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How HVAC Service Software Can Transform Your Small Business

Posted on by John Fay

Operating a small HVAC business can be both an enjoyable and demanding experience. To make running your organization more efficient, you might consider investing in an all-in-one HVAC software to make it easier to manage your day-to-day operations, whether your organization is still in the early stages of development or has been around for quite some time. The idea that HVAC service software—and for that matter, ERP software at large— is only structured for big enterprises with solid customer retention metrics, more personnel, and more equipment to handle is a common misconception.

However, as small businesses evolve to become more technically advanced, HVAC service software can be more beneficial—and realistic—for your small business than you might realize. Read more to learn four key ways HVAC service software can enhance your company’s performance:

Improve Operational Efficiency

Every business owner aspires to establish dependable, sustainable, and cost-effective methods of executing tasks throughout their company. You can expect that your business will be able to effortlessly generate reports that are user-friendly and full of adequate data to minimize any additional setbacks that may arise later with the best possible HVAC management software.

Using HVAC service software reduces error and waste by optimizing preventative maintenance, assigning tasks more efficiently throughout the day, and keeping track of the tools and equipment needed to get the job done.

Enhanced Information Access

Scheduling, data entry, inventory management, policy monitoring, and many other crucial aspects of running and operating a business have been traditionally managed through spreadsheets before HVAC service software became a prominent component of HVAC business operations. Though this may still be the case with smaller HVAC businesses, they are unfortunately missing out on a more reliable way to access vital information within the company and within a reasonable means of doing so.

HVAC service software offers a trusted platform capable of storing all data necessary to maintain your business and its needs, and it’s available for employees and technicians on the go. Instead of thumbing through multiple files and spreadsheets, you and your employees will find it easy to locate the correct information, thus making it easier to accomplish tasks.

Additionally, most HVAC service software includes customer and vendor portals where they can ask questions and get answers about your business and your services, enter billing information, see receipts, and give job updates while onsite.

Carefully Monitor Your Company’s Success

If you want your business to flourish, you need clear insight concerning its internal dynamics. It’s vital to keep an eye out for shifts if you want your business to achieve its objectives. Having HVAC service software removes the complexity of every facet of managing your business. This could be as straightforward as determining when to place an order for parts and supplies when the demand arises, or it could mean something more intricate, like analyzing the overall performance of your company’s installations to see where improvement is needed.

Guaranteed Customer Satisfaction

With HVAC service software, your company can become better coordinated, allowing you to pay more attention to your client’s demands and the roles and responsibilities at hand. It’s a worthy investment that your company and brand will blossom and continue to expand if you invest considerable time and energy into retaining your customers. Among these are the simplification of proposals and the flexibility of schedules. Ensure your company doesn’t fall behind the competition by investing in HVAC service software.

Striven Named Small Business ERP Software Leader for 2022 – G2

Posted on by Scott Hammer

Lumberton, NJ (September 23, 2022)-  G2, the leading provider of business software reviews, has ranked Striven as one of the market leaders for small business ERP software in 2022.

According to customer-sourced data at G2:

  • Reviewers were asked “Has Striven been a good partner in doing business?” to which they responded with a 9.7/10 satisfaction rating (ahead of the 8.2/10 industry average)
  • Striven was ranked the 12th Easiest to Use ERP out of 563 qualified software systems
  • Striven’s Quality of Support ranks as 9.1/10 (ahead of the 8.1/10 ERP average)

Striven has been named alongside other ERP industry options in what continues to be an increasingly important industry segment, small business ERP software.

G2’s recent inclusion of “small business software” categories underscores a trend that has been rapidly permeating the small business landscape—ERP and business management software systems aren’t just for Fortune 500 companies anymore. Small businesses are increasingly finding greater success with ERP software systems as opposed to using disconnected software systems or more analog, pencil-and-paper styles of business management.

Companies like Miles Technologies have taken advantage of this previously underserved space, which is why Striven has seen such a rise in popularity in recent years.

“Every day we’re thrilled to make a difference for small businesses across America, and across the world,” said Chris Miles, CEO of Miles Technologies, the company that develops Striven. “We built Striven to make it easy and affordable for every small business to have success implementing software into their day-to-day operations. We’re driven by the success of the businesses that use Striven to accomplish their goals, and we’re even more excited for what the future of Striven has in store. ”

David C., a small business CEO who uses Striven to manage his company’s daily operations, added this about his experience with the system:

 “Striven is the software to disrupt the stranglehold that larger ERP systems hold on small business owners.”

