TECHNICAL | PPC105 NOVEMBER 2021
Making the switch from paper reports to digital might feel daunting, but there are plenty of potential benefits.
We reached out to the pest control software marketplace to help you decide if the time is right to go digital.
Once a system is in place, you’ll potentially save time and improve communications between you and your clients. Plus, your piles of paper records will stop cluttering your limited office space.
But implementing the wrong technology can be expensive, frustrating and potentially disastrous for your business.
Lin French from BPCA member company 5 Star Pest Control got in touch to tell us about her experience of going digital.
“We began to use a job management solution to replace the Word invoices and spreadsheet database that we’d been using for ten years.
“We were totally paper-based, using pads of inspection reports. The copies had to be filed in ever-increasing numbers of filing cabinets.
“We noticed Powered Now had inspection forms for gas, electric etc but none for the pest control industry, so we asked if they could create one for us.
“Together, we came up with an inspection report that had all the information required, which is sent directly to the customer.”
Data processing
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BPCA members have free access to our GDPR and Data Processing Microlearning course.
pestscan.co.uk
They say...
PestScan offers you complete pest control software. People often choose PestScan because they consider it the most user-friendly software on the market.
We have 12 years of experience in the pest control industry and developed a package that is tailored to the processes of every pest controller.
We are home in the UK and Europe and work worldwide.
With PestScan, you set up your business processes optimally and you can monitor them with advanced reports complying to all IPM rules.
You monitor pest activity on site using our app on your phone, tablet or scanner.
Features
- Advanced reporting and trend analysis
- Mobile app can be used offline
- Your own logo and colour scheme
- Customer portal
- Automatic sending of visit reports by e-mail
- Customers recommendations with photo documentation.
Bolt-on extras
Planning tool (interactive calendar), role management (grant different access levels to staff and customers), stock control (charts of used products), permanent monitoring (integration with different smart traps), invoicing (for contract holders, work orders and jobs).
Coming soon
Route optimisation, automatic back-ups, Google/Outlook calendar integration.
Based in Holland (fluent English support)
Price:
£158 per month
£1,896 per year
office users free / no setup charge
powerednow.com
They say...
No one goes into business to do paperwork. If forgotten quotes, unpaid invoices or filing cabinets full of pest control paperwork is keeping you awake at night, Powered Now
can help.
Our affordable and easy-to-use software runs on your mobile, tablet or computer and even works offline, so even if you don’t have a signal you can keep your business running smoothly.
Our software is backed up by an award-winning UK based support team and comes with a free 14-day trial. If you would like to learn more, sign up for a free demo on our website.
Features
- Cover all major paperwork including quotes, invoices, job sheets and have a form for pest control companies
- Works on every device on and offline, you can literally manage your business from your phone
- A full contact system that allows you to look after single customers as well as housing associations, landlords or construction sites
- Everything is stored in a project, so you always have a record of everything you’ve done for a customer
- Detailed financial overview including compliance with HMRC so you can submit your VAT returns without the need of an expensive accountant or bookkeeper
- Feature-rich diary and scheduling system so you can manage your jobs, staff and customers easily
- Team features such as team tracking and chat so you can easily dispatch staff and manage routes.
Coming soon
- New customer portal, your customers can log in and access all their records from a single place
- Support for sending messages via WhatsApp
- New team HR features including managing staff holiday and sickness records.
Based in UK
Price:
£125 per month
£1,250 per year
propertyinspect.com/uk/pest-control-software
They say...
Property Inspect allows for complete control of pest management in public spaces, agriculture, residential and commercial buildings to protect people and the environment.
Our Pest Control software allows companies to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their customers by automating all aspects of operations providing compliant pest control
and documenting.
Create unlimited digital forms to capture property conditions, photos and pest issues right from your mobile or tablet using our friendly inspection app.
Features
- Online dashboard with live timelines and audit trails of all events and activity across all your properties and users
- Assisted scheduling – schedule any kind of property or site visit, including schedule of condition, inspections, moves in/out, advance allocation to specific team members and notes/information for key collection or access
- Automated scheduling – create custom schedules of different property visits or reports to automate notifying when inspections are due
- Offline app for in-field report data collection, photos, audio and video that works on any Apple or Android device
- Team diary of property visits with ability to sync to and from calendars and external systems
- Custom workflows – automatic transfer of reports to office staff for review or directly to landlords/tenants to view online configured on a per-user basis
- Automated SMS reminders of scheduled visits for tenants or property owners.
Bolt-on extras
Advanced fields, premium templates, advanced scheduling, live bookings availability, SMS messages.
Based in UK
Price:
£149 per month
£1,490 per year
Free trial available
500 properties included
pestcontrolsoftware.co.uk
They say...
ServSuite is an enterprise pest control software solution. Our cloud-based technology gives pest management professionals the flexibility to work from anywhere while driving efficiency in operations both in the office and in the field.
