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One of the most difficult parts of a technological transition for a company is training employees on any new system that is implemented. There is a learning curve, and simply put, few people like changing how they do things. 

While customers have the freedom to choose how they want to use service tracking software, convincing staff to embrace this change is well worth a building service contractor’s time. 

“The way we brought it to our internal staff is the same way we brought it to our customers,” says Daniel Hyman, CFO and COO of Held’s Janitorial, in Buffalo, N.Y. “We said, ‘Here’s what we’re looking to do, here’s the outcome and here’s why we want it done.’ Portraying it as a way to make all of our lives easier and to allow us to do a better job really got people on board.”

It wasn’t easy, but after about three months, employees seemed to have gotten the hang of the service tracking software. It took six months to a year for the software’s capabilities to be optimized by the staff in an efficient and comfortable way, says Hyman.

Once staff became comfortable with the software, it helped to simplify a lot of processes. For instance, Held’s Janitorial has a supply house sister company, and the software has streamlined orders and tracking on the supply side. Managers and office staff have real-time access to the orders, making it easy for them to monitor accounts.

“Without anyone making a phone call or sending an e-mail, my office staff knows what’s going on,” Hyman says. “And if a customer has a request or issue, all they need to do is click on their desktop, send the request and it instantaneously goes to my e-mail, goes to managers’ e-mails and cell phones. It’s an easier way for everyone to communicate.”

 

All the information is tracked, so anyone can access it at a later date to see how well service was provided over a set period of time — and where any improvements can be made. 

Lisa Ridgely is a freelance writer based in Milwaukee. She is the former Deputy Editor of Contracting Profits.