To learn more about Striven and read about customer experiences using the platform, visit the company’s ratings and review page.

About Striven
Striven is an ERP software for small and growing businesses that want to expand, simplify, and reduce costs. Striven combines all of the features for accounting, projects, sales, inventory, management, reporting, and more into a single streamlined system.

Why Inventory Software Is Crucial To Business Management

Posted on by Matt Bernot

Every successful business needs to know its stock levels for all of the different products it sells. In a digital landscape, business management software makes the process of inventory management more efficient and accessible to business owners. Inventory software syncs data in real time and integrates processes to ensure the business owner’s peace of mind when it comes to tracking orders. 

Different industries demand different requirements from businesses. It is important to look for the inventory software that serves you and your business the best and most fully. Once you integrate this kind of software into your business, you will find that not only are you improving the accuracy in tracking quantities, shipments, and materials, but also saving valuable time that your business can use to increase profitability in other areas.

Important Features of All-In-One Inventory Management Software

In order to find the right inventory software that serves the specific needs of your business, it is important to take into account some of the key features of inventory software. These include but are not limited to:

Inventory software keeps you on top of your orders and sales in an organized fashion while keeping you informed about all of your crucial KPIs in real-time. This is a proven method to avoid errors and discrepancies. For example, with the right business management software, you can improve your manufacturing processes by creating a bill of materials and labor, easily calculate material costs, update your inventory with new items, and create tasks for your staff.

inventory software

In terms of order management, you are able to instantly create purchase orders, control vendor costs, record tracking and shipping information, and add images and notes to items. Integrating an inventory management system within all of the departments of your business can assure you understand all of the ins and outs of your finances in real time, most importantly your profitability.

On top of these features, a great business management software is able to be customized to suit your specific needs, allows your customers and vendors to communicate with your business representatives, provides an intuitive applicant tracking system and a complete inventory management system. It is recommended to look for an inventory software that is both comprehensive with optimized tools and can automate many routine and repetitive tasks. Also, it is important to consider the usability of the program to ensure that the management of your inventory becomes seamless and largely automated.

You may find that some software is easier to use than others. Some software focuses on enhancing work orders and B2B sales channels, while others adapt to a variety of business types. Automating processes and reducing costs to maximize profitability should be a staple of any easy-to-use inventory management software. Business management software systems can reduce operational costs as well as administrative costs, while increasing on-time deliveries.

Wrapping Up

Decisions about software are difficult when taking into account all of the seemingly unpredictable variables that may arise over time. For this reason, it’s crucial to know what your business needs and seek solutions that serve it best now and in the future. The best inventory software will support your process of buying and selling products to help your business succeed. The tools a business management software brings to the table allows you to operate your business more efficiently using automated real-time updates to quickly sell products and services while leaving customers completely satisfied. It is a proven way to increase sales and increase profits.

5 Important Steps to Optimize Your Order Management Process

Posted on by Irene Luong

Order management is a crucial process which starts from receiving customer purchase orders, ranking them subject to priority (either by their total value, the product availability, or urgency of delivery), picking and organizing them, to packaging and shipment.

A smooth order management system not only makes your business operation simpler and more effective but ensures that your customers always receive their orders in timely fashion. Let’s look at 5 significant steps you can follow to further optimize your order management process.

1. Rely on the right order management system

Order management is a fundamental part of your warehouse operations when it comes to the way your customers receive their items. Once your store begins to get more orders, manually taking care of each step in the process could become somewhat cumbersome.

One of the surefire ways often trusted by businesses is switching to an intuitive order management software that can handle the entire fulfillment processes, streamline your shipping and tracking, and allow you to organize your store across all sorts of channels. With an order management system, you can dedicate more time to growing your business instead of managing each individual order Before choosing any solution, you should spend time evaluating the different types of order management software solutions on the market.

2. Consider a fulfillment integration

A fulfillment center (Amazon fulfillment centers being a common example) handles the essential processes of managing products bought by your customers, including order receiving, processing, and shipment. Other common integrations that are popular with inventory management software systems are ShipStation, Shopify, and WooCommerce.

striven integrations

It is worth mentioning that even for retailers that use 3rd-party services to take care of order fulfillment, a fulfillment integration will let you monitor the status of every order.

