When it comes to evaluating whether it’s the right time to begin using a field service management software (FSM), like ServiceBox, there are probably several questions running through your mind.
Whether you run a multi-location HVAC, plumbing, or electrical company or a local operation with a couple of technicians, you’re most likely sick and tired of chasing down invoices, tracking inventory on spreadsheets, and sorting through paper notes about a job from your technicians.
So, after hundreds of conversations with contractors and operators like yourself, we’ve found that a handful of questions come up time and time again before implementing FSM software.
By the end of this guide, you’ll have the clarity you need to decide whether ServiceBox is the right fit before you ever book a demo. Let’s dive in!
This is by far the most common question that we receive when chatting with operators. And yes, if your team uses the app consistently, it can standardize your entire workflow into efficient sequences. What you put in is what you get out, so ensuring team buy-in quickly will increase your success rate exponentially.
Your service business most likely has spreadsheets, documented notes from in-person meetings, paperwork orders, and maybe even sticky notes at reception. While this works when you’re getting off the ground, as you grow, hire more contractors and techs, and expand your mobile fleet, workflows and operations can break down.
That’s where ServiceBox comes in, by bringing in organization and standardization for how everything flows, for consistent results with: quote → work order → schedule → job management → invoice.
All without the manual follow-ups. The important details attached to the work order help inform scheduling. With additions or changes that the technician can easily adjust for upsells or more complex jobs.
Finally, with automatic invoicing and sync capabilities to avoid double entries and save your accounting team more time.
Learn more about our Job Management Feature.
Almost everyone asks us this question, and in short, yes, ServiceBox integrates with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Sage 50, and Sage 300, with more integrations actively in the works.
The important part to understand is that ServiceBox works as a powerful extension to your existing accounting software and systems, so both can be used for day-to-day accounting operations and connect easily, so double entry is a thing of the past.
Invoices sync directly into your accounting software, so instead of reconciling double entries and manually inputting data into QuickBooks or Sage, your accounting or operations team can focus on higher-level tasks that will actually help drive the business forward.
Let’s say you’re running a commercial electrical contracting business. Your bookkeeper could easily spend 6 hours a week on manual entries, but with ServiceBox, this can be automated and streamlined for review in an hour. And, it’s not just wasted time that this helps to save; it’s also the potential billing errors that arise when systems don’t talk to each other.
Some tools may only handle job scheduling, while others only sync invoicing into your accounting platform. We see this all the time, and it’s why we’ve built ServiceBox to connect the full process, from creating a customer record to scheduling a tech, monitoring inventory, and handling invoicing follow-ups once the job is done.
The continuity and integrity of your customer and job data will reduce admin burden, helping you avoid those late nights and taking work off your staff’s shoulders, allowing more strategic work to take its place.
This is where a lot of other field service tools can’t compete with ServiceBox, especially as you grow to 5+ technicians. Learn more about our Job Quoting Feature.
With ServiceBox, your office staff gains visibility into and control over dispatching, job-specific notes, and inventory insights. Technicians want something simple that doesn’t slow them down on the job site, such as capturing photos of boilers or malfunctioning security equipment.
Everyone needs to be on the same page when it comes to using a software solution that’ll help streamline end-to-end workflows for your business. And each party may have different needs and requirements in order to fit their current processes.
The game of figuring out which jobs are active, who’s going where with the new truck, and managing time-off requests can easily become overwhelming. ServiceBox removes all these manual barriers with a drag-and-drop scheduling feature that clearly shows each technician’s availability and assigns jobs directly to the right individual.
That way, dispatch staff can spend less time chasing people down or reassigning technicians and more time planning future workforce management strategies for upcoming jobs.
If you’re currently using a dispatching tool that’s not connected to all your other field service workflows, your dispatch staff most likely deal with some sort of friction, like an overloaded Google Calendar with 15 plumbing techs attempting to make changes, or manual processes that could be automated and centralized.
When you don’t have a dispatch tool in place, it’s easy for your team to get overwhelmed and ultimately burn out if the chaos isn’t reined in.
The significant difference with ServiceBox is that each feature is designed to tie back to everyday actions. For example, a field technician can log time for a job directly in the app instead of writing it on a piece of paper that must be submitted by 5 pm on Friday.
The onboarding process at ServiceBox is designed to help you and your team to transition seamlessly from manual or inefficient systems, so you can make full use of all the features. Sometimes, that’s a phased approach, like using only the drag-and-drop scheduling feature before moving to individual job time tracking through the app.
