In this guest article, Mat Wray from simPRO shares the benefits of using field service management software to deliver better insights to your field service clients.
If you are an accountant working with trade contracting clients, then you know that the more insight you have into a client’s business, the easier your job becomes.
Are your trade contracting clients aware of their business’ status and the profitability of their projects and jobs? If so, are they keeping track and using those insights to make better business and financial decisions?
With software for field service management and detailed reporting tools, trade contracting businesses can receive more visibility into their profitability, gain a better handle on costs and margins, and make better decisions to support business growth.
Business Visibility
Financial data from accounts payable and accounts receivable can help you paint a picture of where your clients are making and losing money. However, to truly uncover the profitability of a field service business it is important to have visibility into the productivity of field staff, the status of all projects, and information such as which jobs are most profitable, inventory levels, and more.
Cloud-based reporting tools not only provide this necessary visibility, but they also help businesses keep information organised. When these reports are automated and housed in the cloud, your clients can access their data anywhere, anytime. Reporting is not simply an extra task, but it is an absolute necessity for trade contractors setting goals for growth.
Better Job Costing
If your trade contracting clients don’t have processes for accurate job costing, then they may often miss the mark when it comes to forecasting and determining profitability. Also, without strong processes for job costing, the figures presented to you may often be inaccurate.
A good field service management software with tools for job costing and estimating will provide the foundation for trade contractors to better understand costs and make necessary adjustments to estimates. In a cloud-based system, businesses have a better handle on choosing the right field staff, at the right price, for each upcoming job. They can also use set labour costs to add overheads and view estimated labour to make sure jobs are profitable.
Business Growth
Can software and reporting tools truly help field service businesses achieve growth? Absolutely. When a business has more visibility from reporting and cloud-based systems, there is more insight available to enable data-driven decisions. A decision made in the dark likely isn’t the best decision for a business wanting to beat out the competition in their industry.
If your clients can see specific trends about the jobs they complete, they can choose which direction in which to steer their business based on what is profitable and what is not. If a certain type of job, while lucrative, takes extended time and resources and often leads to profit loss, it may not be the best job for your client.
Helping your clients to succeed
Better visibility, processes, and growth are all key benefits of cloud-based software and reporting tools. These tools not only help your field service clients succeed, but they also make your life much easier. Help your clients receive and understand the needed data that will help them make better decisions to ultimately scale and grow.
Mathew Wray is a Partner Manager for the simPRO UK team. Since Mat joined simPRO five years ago, he has established strong connections with a number of strategic accountants, business advisors & cloud software integrators.
