In this blog, Gareth O’Brien from EndtoEnd, a BWF Associate Member, explores the topic of using software to grow your joinery business and the long-term changes to the way of working, as a result of Covid 19…
Disruptions caused by the Covid 19 pandemic have radically changed priorities for nearly every business. Changes to working practices or how businesses present themselves online, originally planned to be made in years, have instead been implemented in weeks or months. The woodworking industry has not been immune from this.
Even before the pandemic, customers demanded quick and accurate communications, even when dealing with a traditional product such as handcrafted timber windows. Meeting these expectations is critical for successful businesses, though many companies have found themselves dealing with a high level of enquiries and orders, complicated by their team being spread geographically and site visits becoming more difficult.
With the recent BWF Home Improvement Index report finding that over half of homeowners are definitely, or strongly considering, carrying out renovation work in the next 12 months, demand for home improvements looks to continue grow for the foreseeable future.
This presents its own set of challenges. When looking to grow your business you need to ensure that you have the best team around you to support you. A big part of the team’s success will often depend upon the usability and efficiency of your software systems. This has especially been true over the last year, with employees needing IT systems that allow them to work from a variety of locations, whether in the workshop, at home or on customer premises.
On a longer-term basis, investing in flexible, user friendly software can enable a business to be more resilient to future challenges, allowing you to be more competitive and helping your business grow.
However, when growing a business, if you are not careful, customer satisfaction can sometimes take a hit. The right software should help you cope with issues you may encounter, supporting you in providing excellent customer service throughout the customer journey. So, what should you look for when identifying the right joinery software for your business?
Creating quick quotes remotely
As you look to grow your joinery business, you and your team need to be properly equipped so that you can generate as many orders as possible from the enquiries you receive. You don’t want to risk losing a potential big order as a result of taking too long to send the quote across to the customer!
With flexible working becoming the new normal, at EndtoEnd we believe that it is important to have a software that allows you to generate a quote in minutes from any location. This not only saves you and your team valuable time and improves your accuracy, but also gives a professional first impression to the customer.
Increasing productivity
Many businesses have found that lockdown has been the perfect time to assess and streamline their operations, and it is important that your software helps improve productivity across the whole business.
Using IT software to keep all communication for a specific customer in one place not only reduces the amount of paperwork, but also removes the risk of losing important information about an order (and the time searching for that important piece of paper!).
Software, when properly implemented, can also improve productivity by easily and quickly providing access to all the information you need to keep track of where your orders are in the manufacturing process. Your operations will run more smoothly and your business can be future proofed ready for when volumes increase.
Flexible to your needs
One of the main things that we have all learnt this past year is the importance of being flexible, as you never can be certain what the future will bring. This applies to every facet of your business, so your joinery software must also be flexible and adaptable, allowing it to be mouldable to your individual business needs.
At EndtoEnd, we understand that you don’t want to be paying for a feature that your business won’t use initially, but it is good to have the flexibility to be able to add features seamlessly as your business grows. Our software is built on this concept to be flexible to your needs. If you want to find out more about EndtoEnd IT, or any other BWF member, visit https://www.bwf.org.uk/find-a-supplier/
