Top 10 list
10 questions to ask before you switch field service software
Switching systems is mostly a people-and-data project, not a software one. Answer these ten questions first and the switch goes a lot smoother.
The 10 items in this list
- What problem are we actually solving?
- Who will use it every day, and have they tried it?
- What has to come with us?
- How do we get our data out later?
- What will it really cost at our size next year?
- What happens to the books?
- When is the right time to switch?
- How long will we run both systems?
- Who owns the switch inside our shop?
- What does "working" look like after 30 days?
Changing the software your whole shop runs on is a bit like changing a compressor: the part itself is the easy bit. The work is in the preparation, the timing and making sure everything you disconnected gets connected again.
Whether you're coming off paper, spreadsheets or another system, these ten questions will tell you whether you're ready, and what to sort out before you start.
1. What problem are we actually solving?
"We need better software" isn't a problem you can test against. "We lose track of unscheduled jobs", "invoices go out a week late" and "techs call the office for every gate code" are.
Write down the three things that hurt most today. Every product you look at, and every decision during the switch, gets checked against that list.
2. Who will use it every day, and have they tried it?
The owner usually picks the software. The dispatcher, the technicians and whoever does billing live with it. If they see it for the first time on launch day, expect resistance, and expect them to be right about some of it.
Let at least one person from each role try it on real work before you decide.
3. What has to come with us?
Make a list: customers and their addresses, equipment, open jobs, unpaid invoices, your pricebook, maintenance agreements and any notes that matter. Then decide what can stay behind. Ten years of closed tickets may be better kept in the old system as a read-only archive than carried into the new one.
Ask how each item gets imported, in what format, and who does the work.
4. How do we get our data out later?
It's an odd question to ask on the way in, but it's the one that protects you most. Find out how to export all of your records, in what format, whether it costs extra, and what happens to your data if you cancel. If the answer is vague now, it won't get clearer when you're leaving.
5. What will it really cost at our size next year?
Price it for the team you expect to have, not the one you have today. Ask what counts as a user (office staff often do), what's held back for higher tiers, whether there's a setup or training fee, how long the contract runs, and how much notice you get of a price increase.
6. What happens to the books?
If you use accounting software, the switch touches it. Ask exactly what the new system sends to your books, what it doesn't, and what happens to invoices already in the old system.
Bring your bookkeeper in early. They'll ask the questions that keep your year-end clean, and they'll be the first to spot a problem.
7. When is the right time to switch?
Not in the middle of the first heat wave. For most HVAC shops, the shoulder seasons in spring and fall are the time to change systems: steady enough that people have time to learn, quiet enough that a hiccup doesn't cost you a week of emergency calls.
Pick a date, put it on the calendar and work backward from it.
8. How long will we run both systems?
Running two systems side by side for long is miserable: every job gets entered twice and nobody's sure which one is right. Running none for a day is worse.
Choose a cutover date. Before it, load your customers and pricebook and practice. On it, start booking new work only in the new system. After it, keep the old one available read-only for as long as you need to look things up.
9. Who owns the switch inside our shop?
Someone needs to be in charge: answering "how do I…" questions, chasing the data import, and making the call when something isn't working. It doesn't have to be the owner. It does have to be one person with the time and the authority to do it.
10. What does "working" look like after 30 days?
Decide in advance how you'll know the switch succeeded. For example: every job is on the board, no paper tickets are coming back to the office, invoices go out the day the work is done, and techs stopped calling for job details.
At 30 days, check against the list you made in question 1. Fix what isn't working while everyone still remembers why you switched.
The short version
- Write down the three problems you're solving, and test everything against them.
- Involve the people who'll use it daily before you decide.
- Know what's coming with you, and how you'd take it out again.
- Bring your bookkeeper in early.
- Switch in a shoulder season, with one owner and a firm cutover date.
From the people who make Berm
Field service software built for HVAC shops
Berm puts dispatch, a technician phone app, estimates and invoices in one place, and every plan has every feature. Open the demo to click around a sample HVAC company. No sign-up, nothing to install.