The Naked Pool Company has a real point of difference. It’s the pool maintenance company that offers you a menu of straight-up services with no hidden extras. It’s proved a popular offering. With residential and commercial customers all over Auckland, the company’s service technicians are constantly on the road. Previously, their standard practice included filling in a service record sheet and taking photos, so the customer could see what had been done and when the next service was due.
However, filling in paper forms is never a good idea when you’re working with water. To make matters worse, this necessary task took up several hours of admin time each day, as service sheets had to be transcribed back at the office and data entered into systems. Miss one day, and the paperwork piled up.
The solution: turn paperwork into a mobile app
The new app, built using the AMS platform, could capture all the information required for a pool service, including time on site, test results, chemicals used, and any service issues. It enables the service technician to access all necessary data to check the pool volume and compare the service with previous records. The tablet could also take before and after pictures and incorporate them into the report.
On returning to the office, the technician could simply download data to the administrator’s computer. A service report could be emailed to the client within hours and processed for billing in a few clicks.
Saving money as well as time
Amy Scott says the new app has transformed the way Naked Pool Company does business.
“Our technicians are saving over an hour a day that was previously spent on paperwork. Since they’re paid hourly, it means they can service more pools rather than spend time on back office tasks.”
While many would expect an electronic device and software to add cost, the opposite is true. Android tablet prices have declined sharply over the last few years, making this technology affordable for just about every enterprise. The app is provided by Unified Business Systems for a flat fee of just $29.95 + GST per user per month – a small price to pay for such a large gain in productivity.
Amy Scott has no doubt the change has been worth it. “The price we paid was much lower than we thought it would be, and the results have been amazing.”
Smart tools provide a smart appearance.
The company has also found that mobile technology removes an element of human error.
“One of our guys is great at his job but has terrible handwriting. Now he just enters the data in the app and we can use this to present a neat report to clients. It’s a much more professional look.”
It helps that the technicians love their new Android devices and have adopted the change with enthusiasm. As every manager knows, a business tool that workers like using is one that actually gets used.
The Naked Pool Company’s success in virtualising a core business process shows how mobile apps can transform all sorts of business systems. It’s a very scalable solution, available to even small-scale enterprises.
Executive Summary
• Naked Pool wanted to boost productivity by streamlining the pool service reports generated during each service visit.
• A new mobile app built on the AMS platform eliminated paperwork and provided site-specific data to be accessed and utilised at the customer’s premises.
• Service data captured by tablet is downloaded back at the office to generate an invoice and email-ready report.
• The new mobile-based process saves at least an hour each day for each technician, freeing up time for more income-generating service calls.
• App is cost-effective, with low costs to deploy and a flat fee of just $40 + GST per user per month.
• Eliminating paper gets rid of presentation issues caused by water and poor handwriting.
• Staff enjoy using their Android tablets and appreciate the ease and efficiency of the app.
• Similar scalable app solutions are available to even small businesses.
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