3. Make your inventory work for you

Picture this: your goal is to sell the hottest items on the market. You’re already the main supplier of the best products, with high-functioning warehouses and sufficient inventory all set to fulfill your customer’s demands. But due to events out of your control, the market shifts unexpectedly. The weather took a turn for the worse, which translates to changing customer demands. Your sales haven’t stopped completely, but the inclement weather has left you with more inventory that you can immediately offload. How should your business handle this?

To keep your stock at ideal levels no matter what the outside circumstances throw at you, you may choose to implement reorder level assignments. Maintaining this safe level enables you to wait to replenish inventory while still selling the inventory you already have on site. Likewise, with it, you can improve your cash flow by paying more attention to products that are in higher demand instead of those that are only a waste of storage space.

Many businesses consider using the JIT (Just-in-Time) stock management method where you receive the items only when you need them. In a situation where you find yourself with many goods kept far longer in your warehouse even after you implement this new process, you should explore the most practical way to convert them into cash. For example, make use of clearance sales, product bundling, or promotions.

4. Deal with shipment uncertainties

To handle shipping uncertainties, prioritize working with a reliable delivery carrier that has received positive feedback from not only sellers but also purchasers. Consider services that provide integration to your order management system. This should enable you to create delivery orders with labels the moment you complete preparing the packages, thus empowering you to monitor them with ease. 

If you’re curious about how to discover a suitable delivery carrier for your store, we suggest starting checking online seller forums. Aside from being trusted and providing real-time order tracking to ensure transparency, your carrier should enable insuring the goods for any possible loss coverage.

5. Simplify the product returns process

Let’s face it, you can’t avoid returns completely. Sometimes its the buyer nitpicking at trivial problems, but other times it is a serious product malfunction. Either way, these instances take the pleasure out of the customer’s shopping experience. This has a direct effect on profits, not to mention the fact that repeatedly dealing with unhappy purchasers can leave your employees unhappy and disgruntled. Above all, when it comes to returns, what happens to the products returned to the warehouse? Does your staff deal with returns based on a standard protocol or is it a more haphazard process?

To improve the return process, you should have a standard operating procedure surrounding returns. Once you get the products back from the buyers, put tags on them outlining their physical condition. Add the sellable goods right back to your stock, whereas consider returning faulty ones to the manufacturers or having them fixed. Under the least favorable circumstances, get rid of them.

You may want to reserve a part of your inventory within your warehouse for replacements, samples, and other promotional events. Several warehouses choose to keep reserved goods in separate areas to speed up the product returns process and diminish their effects on the regular supply of goods.

Wrapping Up

With competition between businesses being at an all time high, you must pay careful attention to the order management process of your stores. Refer to the crucial steps mentioned above to streamline and further optimize your business and your bottom line.

Striven Earns #1 Spot On G2’s “Momentum Leader” ERP Report

Posted on by Scott Hammer

Lumberton, NJ (June 24, 2022)-  G2, the leading provider of business software reviews, has ranked Striven as the top ERP software in its Summer 2022 Momentum Report.

According to customer-sourced data at G2:

  • Striven’s Quality of Support ranks as 9.2/10 (ahead of the 8.2/10 ERP average)
  • Striven’s Ease of Use ranks as 8.8/10 (ahead of the 8.2/10 ERP average)
  • Striven’s positive customer feedback has jumped 50% (ahead of the 15% ERP average)
  • Striven’s web growth has surged by 91% (ahead of the 10% ERP average)

Striven helps small to midsize businesses get organized, streamline processes, and enable growth. The G2 results arrive as more SMBs in manufacturing, field service management, and professional services are pivoting toward fully cloud-based management solutions. Striven’s #1 placement in G2’s Momentum Report underscores this growing and fast-moving trend. 

“The entire team at Striven is driven by the amazing and thoughtful feedback that our customers give us each day,” said Chris Miles, CEO of Miles Technologies, the company that develops Striven. “We built this product to make a positive impact in the lives of business owners and employees. We’re heartened by the success of the businesses that use Striven to accomplish their goals, and we’re even more excited for what the future of Striven has in store. ”

Dan M., a CTO who uses Striven to manage his company’s daily operations, added this about his experience with the system:

 “Striven is a great ERP system for small and medium sized companies. It has good capabilities in project management, as well as customer, vendor, and item management. It also has a robust CRM module.”

