It can be tough to find a practical, simple, and affordable software solution for your landscaping business. Some software can seem as cluttered and random as the weeds you’ve been hired to pull out. Keeping track of inventory, searching for documents, and managing accounting can be arduous chores if your current software system doesn’t have the right features, or if you’re using a bunch of disconnected and inefficient software solutions.
Pruning the garden of your software and technology stack, so to speak, is just as important as the pruning you do for your customers. In fact, it’s this kind of pruning that needs to be taken care of before any of the physical weeds can be removed. Here’s a list of do’s and don’ts for what to look for in the landscape management software you depend on to be efficient and competitive as a business.
DO automate as many daily tasks as possible.
This can include scheduling jobs, dispatching landscapers, online booking, and even managing invoices. The best landscape management software provides an all-in-one interface where everything and anything can be put into your computer system, saving your business time and money. Learn it, then love it.
DON’T rely on pencil and paper systems for your documentation.
“Creating estimates on paper gives more room for error, especially if more than one person at your landscaping company writes estimates. Without a centralized business software system, inaccurate and unprofitable estimates often result from:
Shortage of time.
Erroneous or repetitive manual calculations.
Inaccurate labor and materials costs.
Inconsistent proposals.
Lack of visibility into costs of past landscaping projects.”
Save some trees (and lots of time, money, and labor) by switching to a landscape service software! ERP software solutions are designed for easy and effective landscape and lawncare management that avoids these major pitfalls that come from not utilizing the best landscaping management software on the market. Combining accounting, CRM, project management, HR, operations, and more into one easy to use interface allows your business to take on more work and to better service the customers that you already have.
DO make the most of marketing.
A key service that landscape management software offers is the ability to launch automated email campaigns, raising brand awareness and netting more clients for your business.
DON’T ignore the full range of possibilities that your landscape management software brings to the table.
Look for a software that boasts a full suite of features from accounting to dispatching. Remember, every employee in your SME can make use of a landscape management software system, meaning executives, accountants, gardeners, architects, salespeople, and so on can streamline their workflows equally. Most of these software systems are available as an app, meaning your employees will be able to add customer and job information, estimates, photos, and service notes with just a few clicks.
DO try a free demo.
Budgets can be tight, and there are lots of different kinds of business management software out there, so look for a software that has a free trial period.
DON’T clutter your business with too many software systems that don’t work properly with one another.
Simplicity is key—one single, integrated software system that your entire business can run on is always more efficient (and cheaper) than using a bunch of systems to complete your work. The quicker and easier you can accomplish a task, the better your workflow will be. Landscape management software allows you to spend less time on back office things like accounting, inventory management, or rooting around for documents and more time making the decisions that matter. For your employees, it means more time spent in the garden!
For any growing business, an excellent software system is crucial. That applies to private mental health practices, too. Luckily, there are mental health services software systems that can increase the efficiency of your private practice, allowing it to easily expand all while maintaining HIPAA compliance. By improving the efficiency of patient care and improving the way that your practice organizes and safekeeps its data, by optimizing scheduling and making billing and accounting easier, mental health services software benefits both the practice and the patients.
Mental Health Software Creates a More Efficient Practice
The biggest advantage that mental health services software can bring to a growing practice is its ability to increase operational efficiency, which outperforms pen and paper by any standard metric.. One way in which mental health software increases efficiency is through data management.
Mental health services software makes data easier to update and is safely secured after each edit, so that your private practice remains HIPAA compliant and that confidentiality remains front and center. EHR (electronic health records) software allows multiple health organizations to update patient data facilitating communication between doctors. This way, doctors can have up to date information about the patients they treat and can provide the best support possible since they won’t have to worry about any logistical hiccups.
Mental health services software also provides organizational tools to facilitate patient focused work. Note taking templates, looking up DSM codes, and intake/outbound forms are just some of the functionalities that mental health services software provides.
Effortless Scheduling
Scheduling can be difficult enough on its own, and with an average of one in five Americans with mental health concerns who may be looking for professional help, the process can be made even more troublesome and complex. Mental health services software eases this demanding task with intuitive patient scheduling features.
Patient scheduling software optimizes front office work by allowing the schedule to be more easily adjusted based on both patient and doctor needs. Best of all, mental health services software systems include patient portals which can help your patients maintain easier lines of communication with practitioners. Not only can patient portals build better and more friendly relations with patients, they also assist with last minute scheduling changes or unforeseen mental health dilemmas so that your practice and your patients can quickly and effortlessly figure out the best path forward .
The scheduling feature of mental health services software has other benefits too. This feature can track patient attendance so that the doctors in your private practice know who attends in individual or group therapy sessions and make note of any potential changes that need to be made to better aid your patients. Patient scheduling software can also send out reminders to patients that their appointments are due so they can make sure their personal schedules are adjusted for the meeting, or call and reschedule if necessary.
