL10 Instant Mobile Printer

From Lady Gaga’s Grey Label Polaroid line, the Polaroid GL10 Instant Mobile Printer has the portability and compatibility you need. For iPhone users, however, this printer will not work. An Android mobile app will help you crop and resize your image if necessary. In addition to smartphone printing, you’ll be able to print via USB. The Polaroid GL10 Instant Mobile Printer is compatible with the Android, Blackberry, or Windows phone. Again, this printer is ideal for personal users, as its forte appears to be printing photos.

Star Mobile Printer SM-T300

One problem with mobile printers is the wear and tear they are expected to endure. Not only are they dropped, but they can often be taken through dust-prone areas, left to sit on shelves, and even at risk for water exposure. If your employees work in situations that require rugged equipment, the Star SM-T300 mobile printer is both splash-proof and has dust protection, with a long print life and both serial and Bluetooth connections available. The Star SM-T300 is compatible with the Android and iOS (iPhone) operating systems.

PocketJet RuggedJet 4” Mobile Printer

The RuggedJet mobile printer boasts a print speed of 5 ips. In drop tests, the RuggedJet passed from a 6 foot drop. Its IP54 certification also means that it’s protected from water and dust, making it a great printer for those needing something that can survive the elements. The RuggedJet is for users needing to print labels or receipts on the go, with a printing capacity of two inches wide to four inches wide. With no ink or cartridges to replace, the RuggedJet is great for any mobile sales your team does.

Before choosing a mobile printer, determine your specific needs and seek out a printer that matches them. Compatibility is, of course, most important, but with so many mobile printers on the market, you should be able to find a mobile printer that fits your needs.

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