To learn more about Striven and read about customer experiences using the platform, visit the company’s ratings and review page.

About Striven
Striven is an ERP software for small and growing businesses that want to expand, simplify, and reduce costs. Striven combines all of the features for accounting, projects, sales, inventory, management, reporting, and more into a single streamlined system.

Master Inventory Software to Effectively Manage Your Supplies

Posted on by Matt Bernot

In a competitive market, high-quality businesses and their employees rely on established and practical systems to assist them to rise above the competition. Inventory software continuously improves and monitors, integrates, channels, empowers and monitors warehouse processes to ensure businesses will avoid unfulfilled orders and the misuse of necessary time.

Without tracking the amount of inventory a business has, where each item is located, and forecasting an accurate quantity needed for future sales, a company will fail to turn a profit and generate growth. As a result, inventory management software rids a successful business owner of the tedious time spent tracking inventory with pencil and paper and replaces this process with more efficient technology to track when shipments arrive, where raw materials are, and when products are on the move.

Multiple types of businesses use inventory software, equipment inventory software, or even warehouse inventory management software to raise their business to the level of which they previously only dreamt of doing. In a simplified example, an individual company owner may have various suppliers and could be working on an ad-hoc basis in terms of their supply. How long can they maintain effective business practices under these conditions solely using spreadsheets or other  less efficient methods of inventory tracking? The answer is that it is more effective, both in cost and time, to use an all in one inventory management software that serves you and your business to ensure that inventory is not over-ordered nor under-stocked.

Inventory Management via Inventory Software

The first step for small and growing business owners after acquiring their inventory is to sell their product to the market. However, this process may be overwhelming, especially when attempting to manually input and interpret your inventory levels and order flow. Having a clear and accurate view of your ROI is integral for all businesses, so inventory software is an obvious choice for any type of business owner that is looking for a better way to track this data. Inventory software controls stock levels, saves space, maximizes the value of labor, satisfies customers, and reduces the use of other fixed assets to also save you and your business from unnecessary costs.

The Cost Of Inventory Software

Most inventory management software is cloud-based and will not necessitate the individual to maintain servers, hire an IT staff, or make other excessive hardware purchases. All of the servers and necessary equipment are managed by the software company itself, saving companies a lot of money, time and energy.

The cost of cloud-based inventory management software is based on a monthly subscription rate, but it is also determined by several other factors, including the size of your business. Retail point of sale software (POS) may be a starting point for most businesses, but when your business is ready to grow and scale, many businesses find that POS software alone is insufficient.  This is because POS systems solely keep track of sales and accept payment from customers, which ignores tracking inventory, establishing the quantity and time that inventory needs to be reordered, effective inventory turnover, and does not mitigate human error by automating tasks that help to fulfill sales quickly.

Approximately 46%  of the businesses surveyed in Wasp Barcode’s State of Small Business Report fail to track inventory and/or  use manual processes. Those companies are not receiving the same benefits in relation to maintaining competitiveness in the marketplace, increased efficiency, saving money in the long run, and freeing up employees to do less monotonous tasks.

Inventory Software’s Role in Inventory Turnover

A key metric for all businesses is inventory turnover: the cost of goods sold divided by the average inventory on hand. If the rate is too low or too high, a business is in danger of overstocking, not meeting consumer demand, and dealing with the deteriorating value of stagnant products on a shelf.

Podium LLC, a manufacturer based out of South Carolina, saw their inventory counting time decrease by 90% when taking advantage of an inventory management solution. 

Inventory software helps businesses meet their desired inventory turnover ratio by providing inventory tracking, effective and time-efficient reordering, and accounting integrations which serve to prevent double-entry of data and automate yet another task that can free up time to focus on other needs for your business.

Takeaway

Inventory software is the most effective manner in which a business can successfully manage maintaining proper inventory levels while maintaining high levels of customer (and employee) satisfaction.  It can provide business  owners with the ability to spend their time doing other tasks besides manually organizing their spreadsheets or over ordering products that are not necessarily needed in bulk at the time. Inventory management software  acts as a digitized assistant, allowing for professionalism, profitability, and efficiency to shine through where, without it, only ambiguity and indecisiveness are present.