5 Ways an All-In-One Software System Benefits Gas Engineers

It can take running a business to fully appreciate how many different steps a job has from start to finish. What all starts with a simple call can turn into a quote, an entry in your schedule, a day’s hard work, an invoice, and finally record filing. Customers only see the hands-on work, but being a gas engineer means a multi-step process that includes lots of planning and paperwork too. 

This plays a huge part in why so many gas engineers struggle to find a proper work-life balance. With so many different steps to each job, it can all feel like a disjointed and mundane process with time wasted at every stage.

With software having firmly cemented itself in the industry this past decade, it’s not uncommon to see gas engineers using different apps to help them create gas safety certificates, invoices, and so on. But what these apps don’t help with is connecting each part of the process together. 

An all-in-one software system can help streamline your process and guide jobs through your business like a well-oiled machine. Read on to find out the top 5 reasons why.

#1: Your workflow becomes streamlined & slick

What does a quote, job schedule, invoice, and gas safe certificate all share in common?

Customer information.

If you’re creating all these elements of a job manually (whether on paper or in software), you’re doubling up on data-entry for no good reason.

With an all-in-one software package, data is shifted seamlessly across these different stages of the job. For example, creating an invoice is incredibly quick when the software already knows what the job consisted of from the quote, and already has all the customer details stored. Similarly, chunks of your gas safe certificates, quotes (for existing customers), and more will be pre-filled with data pulled from your database of customer information. In the long run, this will help you save hours of time and countless headaches.

Not to mention, a workflow like this makes tax season much less stressful. Everything is kept organised and in one place.

#2: The convenience of having everything under one, single roof

Building on point #1, having to switch between different apps or software for your certificates, invoices, and scheduling is time consuming at best. It’s not uncommon for gas engineers to be working with 3-5 different apps throughout their entire workflow, and there’s several problems with this:

• You’ve got to learn how to use all these different apps.
• There’s a greater chance to run into bugs and software issues with so many different platforms.
• The constant switching may only take a few seconds each time, but it can build up and is frustrating. This is especially true if you’re running a paper-software hybrid workflow.
• Several different software subscriptions are normally more expensive than a single, all-in-one system.
• All those passwords and usernames aren’t going to remember themselves (and if you’re using a password manager, that’s just another subscription to pay).

The moral of the story here is that small things add up to big frustrations. Since software developers want to make sure you have the best possible experience using their software, it makes sense to stick to a single software ecosystem.

#3: You’ll make far fewer mistakes

When you’re constantly switching between different apps and paper, mistakes are bound to happen. Simply by not having to manually enter customer details each time you create a quote, invoice or certificate can mean far fewer errors.

These mistakes might only be a small spelling mistake that cause a wrong postcode, for example, but they can cause a huge headache later down the line when you have to locate and edit records.

Not to mention, a streamlined workflow without careless mistakes sends a good impression to all your customers and boosts long-term customer satisfaction. They might not realise it when things are going smoothly, but as soon as you make a mistake on their invoice they’ll be on your case.

#4: It’s much easier to grow your company

As a small business, you have complete flexibility and control over your own workflow. But when you start hiring new employees, you have to start thinking about how the tools and processes you use affect their experience at work.

In general, it’s better to have a simpler workflow that incorporates fewer standalone pieces of software and processes. New employees can get the hang of things much quicker, and there’s less room to make the kind of mistakes mentioned above.

But most importantly, scaling your business with integrated all-in-one software is miles easier. If a new engineer joins your team, you’ve only got to worry about adding a single extra account to your subscription. Everything will work seamlessly as before, and you can start to focus on the benefit, rather than complications, of having a new set of hands around to help.

#5: A good workflow benefits your customer, too

We wrote an article recently about customer relationship management and how to show your customers that you care. There’s lots of great, actionable advice in there including small things you can change to make a huge difference.

But to take a step back from the picture, you’ll see that many of those tips (like sending automated reminders, keeping an organised database of customer information, and arriving on time) rely on having a streamlined workflow to connect all the dots.

With fewer mistakes and less time wasted switching between different tasks, you’ll have happier customers and more time to focus on offering a better and more personalised service.

A quick recap

In today’s fast paced and competitive gas engineering industry, efficiency is key. Trying to juggle all the different aspects of a job can be tough, especially when you’ve got different apps and processes for each one.

An all-in-one software system is the answer to this, offering a streamlined workflow that reduces errors, saves precious time, and makes growing your business easier. It’s about boiling your workflow down to the essentials and consolidating what you really need into a single, neat, and convenient platform.

See what you can do with a single Gas Engineer Software subscription

From quotes and invoices to scheduling, reminders, and integrations, we’ve designed our software to be the complete package for modern day gas engineers.

Learn more about our software workflow on our homepage, and check out specific tools on our features page.