With National Tree day this weekend, we thought we’d look at options to green your business and in turn save the trees. And the best way to do this is digitization of your business by becoming a paperless tradie.
So can a paperless office be a reality in trades and construction? We certainly are an industry flooded by paper whether it be in the form of timesheets, house plans or receipts and invoices. It’s been a bottleneck in our industry for many years and until recently, we didn’t have access to devices portable enough to work out in the field.
"Finally, tradies have the chance to go green and in the process dramatically change how efficiently our businesses run".
The answer is cloud software and mobile devices. The combination of these two things has undeniably turned our industry on its head and every day, we see an increase in progressive tradies adopting technology to run their business with amazing results.
So what does cloud software do? Cloud software allows us to turn all of our paper documents into digital versions and mobile devices such as phones, tablets and iPads allow us to access and share this information from any location.
Say goodbye to:
Dragging folders from job site to job site
Folders/paperwork being in the wrong office/truck
Coffee stains, water damaged or blown away paperwork
Lost receipts or diary
Impossible to read handwriting
Using your vehicle as a filing cabinet
Manual calculation for quotes/invoices
Multiple job cards for the one job
Boxes of tax files or receipts
Decrease office hours and increase billable hours
Easily searchable documents
All information for each job in one place
Better job or project management
Electronically signed contracts and documentation
Stop the double entry of information
Work from anywhere
Digital timesheets - no need to return to the office!
Easily communicate with the team in the field
See where staff are located and allocate new jobs to the closest available tradie
Up to date building plans, no version control issues
Track inventory and manage stock
Digitize receipts and don't miss any tax deductions
Save on office materials like paper, printing and inks
Access to real-time financial data at any time and from anywhere
Improved quoting - Visibility of your profit or loss per job
Take payments instantly onsite
Or send online invoices with online payment options
Chase outstanding invoices easily
Automate service reminders for customers = repeat business
Files stored in the cloud on high-security servers in encrypted form
No lost information if your computer dies or there is a flood or fire
Use 2 step authentication to increase security
You control what information employees have access to
Lastly, being a paperless tradie is really good for the environment. Did you know that paper manufacturing is the third largest user of fossil fuels worldwide and contributes significantly to deforestation? Using less paper (or none!) helps reduce the number of trees cut down and minimises air pollution from the manufacturing process and transportation of paper.
Printing inks and toners are also extremely bad for the environment as they contain heavy metals, non-renewable oils and volatile organic compounds. So it’s undeniable that the less we use of all of these items the better off our environment will be.
So how do you convert your paper-based processes over? Check out our guide on How to go Paperless.
It is an exciting time of advancement for the Trades and Services Industry. There is an app for just about every action in your business now, but the tricky part is finding the right solution to fit your needs.
If you are ready to become a paperless tradie contact the team at TradiePad and we will guide you through all the software options and find the best fit solution for your business needs. Our setup and training service will get you up and running and in no time and you will soon see the benefits of a running paperless business.
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