– Yvonne Tuttle, Team Management Systems, Inc.

There are literally hundreds of software packages on the market today. Finding the right package to fit your HVAC/R company’s needs can seem overwhelming at first. How do you begin to sort through the many options?

If your first step is to narrow down the field by price, you could be making a fatal mistake for your company. Okay, so you’re not the type of person to buy a Cadillac — why would you even consider the higher end software products? Well, this type of thinking can get your business into trouble quicker than you think. Let’s take a look at what often happens as owners attempt to be penny-wise.

As the owner of your contracting business, you realize the need for a computer to do your correspondence, track your customers’ orders and market your company. Being penny-wise you begin by purchasing three off-the-shelf software products: 1) word processing, 2) spreadsheet/database and 3) desktop publishing. Each product selected was not the cheapest, but not the most expensive one at the store. You find you have only invested $500-$2,000 in software. Sounds penny-wise, but lets take a closer look.

Each software package can do the job you would like it to do; however, the software is unrelated. You now have three software packages, all doing different functions. This requires your employees to do duplicate entry on any item that is used by the different packages (i.e., when writing a letter to your customer Mrs. Green, your employee will need to do duplicate entry on customer name, number, address and any model or serial numbers that your correspondence refers to). Not only is the duplicate entry time-consuming, but when you want to sort your data, the additional time and effort required will be costly (not to mention the reports which will be more than disappointing).

Lets say you have two employees utilizing the software. In one year’s time you could easily invest $50,000 to $100,000 (or more) in labor and benefits with very frustrating results for your dedicated efforts. What appears to be penny-wise up front will cost you in the long run.

If your company survives the above scenario with off-the-shelf software, you will have learned some tough lessons. Your next step is to move toward software designed for your industry. There are still a few pitfalls to avoid when buying industry-specific software. Each one of these pitfalls could cost your company dearly.

• Make sure the software is tested. Often packages claiming to be industry-specific are not tried and true for your industry. Check references.
• Watch out for software that is too new to have a track record. In order to really make the mark, your vendor should be able to prove performance to you with customers that have been using their software for some time.
• Beware of software that the vendor "claims" is specific to your industry, but really is not. If the vendor doesn’t seem to know much about your industry, this is more than a red flag warning.
• Be certain that the software package can do exactly what you need it to do (without duplicate entry). See if your ultimate goals and results match what the software vendor already has to offer.

By avoiding these pitfalls you will be able to narrow the choices down considerably. No HVAC/R company can afford to purchase a system that has not been properly engineered and designed for the industry. The system you choose should have financial reporting, job costing, service and marketing. All modules should be fully integrated. You will need the complete management reporting package with marketing capabilities that will allow your company to maximize benefits from your facilities and human resources.

ACOMARC software, by Team Management Systems, is a fully integrated, industry-specific software system designed especially for contractors and is Year 2000 compliant. Beware of a penny-wise decision that will cost your company thousands within the next year.