Digital Has Come Of Age – Why Every Trades Business Needs To Go Digital
The digital revolution has had a massive impact on pretty much every industry and business sector.
Think about it. You can use an app to order your dinner and have it delivered to your door within a few clicks.
Order parts and materials from your computer without having to step foot in the building yard.
You can even order your weekly shop, work out, book a taxi, make a reservation and even make an appointment to see a new office without having to leave your PC, tablet or mobile phone.
Across the world digital is transforming the way business is done.
Last year, on the shopping holiday known as Cyber Monday we spent a staggering $6.5 BILLION online in a single day. Of that, 33.1% was spent by shoppers using their smartphones.
All in one day.
If the high street can use digital to make billions while its bricks and mortar stores struggle, imagine what a smart use of specific technology could do for your trades and services business.
You can use jobbing software to speed up the quote process and finally see the back of paper-based job management but there are other financial and practical benefits too.
Going Digital
If you’re feeling a bit reluctant to take the plunge and go digital with job management, we get it.
There are so many job management systems out there so when it comes to choosing your right fit, you can be left feeling overwhelmed. By following our four P method of; people, pricing, product and process, choosing the right job management system becomes straightforward.
There are already some aspects of trades or services business that have gone digital, so why not make job management one of them.
The History
There was a time, not too many years ago, when planning, managing, costing, completing and getting paid for jobs was all paper-based.
No matter what your area of speciality, whether its in plumbing, carpentry etc. lee than a decade ago your tools of the trade would probably have included a diary, scrap paper and a basic mobile phone.
You would have relied on manual methods to quote, schedule your team, take bookings, process payments and compile inspections reports.
You might have had a Sat-Nav in your van but you’d need your job file printed out to know what you were doing when you got there, what the price you’d quoted was and what had already been completed, agreed to, ordered and paid for.
The First Changes
Since then, your trades or services business may have switched to online banking in the past couple of years.
This meant that wages and invoices were paid online. Seeing the end of the days where you had to go into the branch or visit a cashpoint to see who had paid you, who still owed you money and how much cash you had in the bank.
The forward-thinking businesses would also have had a website. Now, rather than word of mouth and print advertising, customers could find you online. And by submitting a form, could let you know what they needed.
Accounts might have been filed electronically, meaning that you didn’t have to mess about with paper payslips, VAT returns or corporation tax submissions.
Today
As we have seen from the examples above, the smarter, more forward-thinking businesses are going digital.
A classic example is that of high street retailers. Rather than relying on dwindling sales from brick and mortar stores, most high street stores can now be found online.
Almost every business process and daily interaction you can think of is transforming from paper-based to digital.
From ordering materials to booking gym classes. Running payroll to checking your bank balance. Filing VAT returns to sending invoices: digital is transforming business process left, right and centre.
And this revolution is coming to the trades business too.
