Work order chaos is a silent killer for alarm companies. Missed jobs mean lost customers and delayed payments can put a big stress on your business. You need a solution that makes it easy…and therefore more profitable. Cornerstone launched its mobile app for technicians in 2021, to help our customers avoid the “paper chase.” Paper tickets can (and often do) suffice for managing jobs and work orders. But let’s face it—they’re clunky and inefficient, needing multiple handoffs and often follow-up. The app enables the tech to instantly:
- see the job details,
- work the job (adding parts and labor time),
- close and invoice the job, then
- collect the invoice amount immediately.
The efficiency gained is huge – as our customers will tell you. Let’s dig a bit deeper into how Cornerstone’s mobile app can transform your job management.
Reason 1: The mobile app makes a tech’s day EASY!
Simple and easy always means efficient and profitable. With all the key information on a phone app, the tech can go from start to finish without needing to involve admin staff at the office. As outlined above, both the customer details and the job details are visible in real-time, so there’s no guesswork. Including things like service history, zone lists, equipment installed at the site, payment history, and existing recurring services is invaluable.
When the job is completed, a couple of taps on the app allow the tech to complete the job and even email the ticket to the customer. So, the head office doesn’t need to be involved. Ideally, the tech can take payment, then text the next appointment that he or she is on their way! There’s much less “back and forth” between the office and the tech team—which frees up critical time for the admin team.
Reason 2: The more information the better!
A paper ticket can’t usually include all the information that a tech may need. Our mobile app creates true transparency, so all customer data is a swipe, scroll or tap away. Lack of information usually means having to find that info with a call or text, wasting valuable time. The self-service nature of a mobile app that provides a full 360-degree view of the customer is simply far more efficient than paper-based methods.
A life safety company’s most critical resource is its staff time. Technician time is especially valuable. A good mobile app makes money by increasing throughput. Simply put, by avoiding clunky paper-based systems technicians will be able to complete more jobs every week. If a tech adds 10% to his/her billable weekly time via mobile app efficiencies, at a $95/hour billing rate that’s over $1,600 in additional monthly billings! Our mobile app cost is $30/month or less—THAT is why a good mobile app is a money-maker.
Reason 3: Scheduling becomes simple and real time!
For the administrative team scheduling jobs and service appointments, it couldn’t be easier. They open Cornerstone’s drag and drop, color-coded calendar in our desktop software, and assign technicians to each job. At a glance they have granular details on the work order, tech(s) assigned, time slot, and job details.
On the mobile app side, the tech simply opens the mobile app, and voila! The details for that new appointment or service call are right there on the list of tasks for the day. Likewise, when the tech completes the job and closes it out, that status is pushed back to Cornerstone’s master calendar on the desktop app. The office team can then see exactly where things stand, in real time. Our robust ticketing and inventory module will also let them see such things as part shortages quickly, through our color coding.
Dispatchers can also tag different technicians with specific skills, such as NICET fire certifications. That allows larger companies to filter techs by skill set, making it easier to assign some jobs.
If the admin team wants to review a completed ticket before billing it, that’s easy too. The tech can just set the status to “Ready to Bill”, and that status is instantly visible on the ticketing dashboard.
Reason 4: A mobile app makes paying easier!
Many field service apps are not connected to an instant way to pay a newly created service invoice. Ours is. Using our Alarmpayments.com icon built into the app, a tech that just completed a job can log into the invoice using the app, and have the customer pay it right on the spot. The security industry is sometimes less insistent about getting paid right away. But with our app, there’s really no excuse. That means faster cash flow, always a good thing!
Reason 5: It avoids overpaying for a generic “field service” app.
Several of our customers have tried other field service apps such as Service Fusion or Jobber. While these apps may be fine, they lack industry-specific elements such as central station details, zone lists, etc. Those companies are not integrated with the top monitoring companies like Cornerstone is. Such apps are often quite expensive, requiring time-consuming onboarding training.
With Cornerstone’s mobile app, training is included with our low monthly fee. Our app is a web app, so it’s cross-platform working with both iOS and Android. As noted earlier, it has many fields and functions that are designed only for the life-safety industry.
Don’t overpay for additional software packages, when an industry specialist like Cornerstone Billing Solutions can do it all!
Conclusion:
While Cornerstone started as a recurring billing champion, we’ve evolved into a full-service user-friendly account management platform. Our mobile app is a big part of our satisfied base of security and fire dealers. Discover why a flexible, specialized suite of software tools is the key to unlocking your business’s full potential. To schedule your demo, call 224-577-1197.