Why Your Restoration Business Needs Restoration Software

Like almost every other industry in the 21st century, technology has changed – and mostly improved – many aspects of the restoration industry, particularly regarding software. For restoration businesses, software applications and platforms have helped contractors achieve high rates of accuracy and efficiency while also making communication with various stakeholders easier. Software for restoration businesses has also allowed them to make more educated decisions based on data instead of educated guesses.

Technology embedded in smartphones and other mobile devices has additionally altered the way restoration contractors document damage, enabling photos to be sent quickly and easily to insurance assessors to speed up approvals of work for insurance claims. Remote monitoring capabilities also help restoration companies track their equipment in the field, augmenting efficiency and streamlining workflow. Above all, the most important reason companies should consider restoration software is to improve their bottom line.

Understanding Benefits & Features of Software for Restoration Businesses

Restoration projects are often chaotic, especially since many jobs occur soon after a natural disaster across a wide-ranging area where many other structures are undergoing similar work. In a way, restoration jobs are like an intricate machine with many moving parts. Project managers oversee this bedlam, often working frantically to ensure anything that can delay work is kept to a minimum. That’s partly why so many restoration contractors turn to software. For restoration businesses, software that offers benefits and features that assist in documenting, organizing, planning, and scheduling work can be invaluable.

Software for restoration businesses makes it easier for contractors to oversee several projects at once and better handle customer relations while also helping keep track of where their teams and valuable assets are at any given moment. Cloud-based restoration platforms also allow almost unlimited digital storage for photos showing damage from a disaster, project notes logging all that needs to be done, and even insurance documentation. Software for restoration contractors also helps with budgeting by enabling easy integration of QuickBooks or other business accounting tools.

Important Benefits of Restoration Software

Software for restoration businesses offers numerous benefits. It allows restoration contractors to analyze their projects so that they can almost instantly ascertain whether a specific type of job will offer a large enough margin to take on. For example, a project manager may get a call for an after-hours inspection of a fire at a retail business that would involve paying a team member overtime. Understanding whether the profit margin for such a job will be enough to cover this extra overtime without eating too much into profits will enable restorers to budget their time and money better.

Benefits of software for restoration businesses include: 

• Capabilities for analyzing data, such as reports and insights, give restoration companies a better picture of their customer base.
• Enabling easier management of sales and marketing of projects.
• Improving productivity by enabling critical information on a project to be shared with stakeholders in real time.
• Keeping records on equipment like serial numbers, latest maintenance, date of purchase, and current condition.
• Maintaining better communications with customers and other stakeholders about a project’s progress.
• Managing workflow to increase efficiency by allowing contractors to track assets like equipment, field teams, materials, tools, and vehicles, including where they are and who has them.

Along with allowing project managers to improve how they use their resources greatly, such software has other benefits. For restoration businesses, understanding their customer base allows them to determine what types of customers and which geographic areas offer the best opportunities. Yet not all software for restoration businesses offers every feature a contractor might want or need, so it’s important to understand which features are most beneficial.

Integral Features of Restoration Software

A diverse variety of features is important to have in any software. For restoration businesses, that might mean having digital calendars and scheduling apps to track the progress of each project or perhaps messaging apps that enable seamless communications between field teams and administrators in the office. Each restoration company will have different needs, depending on its focus, so understanding what specific features a certain software platform offers a contractor is absolutely integral.

Features of software for restoration businesses should include tools that: 

• Allow automation of uncomplicated yet onerous tasks that simplify workflow processes so project managers can concentrate on work requiring greater human involvement.
• Directly assist restoration contractors in managing relationships with customers; for example, an app that automatically sends out thank you notes to a customer once a job is completed.
• Enable access to information from anywhere with an Internet connection via a mobile device.
• Evaluate data and offer analyses on this information through digital charts and graphs to help contractors make better decisions.
• Geolocate expensive and essential equipment for project managers to speed workflow, which leads to jobs being done more quickly and efficiently.
• Help restoration contractors communicate in real-time with customers, insurance companies, third-party vendors, and others involved to ensure that the most urgent work is done promptly.
• Make signing contracts and scheduling appointments easier with digital signatures on documents and online calendars.
• Store data safely while allowing easy access when necessary.

There may be other features that a restoration company wants included in its business software. For restoration businesses, that may mean features that help with sales and marketing, while others might want something that helps organize and improve workflow. Ultimately, each restoration contractor’s desired features will be somewhat different, depending on their distinctive needs. Therefore, perhaps the most important feature any software for restoration businesses can have is an open API (application programming interface).

Why Having an Open API is Important

Though individual features are important, taking a holistic view of what it can do is more important when considering restoration management software. For restoration companies with favorite software tools, a platform enabling easy integration of these tools is imperative. No restoration software platform will be able to do everything a contractor wants it to do right out of the box, so it needs to be able to incorporate the tools project managers and other stakeholders need to do their jobs better.

Having an open API is what makes it possible to use other software tools easily with restoration software. Knowing what an API is isn’t really important for restoration businesses. Rather, knowing that a certain restoration software platform can automate workflows with an app like Zapier or document water damage with an app like Encircle is more important. Open APIs permit contractors to utilize their existing tools while allowing them to add other capabilities with no trouble.

Albi Software for Restoration Businesses

The more people there are in the world, the more structures that are built for people to live, work and play within. The more expansive the built environment gets, the more disasters – both natural and manmade – that will affect it.  Like any other sector, the restoration industry in the 21^st century has had its share of technological advancements that have changed how its contractors do business. Restoration software not only helps restoration companies do their jobs better, but it helps with their bottom line. Albi offers restoration contractors a means to do just that.

Albi isn’t just another platform but rather software for restoration businesses made by experts in the industry. It’s cutting-edge technology that helps restoration contractors improve how they do business, taking it to the next level. To learn more about what Albi can do for you and your business, schedule a free demo with us to understand how your company can do better.