Similarly, we can help your team develop incentive ideas that drive app usage, such as tying job payouts to entering work data through the ServiceBox system, which can be implemented in phases to get people across the organization using the app consistently.
This is such a common question, and it’s often a barrier that can hold your entire organization back if not approached correctly. Your guys and gals in the field may not want change; they want to focus on getting the job done, and adopting new software may be confusing for some while seeming unnecessary to others.
With ServiceBox, we help eliminate administrative work through features that communicate with each other in real time.
We’ve helped HVAC, plumbing, and electrical businesses save up to 100 hours in a single year by eliminating the need to switch between apps, systems, and spreadsheets to enter the same information 3 times.
When all your operations live in one system that easily syncs with your other software, like QuickBooks, that administrative work disappears for good, and you can spend time improving service, developing new opportunities, or just giving your team a break from that annoying routine.
When you avoid using a connected system, you and your team end up spending more time managing software platforms and data entry than on more strategic work.
Our team is here to support you through onboarding, so you’ll never be left alone and feeling overwhelmed with using proper FSM software. We recommend starting with a core group of people in your organization, including a mix of office staff and technicians, so you can test the new workflows and how they integrate into your day-to-day operations.
Once your core team is happy with how things are working, you can expand it to the entire organization or roll it out by location.
On top of that, our help desk team is there to support you whenever you need them, and our team of developers is eager to assist with issues.
Similar to questions and concerns about software adoption, the implementation phase is more about proper change management within your company than about the complexity of implementing ServiceBox.
The last thing you want is for all your office staff to continue using email for job assignments, while both your journeyman and apprentices sit at home waiting for a notification for what job site to head to.
Yes, simple materials and multi-location inventory can both receive automated reorder notifications, with easy tracking in the app. The most important aspect of ServiceBox is that it can handle both robust and simple inventory tracking needs, so you can have software that grows with your business at every level.
Some companies, like a regional commercial HVAC company, may need full inventory tracking for charging and ductwork across trucks, warehouses, and multiple locations. While a local fire-safety company may only need materials tied to jobs for accurate costing and invoicing.
Additionally, your operations team can receive automatic reorder notifications once certain minimum stock levels are reached, helping avoid crucial out-of-stock mishaps that could halt work and, ultimately, drag on revenues during a high season.
In short, you can adjust workflows, fields, permissions, and job structures to match how your team operates, but it’s not infinitely customizable.
What prevents people from doing so is their inability to rebuild the software from scratch. The reason is that your goal is not to recreate every quirk of your old workflow in another software platform; it’s to align your processes with a proven system that’s already working well for service businesses across residential and commercial trades.
By using a cloud-based platform, you can focus on providing an amazing service to your customers while we handle the heavy lifting with new features, ongoing updates, and support. A Friday afternoon reconciliation goes from sorting through clipboards of paperwork to a quick review on your computer.
A few additional questions come up regularly that are worth addressing briefly:
If you’re looking to compare your current costs with anticipated costs after switching to ServiceBox, we’ve created pricing plans designed to deliver significant ROI, with options that scale as you add users and features.
Yes, you can easily manage different user roles and permissions for different staff members. This can be increasingly important as your company grows and you’re looking to distinguish between administrative and basic user roles, which ServiceBox supports.
Yes, ServiceBox has a mobile app that’s built to provide an easy-to-use platform for field staff. We have both an Android and an Apple app for mobile devices across phones and tablets.
Yes, ServiceBox was built with recurring maintenance and service contracts in mind. If you’re running preventive maintenance programs for clients, this feature is a must when deciding which software to implement.
Yes, both technicians and operations support staff can start, add to, and update records for every customer that anyone on your team has created in the past.
Yes, our software can help you automate and enhance multiple workflows across a variety of industries, including HVAC, electrical, fire safety, telecommunications, and more.
Discover all the industries we support.
If you have more questions you’d like answers to before making any commitments, we’re here to help. You can reach out to us directly at [email protected], or we encourage you to book a free demo, and we’ll walk through any further details with our team. Book your free demo today.
Our customers love the affordability and flexibility of our software. ServiceBox is priced to ensure you see a return on your investment. We have pricing options that align with your needs; whether you’re a one-person service business or manage a large team in the field.
Field Service Management — Field work scheduling software for contractors and small businesses. Try our full demo! The best field work scheduling software for HVAC, Plumbing and Electrical Contractors.
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