Insurance and Billing
Although, arguably the most appealing feature of mental health services software is how it can help with billing and insurance claims. One of the more simple additions that mental health billing software provides is credit card processing so that your patients are given multiple options for paying. Patients can also receive receipts and invoices through mental health billing software so that they know how much they pay and your practice gets compensated for its services.
More importantly, mental health billing software simplifies insurance claims. With an estimated number of 907 insurance companies in 2017, each with their own policies and plans, submitting insurance claims can be frustrating and confusing from both the patient and practitioner end of the spectrum.
Mental health billing software assists in that process by allowing your doctors to submit insurance claims, ERA files and CMS-1500 forms with the software. Combining the ability to file insurance claims with patient portals enables your private practice to make sure that both you and your patients are both adequately taken care of.
Accounting
With billing features and insurance management already included in mental health billing software, it only makes sense then that the best mental health services software contains integrated accounting features. Your private practice is a business too, so your mental health software should include features that help the business facet of your growing practice in addition to all of the tools necessary for providing patients with the best care possible.
Accounting software will help process payments as well as secure your financial data, and make the process of accounting incredibly easier for your practice. The meticulous records kept within the integrated accounting system is sure to simplify insurance claims and increase efficiency. Above all, integrated accounting is altogether just cheaper for your practice. Instead of paying extra for an accounting software to work alongside your mental health services software system, simply find a mental health software with accounting integrated into the system. That way, your growing practice doesn’t have to pay for two (or more) software systems.
Mental Health Services Software – The Takeaway
Investing in a mental health services software is one of the best decisions you can make for your growing practice. With the increased efficiency that the software provides, your employees and doctors can focus on what truly matters, the patients and their mental health. And with how easy mental health software makes scheduling, billing, and accounting both your employees and patients will benefit from the simplified process.
What are professional services? The answer to this question is far-reaching—a wide variety of service types and business models fall under the professional services umbrella. Sometimes it’s hard to encapsulate exactly what defines a professional services organization—oftentimes it has a subjective, “I know it when I see it” feel to it.
While the definition of what professional services are is always shifting as our economy evolves, it’s much easier to define what professional services organizations do:
Professional service organizations provide support in the form of contracted advice and/or performing tertiary tasks and duties.
Regardless of the specific product or service rendered, it’s common to see both B2C and B2B practices within the professional services industry. Some organizations focus on exclusively one or the other, but many practice in both.
Clients come in all shapes and sizes, but the majority of clients that professional service organizations assist share a common perspective: it’s often savvy and efficient to hire an outside expert.
Small business owners ranked “time management” as the third largest challenge they face. The first and second biggest challenges? Cash flow (obviously) and marketing/advertising (a professional service in its own right).
Spending additional time, energy, and resources on tasks that could be masterfully—and cost-effectively—tackled by a third-party professional is not a wise management strategy.
Types Of Professional Services
Products and services vary drastically by company and industry. However, the common ground among professional services providers lies within the logistics of how business is conducted.
Communication, data management, scheduling, financial reporting, and payment processing are some of the processes universally shared by all professional services providers.
Ideally, professional services providers use one system to manage their entire business to ensure work is profitable and delivered in a timely fashion. Sure, lawyers will have different needs than IT professionals, but the core pillars and processes of the professional services industry remain the same.
Below we’ll cover four of the core professional services and how each type of service provider can stay ahead of the competition in their respective lanes.
Accounting
Breakdown: Accounting agencies and service providers exist for a reason—assigning a manager within your organization to handle your finances by way of using spreadsheets typically isn’t a prudent business practice.
Tax management, expense tracking, and payroll considerations are just a few examples of what makes up the 9 to 5 of an accounting firm.
How They Can Stay Ahead: Putting aside the day-to-day duties that accountants are bonafide experts at, accounting firms that want to stay a step ahead of the competition need to place an additional emphasis on a different aspect of their business: customer and vendor communications.
For accounting firms to act as premier professional servicers, they need to be equipped with the right tools. In this case, utilizing software equipped with customer and vendor management portals will benefit all parties involved. Streamlined communication channels, virtual invoice payments, and the ability to remotely view billing and transaction histories at any time will create satisfied clients—it may even prevent those dreaded 10:00 pm “ask” emails.
After all, accountants in particular have a special appreciation for accuracy, consistency, and transparency—it’s quite literally the foundation of what they do for a living.
Consulting
Breakdown: Excluding the aberration of 2020, the global consulting industry has steadily increased in size every year for the last 10 years. Data collected by Glassdoor indicates that US-based consultants make (on average) around $89,000 annually—well higher than the overall US compensation average.
Perhaps that’s in part to the diversity of specializations within the consulting industry. Strategy consultants, management consultants, operations consultants—the list goes on. I’m sure at least a few more will be added to the list before this blog is published.
