Using Technology To Manage Your Office
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Transcript of Using Technology To Manage Your Office
FOR MEMBERS ONLY OF THE NATIONAL PEST MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION WWW.NPMAPESTWORLD.ORG
JULY AUGUST 2011
ALSO INSIDE: » Leveraging Technology to Grow Your Business » Managing Your Office and Using Technology to
Create a Successful Pest Management Company
The Technology Issue
I N S E R T
FOR MEMBERS ONLY OF THE NATIONAL PEST MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
WWW.NPMAPESTWORLD.ORG
JULY AUGUST 2011
contents
D E PA R T M E N T S «2 Executive Vice President’s Message
14 Pest Focus
18 Marketing Corner
22 Operations Management
24 Calendar of Events
F E AT U R E S «
8 MANAGING YOUR OFFICE AND USING TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE A SUCCESSFUL PEST MANAGEMENT COMPANY By Daniel S. Gordon, CPA As the information age matures, information moves more quickly, the quantity has increased and it needs to be dealt with in a much more efficient manner. Setting up an office in a correct and efficient way is paramount to succeeding in the Pest Control business. So, where do you start?
I N S E R T
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4 LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS Tips and tricks for PMPs on the cutting edge By Paula L. Yoho Forward-looking PMPs are capitalizing on existing and emerging technologies to increase their efficiency and effectiveness, and even to help grow their business. This month, we look at just a few ways you can do precisely that for your own pest management company.
8 PESTWORLD JULY/AUGUST 2011 www.npmapestworld.org
9www.npmapestworld.org JULY/AUGUST 2011 PESTWORLD
The way you go about setting up your office is vital to enabling your organization. Everything from filing systems to intercom configurations can make your company’s workforce efficient and productive. Think through every minute detail, from the flow of traffic through the office to the positioning of phone and data jacks.
When you’re a small company, what you do is pest control. Maybe you’re a one-man show, so you organize yourself and your truck and your route and the world is pretty simple from the office prospective.
BY DANIEL S. GORDON, CPA
and Using Technology to Create a Successful Pest Management Company
10 PESTWORLD JULY/AUGUST 2011 www.npmapestworld.org
As you get bigger, you need to think about how
you organize your office. Think about the workflow
of your business and how that impacts your office.
Remember, there are two areas of consideration in
office set up:
1. It’s the physical setup, meaning office space, desks,
chairs, water coolers, phones, faxes, computers, etc.
2. The other aspect of office set up is the dynamic
flow of information. This means incoming calls,
voicemails, emails, instant messaging, intercoms,
escalating and filing paperwork, and other such
activity driven facets of the office.
As the information age matures, what we’ve noticed
is that information moves quickly, the quantity has
increased and it needs to be dealt with in a much more
efficient manner.
Setting up an office in a correct and efficient way is
paramount to succeeding in the pest control business.
So, where do you start? Ask yourself some questions
about how your business operates: ! When the phone calls come in, whom do they go to
and how are they answered? ! How is the technician or salesperson that goes out
to the customer informed? ! How is work posted? ! What paperwork (or paperless information) comes
back to the office after the service is performed? ! How do you file that paperwork (or paperless
information)? ! How do you bill the customer? ! How do you process payments?
This is merely a small sampling of the activities that
needs to be considered. Think through your company’s
specific workflow and plan your office accordingly.
What’s all this about the Cloud?Everybody is talking about the cloud. What does it
mean and what can it do for you? In the simplest of
terms the cloud refers to computer programs that are
available on the Internet. It allows small companies
to utilize programs that were once available to only
larger companies who could afford the purchase of the
software and an IT professional to deploy the software
on local computers. Usually these software programs
are used to manage workflow, perform accounting and
mange your customers as well as other aspects of your
business. They are usually purchased on a subscrip-
tion basis paid monthly. Price is usually based on the
complexity of the program and the number of users.
What about backups, security and maintenance? If
purchased from a reputable software as a service (Saas)
provider, your data is safer than if you kept it in your
office as it is usually hosted in a professionally man-
aged server farm using data encryption. Remember
though, as with any computer program, the weakest
link in terms of security is sharing passwords.
