Companies waste $85 billion annually on “bad tech.” No company wants to see its investments go to waste, so how can you determine what is the right technology to invest in?
Of course, the answer is not the same for every organization.
High-growth companies have different technology requirements. They do not have time to spend months onboarding a new tool or figuring out how a platform integrates with its current technology stack.
When the market opportunity exists, they must move fast—or risk losing market share to a competitor.
For expanding businesses, technology is often a make-or-break decision. Consequently, knowing what to look for when shopping for a new solution is vital.
Below, you will learn the five characteristics fast-growing companies need to consider before choosing the best technology for their business.
Growth Technology Needs to Streamline Processes
Often, businesses do not recognize the importance of documented streamlined processes until a market opens up. Then, suddenly, every workflow–big or small-must be able to scale, which cannot happen if they are unclear.
The best technology for growing companies forces them to get their workflows out on paper so that they repeat the same service for each customer.
Any technology supporting a haphazard, vague approach will do more harm than good for your business. At first, it may seem fine, but as the number of technicians expands–and so does your customer base–you will discover that the gaps in your documentation allow customers to leak out.
Growth Technology Must be User-Friendly
High-growth companies do not have time to waste months getting every employee on board with new technology.
Rather, every new tool must have a short, well-supported onboarding period.
When considering a new platform, ask how long the average onboarding process is and what level of company support your business will receive.
Moreover, you want to discover how long it takes to get the technology up and running and also how long it takes the average user to embrace the full functionality.
Some tools may be easy to start, but as your users advance to more complex features, they hit a roadblock.
Since at least 46% of field service technicians are 50 or older, your field service software must be easy to learn and use. You want to ensure that the entire process from end to end is user-friendly, even for people that are not tech-savvy.
Growth Technology Has to be Comprehensive, Yet Flexible
Another feature you want to look for in your technology is how comprehensive the tool is. So, you want to seek platforms to accommodate multiple pieces of your business workflows.
For instance, instead of juggling two platforms for employees and contractors, find one that integrates and can be used to manage both—similar to the Zuper-Field Nation integration.
Zuper connects with Field Nation–a field service talent provider– allowing Zuper customers to post a job for Field Nation contractors and manage them without ever leaving the Zuper platform.
The company then quickly loops the chosen contractor into its existing service workflows and checklists, creating a smooth transition even for first-time technicians.
The more that you can incorporate into each tool you choose, the fewer tools your team will have to learn to manage and you will have to pay for—which is vital when you are focusing on improving the efficiency you need to grow.
Growth Technology Needs to Integrate
Moreover, fast-growing companies need their systems to be connected. Therefore, a good contender will integrate with your vital services.
For most businesses, connecting your field services, sales, customer support, and accounting platforms is non-negotiable.
For example, Zuper integrates with leading platforms such as HubSpot, Salesforce, Zendesk, Zoho, QuickBooks, stripe, and many others so that teams can operate from their preferred tools without toggling between the others.
Since some experts estimate that employees waste two to five months of work time per year on unnecessary communication, you want to identify integrations that sync information in real time. These integrations streamline your communications without adding another step to your transfer processes as your customers move from sales to service or service to support—improving internal efficiency.
Growth Technology Should be Customizable
Most importantly, the right technology for high-growth companies needs to be customizable. As your company grows, it will start to evolve— and your workflows will need to be able to evolve along with it.
A fixed technology that allows little customization will create a bottleneck for your business, ultimately leading to you having to look for new tools at peak expansion when you should be focused on optimizing, not starting over.
You want to look for technology that can be custom-configured to fit your needs as you learn more about what works for you and your customers at scale.
Whether you are adding a field to your customer intake form or updating your scheduling criteria, you want to be able to make the change quickly—and without hiring a developer for every minor change.
Choosing the Right Technology to Support Growth
Though many solutions claim to support rapid growth, it is not that straightforward. What works for one company may not work for you.
And if you are disrupting the industry status quo, finding the right fit becomes even more difficult.
When deciding, you must ensure that you are not picking a technology that fits today’s needs only for it to become obsolete tomorrow.
For that reason, Zuper is the most flexible and customizable field service management software available. With Zuper, businesses are not limited by rigid workflows. Instead, almost every piece of Zuper can be customized to how you do business, even if that continues to change as you grow.
This post was inspired by Zuper FM’s Incorporating Field Service Tools into Smart Video Surveillance with Amanda Harris & Myles Osswald. Listen here now.
