How ServiceM8 helps trades and service businesses get the most from their time

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Our app marketplace has over 700 apps to help small businesses and their advisors reach their goals. Each month we celebrate an app partner who really stands out for helping small businesses succeed.

Our app partner of the month for October is ServiceM8

ServiceM8 is smart job management software for trades and services, eliminating paperwork and improving productivity for small businesses. We spoke with Darren Ford, Account Manager at ServiceM8, about how this family-founded business got off the ground and now helps small business owners around the world streamline admin, so they can focus on the job.

“We specialise in helping trades and services businesses with high volume jobs,” Darren said. “Every job has admin associated with it and over multiple jobs it can really mount up. Many businesses are still manually managing this admin. But that can be time consuming, making it easy to fall behind, from missing appointments to not getting invoices out on time.”

ServiceM8 streamlines the entire job management process, from the first call to a customer, right through to sending the final invoice.

“Our clients can win quotes on speed, instead of price, because they can quote on-site. They can also fit their admin into their work days rather than after hours, because they can manage jobs and staff on-the-go. They get even greater efficiency if they use Xero too, because information only needs to be entered into ServiceM8 once and automatically flows into Xero,” Darren said.

The benefits of trading manual systems in for cloud-based software

It was inefficiencies in his own business that led ServiceM8’s Founder, Kim Ford, to start ServiceM8 almost a decade ago. He bought a locksmith business, which was operating with paper-based systems. Work orders were printed, put on clipboards and handed to staff. Invoices were then written up at the end of each day, based on the information on those clipboards. It was time-consuming and meant unnecessary double handling.

Coming from a technology background, Kim quickly came up with the idea for ServiceM8, to streamline the process with software. His son Ben, a software developer working in Melbourne, was ready for a change after 10 years with the same organisation. So the pair joined forces to build ServiceM8. Darren, joined the team a couple of years later to focus on business development.

ServiceM8 now has built a global customer base with impressive stats when it comes to helping their customers with productivity. In the first three months of using ServiceM8, customers are able do 30% more work thanks to the efficiencies they gain.

But it’s the anecdotal success stories Darren finds the most rewarding.

“Before using ServiceM8, many of our customers had no choice but to work late into the night to get their quotes out. With ServiceM8, they can invoice as they go and fit their admin into the work day, removing stress and giving them more time with their families,” Darren said.

Because ServiceM8 stores everything in the cloud, business owners can check in on their business remotely, giving them the freedom to go on holiday, without risking their business.

“With manual systems, business owners need to be onsite to have visibility into what’s going on in their business. With ServiceM8 they are able to take a break, because they can access this information remotely and step in only if they need to,” Darren said.

Even greater innovation for small business

“We integrated with Xero in 2012 and it’s been great for our customers and our business. Xero customers already understand the value of the cloud and Xero’s accountants and bookkeepers are really engaged. We’re also like-minded in our values, innovating to help small businesses succeed,” Darren said.

And continued innovation is one of ServiceM8’s core focus areas. They have recently launched a deep integration with Siri, allowing customers to make the most effective use of their time, while being hands-free.

“If someone is stuck in traffic, they can say: ‘Hey Siri, message my next customer and tell them I am running late’ or if they want to know where a key is stored to access a property they can say: ‘Hey Siri, read me the notes for my next job’,” Darren said.

ServiceM8’s other latest innovations include an asset management system that tracks customer equipment onsite with augmented reality and a knowledge system to easily capture and store business knowledge.

“With the speed that artificial intelligence and technology is developing it’s a really exciting time to be building software. We are keeping on innovating and trying to remove any manual or admin tasks, so trades and service people can focus their time on doing their job and everything else is done for them,” Darren concluded.

The post How ServiceM8 helps trades and service businesses get the most from their time appeared first on Xero Blog.