Cost and pricing is calculated using data from prior workloading and cost standards. For operational improvements, inexpen-sive communication platforms allow track-ing of resources across all cost centers. Tablets can be used to count and order supplies, check equipment statuses and maintenance history and inspect facility quality. Time card entry can be accomplished on mobile phones with GPS tracking or using a facility kiosk or a tablet; time card entry can be very inexpensive when leveraging the Internet. Gathering and storing this data will facili-tate budget analysis for existing and future jobs. ● Are your supervision costs accurate? ● Are your production rates accurate? In additional to operational advantages, your customers will reap the benefits of improved customer service and with more transparency. Providing customers data on their facility can change your role from vendor to con-sultant. Presenting supply usage reports, bud-get to actual productions rates, etc., allows them to make decisions going forward. No company wants to spend the money on smartphones and data plans for their en-tire staff. Even if we could, in many cases our staff may have difficulty using the device or read-ing the instructions in English. The good news is most employees have a cell phone and software can be developed leveraging translation services. With built-in text messaging and transla-tion services, management can send daily instructions to teams or individuals. In addition, if the facility warrants, a kiosk with a wireless network connection can be installed and used to communicate to team members in their language. Several Functions This technology provides several cost sav-ing functions including time keeping, ser-vice correction requirements and work or-der instructions. The data is assigned to crew members on the cloud platform, translated to their language when they log in and closed out when they have completed the assign-ment. The data is then stored for future refer-ence. As a side benefit, employee skills are be-ing upgraded with the introduction and use of technology. They are more productive, no longer spending their time interpreting instruc-tions and the mood of their boss. With today’s low-cost technology, companies of all sizes can significantly enhance their business processes and have tangible impact on costs and margin control. All aspects of your business can easily le-verage cloud and mobile tools. In a crowded marketplace, differentiating your company with smart, low-cost technol-ogy has never been more readily available and easy to get up and running. Ever Evolving As cloud and mobile platforms evolve, many opportunities exist to benefit the industry by driving down costs to improve margins while enhancing the customer experience. As an example, an area that is just begin-ning to heat up is communicating tasks and service corrections directly to the cleaning crew. By doing so, we can reduce the cost of su-pervision — not replace, but reduce. Supervisors managing 10 facilities, as an example, can manage 20 facilities by efficiently communicating to their crew without walking the building and pointing out corrections or explaining work order re-quirements. This cost savings opportunity requires a solid service process and management commitment. Communication Obstacles There are often obstacles with communicat-ing directly to cleaning staff: Language and devices. Robert (Bob) Brown is the co-founder and CEO of TSG Software, the developers of Accelerator CC, a cloud and mobile application for facility and commercial cleaning companies. He shares many case studies and writes about business and technology best practices for building ser-vice contractors on his company’s blog at www. AcceleratorCC.com/blog. FREE INFO: Reader Service 209 or CMMOnline.com/freeinfo www.CMMOnline.com 37
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