Chch business reaps rewards by going paperless

Christchurch-based electrical company RED Electrical is now on a transformational path to success – and part of that is down to its decision to ditch manual, paper filing and go completely paperless.

Now, its managers are encouraging all businesses to go digital and reap the benefits, which include time and money savings.

RED Electrical provides electrical services to small and large clients. It needs to file and store large amounts of customer information, as well as invoice records and job details.

Director Scott Aldridge says the digital way is now central to the business. "In order to do a servicing job in our industry, it's vital to complete certificates of compliance and safety certificates," he explains.

That used to involve chasing, scanning, photocopying and emailing job certificates, but now the process has been streamlined.

"With a digital business model, we've been able to save significant amounts of time and money. Certificates, for example, no longer need to be physically chased up and handed in," Aldridge continues.

"It's also fundamentally changed how we schedule and charge for jobs. Through a simple well-labelled attachment and a click of a button we can view who of our clients need a job completed and where we need to send out invoices.

He adds that job management software has helped the company grow, and it has also added a point of difference.

"We can share with clients our jobs' work notes and show property managers our system. We can now answer urgent 'set-and-forget' job requests that, with their tight turnarounds. This way of doing things has enabled us to become a higher margin business.

RED Electrical uses cloud-based job management software firm simPRO. Amongst simPRO's offerings are eForms, SMS, simPRO IoT, and Data Feed. They are all designed to remove the paper trail from businesses and replace it with an online solution.

"I encourage all businesses in New Zealand to seriously consider becoming more familiar with the services out there that are designed to help streamline the average workday," adds simPRO New Zealand general manager Ricky Sevta.

"As a business owner or manager, how many times have you been unable to secure a new client or project, because you and your staff needed that time to process the mountain of paperwork and job schedules from your current client base?

"The capabilities are there and the sooner businesses embrace the true benefits of job management, the sooner New Zealand's economy can grow stronger," Sevta concludes.