Cloud computing is the next chapter in the infor-
mation age. Just look at some of the most popular
software. Microsoft offers their office products online
using the remote hosting model and bills usage
monthly. The most popular accounting software for
small businesses, Quickbooks has developed a browser
based program call Quickbooks Online. At first it
only appealed to techies. Now many small businesses
subscribe and in a few short years more that half of my
accounting clients use this platform. If you are still us-
ing local versions of Quickbooks watch out. My guess
is that within five or so years, the online version will be
the Intuit’s primary accounting package.
Technology can be Your BEST Friend or Your WORST Enemy!Cell phones, PDAs, GPS devices, laptops… you name
it. There are all sorts of technology tools available that
can increase productivity and enable your business.
On the other hand, poor planning, lack of knowledge,
or improper application of technology can sink your
business. The key is finding the right places to imple-
ment technology solutions and determine the best way
to implement it.
If you can increase productivity with technology,
then it is worth it. There are many great nice-to-have
If you can increase productivity with technology, then it is worth it. There are many great nice-to-have technologies out there. The key is to make sure costs are under control and you don’t spend a ton of time getting the technology to work. Don’t be fooled because the price is right.
11www.npmapestworld.org JULY/AUGUST 2011 PESTWORLD
technologies out there. The key is to make sure costs
are under control and you don’t spend a ton of time
getting the technology to work. This is an important
point. Don’t be fooled because the price is right for the
software or hardware. Keep in mind that there may be
hidden costs coming down the road when you have to
hire a tech guru to install the system and maintain it.
You can’t have technology run your business. If you
don’t have will power and discipline, then you may
just find yourself implementing technology for the
sake of implementing technology. This is not what you
want to do.
Technological solutions must be deployed to serve
a business need. The ONLY reason to use technology
should be to help improve upon your business. If the
technology doesn’t move you closer to your business
goal, then perhaps you should hold off on the initiative.
Develop Checklists to Cover All Your BasesChecklists are a business’ best friend! This is how you
ensure that oversights and errors are eliminated. All
systems need the proper controls in place in order to
make them airtight and dependable.
It’s not enough to just cross your tasks off a list. You
have to have a spot where someone initials it so you
know who did it. You need to record the date when the
task was completed. And then make note of any follow
up that’s necessary.
Here’s an example of the items listed on a checklist
used to do a closeout at the end of each month:
1. Run a sales report that shows revenue by service.
2. Print out a payment report with all the deposits
made.
3. Print a sales tax report to show which jurisdictions
you have collected sales tax in and who you have
to remit to.
4. Take all that information and journalize it into
your general ledger system.
5. Look through each account step by step to make
sure everything was coded correctly.
6. Once you know that all the work has been posted,
create customer statements and send them out.
7. Make sure the renewals for the upcoming months
get sent out.
8. After the close is done, produce all the reports that
tell you exactly what you’ve produced, how much
money you have, who owes you money and who
you owe money to.
Checklists can be used for many of your processes.
For instance, a valuable checklist in the pest control
business is an end-of-day checklist for technicians to
submit when they come in at night. This will deter-
mine if everything that was supposed to be covered
WAS actually covered. This will also point out any
follow-ups that are necessary on the part of the techni-
cian, a manager, or anyone else.
Checklists are a great way to take a lot of the stress
out of the day. Any structure you can provide is help-
ful to both the individual and the organization. You
want to make the day boring. Today has to be just like
yesterday and the day before so that you don’t have to
reinvent your business everyday. Boring is good when
it comes to processing repetitive tasks.
The information age is well under way, it’s those
companies that embrace it and figure out how to use
it efficiently to make more money that will prosper in
the years to come. «Daniel S. Gordon is a CPA in New Jersey and owns
an accounting firm that caters to PCOs throughout
the United States. Visit www.pcobookkeepers.com for
information about his firm, PCO Bookkeepers. He can
be reached at [email protected]
The ONLY reason to use technology should be to help improve upon your business. If the technology doesn’t move you closer to your business goal, then perhaps you should hold off on the initiative.