For over 20 years, we’ve been making it easier, quicker, and cost-effective for pest control companies to build strategic growth.
In 2021, ServicePro partnered with ServiceTitan, the no. 1 software for contractors.
Together with ServiceTitan and its reputation as one of the fastest-growing solution providers in the service industry, we will build best-in-class software for the pest, lawn, and arbour industries.
Features
- A powerful mobile app that empowers technicians in the field and provides a stable connection between office and field staff throughout the day
- ServSuite scheduler complete with drag and drop scheduling provides a user-friendly way to manage technicians’ workflow and dynamic visibility of productivity
- The routing feature makes it easy to update technicians’ schedules and add more services to routes according to their availability and location
- Reporting is fully customisable and enhanced with flexible report assignment, meaning that business owners have full control to build reports based on their unique business needs
- Customer web portal means customers can access their account information, view service history, and even pay their bills - improving a business’s bottom line in the process
- Advanced mapping technology allows sales representatives to view other opportunities in the area, manage proposals, and even capture e-signatures on the spot
- You can see vehicles’ locations in real-time, setting up real-time updates meaning that the route being taken can be compared to the planned route with ease.
Based in USA
Price: contact sales team
servicetrackersystems.com
They say...
Run your entire business more efficiently, more productively and more harmoniously, all from a single device and from anywhere in the world.
We provide you with competitive clout, giving you the edge in the industry with your own bespoke customer portals and bespoke treatment reports while taking care of your compliance, regulations and unifying all key functions of your business.
Put simply, ServiceTracker is a software solution developed by the pest control industry for the pest control industry. We are not just a team of techies; we understand pest control and we understand your business.
Features
- Schedule once and the system will take care of the rest
- Electronic service reports with photos, trend analysis, signatures and CRRU
- Simple report writing and graph tools
- Fully customisable customer portal, replacing logbooks
- Sales and marketing tools via the Salesforce.com platform
- Recommendation reporting and Action management for BRC
- Dynamic mobile device for iOS and Android with barcode scanning and much more.
Bolt-on extras
Integration with Sage50, Xero and Quickbooks, bespoke integration with additional systems, online booking system, SMS text services, remote monitoring integration.
Coming soon
Detailed site plans captured via the mobile, interactive site plans on the customer portal with heat maps, supplier integration for stock ordering.
Based in UK
Price:
£1,800 per year
no set up costs
workpal.app
They say...
WorkPal offers businesses an end-to-end field service management solution that streamlines operations from initial quotation through to invoicing.
Developed and supported in-house, WorkPal will save you time and money allowing you to complete more jobs per day, deliver a better service to your customers and remain compliant for auditing purposes.
Improving communication between field workers and office staff, the software creates a better way of working.
The utilisation of barcode scanning of monitoring points allows operatives to complete jobs more efficiently.
Features
- Live job scheduling
- Asset management
- Tasks and parts
- Client/sub-contractor portals
- Management
- Quotation and invoice management
- KPI/SLA reporting.
Bolt-on extras
Vehicle and hardware tracking, custom forms and reports.
Coming soon
Stock management, purchase ordering, API integration.
Based in NI, UK
Price:
Pro version £2,100 per year
Apprentice version £1,500 per year
Other reporting software
As part of our PPC Technology Survey, we asked what software pest control companies used to report.
Here are some of the other popular providers not included in our comparison:
Big Change
Save valuable time and stay connected to every aspect of your business with our field service management software. BigChange uses an innovative cloud-based technology which helps you track and control every job from a single platform – all backed by our dedicated expert support.
bigchange.com
Salesforce
Manage and improve the relationships you have with your customers, prospects and partners from one unified platform.
salesforce.com/uk
FormConnect
FormConnect, your business app for collecting and sharing information on the go. Download it from the iTunes App Store.
formconnections.com
Field Motion
Designed to fit your unique workflow. Our software doesn’t change what you include in your job sheets. But it can radically change how you complete and manage them.
fieldmotion.com
HS Direct
We’re here to help take care of all your health and safety, human resources and employment law needs. From documents and templates, to software solutions and elearning programmes, we’re here when you need us.
hsdirect.co.uk
Service M8
Simplify and streamline your operations. Take control and work smarter from the client’s first call through to scheduling, quoting, job completion, invoicing and payment.
servicem8.com/uk
DIY solutions
Not ready to invest? Document sharing services like OneDrive, Google Docs and DropBox enable you to share Word or Excel documents with your customers.
Simply set up folders for each of your clients and drop in digital versions of your reports.
You can then share a link to the folder with your customer, and whenever you update a file, they’ll see the latest version.
It’ll take a bit of set-up, and it might feel like a very manual process, but this might be worth trialling with a few customers to see if digital reporting is right for you.
Source: PPC105