How They Can Stay Ahead: While the methodologies and specializations for consultants may vary, their goals remain uniform—to provide a premier, professional, and profitable experience for their clients.
The best way to do that? Be at the forefront of addressing the main challenges that businesses will be facing in the next 3 to 5 years. According to a survey of 1300 professional services consulting firms, the top five main challenges businesses will face, all have one thing in common: technology and its rapid rate of adoption within the industry.
Unpredictability in the marketplace
Changes in how buyers buy your services
Increased competition from new firms/competitors
The need for new skills
Automation/artificial intelligence
Challenges 2, 4, and 5 correlate directly with technological advancements—e-commerce is more prominent than ever, development-centric skill sets are dominating the global workforce, and technologies with a focus on automation and machine learning are continuing to grow in popularity and practicality.
Challenges 1 and 3 may be age-old challenges, but they certainly have a new, technological twist to them. Moore’s Law would suggest that technological progress is advancing at a higher rate than ever before, leading to increased levels of uncertainty in how (and, in a lot of instances, when) technology will impact any given industry. As more and more businesses in all industries adopt more efficient and profitable technologies, competition will naturally increase. After all, technology tends to level the playing field.
IT Services
Breakdown: IT services encompass a wide variety of skills and disciplines. Web design, cybersecurity, software development, and database management—are all distinct from one another, yet fall under the same umbrella of “IT.”
The diversity of what falls under the umbrella of “IT services” is part of the challenge businesses face. If an organization offers a single service (for example, web design) it may not generate enough of a client base to continuously extract revenue. Conversely, if an organization offers a staggering collection of services, it may fall into a “quantity over quality” conundrum which could eventually lead to revenue woes.
Many businesses have found a sweet spot. For example, some companies may offer web design services while also managing digital marketing campaigns and social media efforts. And, low and behold, some companies are still intent on doing it all. And that’s ok—but with such a varied array of services, how can companies efficiently keep track of it all?
How They Can Stay Ahead: No matter the type of IT service a business offers, some things never change. Having real-time information available is always crucial, as is the ability to smartly manage projects.
Most of all, in an extremely skill-intensive industry like IT services, having the ability to quickly assess the skill sets, qualifications, and certifications of both existing team members and prospects in the pipeline will pay dividends down the road.
The importance of cultural fit within an organization has not been understated as of late—hiring the right cultural fit within a company leads to less employee turnover, more productivity (especially in regard to remote work), and overall higher satisfaction.
“Cultural fit” isn’t just an organizational-wide consideration—it’s important that every team and cluster of employees within an organization is able to mesh well together.
Before worrying about the projects and tasks themselves, it’s important to consider how employees are placed together. By utilizing all of the tools available to accurately assess candidates and current employees alike, IT services teams will be able to tackle any task in front of them.
Legal and Law Firms
Breakdown: Of all of the professional services that we’ve discussed so far, I think it’s a fair assumption to say that legal services should be the last type of service that any business attempts to solve unaided. (Disclaimer: not legal advice.)
In America, everyone has their own opinion on certain laws, legal practices, and even lawyers themselves. The beautiful part about our legal system and its practice is that we have the unalienable right to maintain and voice opinions of all flavors and varieties.
Though our nation’s legal practices and procedures don’t come without scrutiny, one thing is for certain—many of the societal advancements that we’ve benefitted from have come after tireless, tedious, and often thankless hours of legal work.
How They Can Stay Ahead: If there is a criticism to be made about the legal profession in America, it mainly revolves around its “pay-to-play” model. Yes, the 6th Amendment guarantees every citizen the right to counsel. However, every American knows the reality in which we live: the more you pay, the more you get.
This isn’t an issue that can be solved overnight, nor can it be solved by any single person or law firm. Most lawyers aren’t Cochrans and Shapiros—they’re public defenders, paralegals, and employees of smaller firms that don’t have the luxury of attracting clients with 8-figure net worths.
Providing legal services is about doing right by your clients. One way to do that without a Hollywood-esqe budget is to utilize technology to its fullest.
Document management, time and expense tracking, and client communication channels don’t have to be disconnected and burdensome to maintain. They can be managed in a single, easy-to-use platform. Technology should work for you—not the other way around.
Ensuring Professional Services Success
On the surface, it may seem that lawyers and software developers don’t have much in common. If you ask them, they might even agree.
But, what they share is their ability to provide a service that they’ve trained for—training that, in many cases, has encompassed the vast majority of their adult lives. Success comes in all shapes and sizes, especially when you’re talking about the professional services industry.
Servicing customers is never an easy task. There are a million tips and tricks out there on what to say, do, and act like in order to deliver the best results. Many of those pieces of advice are worthwhile.
At the end of the day, it all boils down to the same thing—leveraging the tools and technology at your disposal in order to provide the best service possible.
