Thaw-Out generates more jobs with Commusoft

6 Feb 2018

“We used to do things the old-school way: We used a paper diary for jobs, Microsoft Word to send out invoices, and Microsoft Excel to keep track of money owed in and money owed out. So it was a lot of manually imported data. With Commusoft, now I can be driving around, look at where an engineer is right now, and book a job on the go.” With Commusoft, now I can be driving around, look at where an engineer is right now, and book a job on the go. It's good for customers as well because we can say, 'Okay, so you've got a Wolseley boiler in the kitchen'. We know what we're dealing with before we get there. So yes, it's amazing.

“We've got some tangible results from using Commusoft. First, our income is higher, because we're generating more jobs now.” Ashley, Director of Thaw Out

Being able to see where the engineers are is also huge, because the bigger you get, the less you can concentrate on your engineers. You can't possibly watch everyone all the time—you've got to allow them to do what they've got to do. So if you can see when they've arrived at a job, and the route they've taken, that's great. Our engineers can now do everything on their phones. It used to be, we'd send our engineers an email the evening before with the work details, but sometimes the guys didn't receive the email so they wouldn't be able to get to their first job. Now, with Commusoft, they can see what's lined up, and they can also see what they've done for the week and send in their timesheets to get their wages. Really simple.

We've got some tangible results from using Commusoft. First, our income is higher, because we're generating more jobs now. An issue we were having was that we wanted repeat customers. We'd go into a job, we'd fix the boiler or install a new boiler, and that was it—we wouldn't see that customer again. We were always so busy, we kept getting new customers and doing more work, but we didn't look back at the old customers and keep them going with service reminders. Now we're able to send customers a reminder and say, 'Look, your boiler is due for service in a month's time. Can I book it in?' Nine times out ten, they did want to book it in, but they just didn't remember. So not only does Commusoft make us more efficient, but it also enables us to get more paid work.

Oh, and the gas safety inspections! That's another massive thing. We used to pay 50p per gas safety inspection online. I'd say we do about 300 in a year so at 50p a piece that was £150. That's an expense that's gone now. The gas inspections look professional as well, and they're very easy.