– Yvonne Tuttle, Team Management Systems, Inc.

The benefits of system integration to the HVAC, Mechanical and Plumbing contractor are numerous indeed.  But counting them is simply an exercise in elementary math.  How can system integration affect the bottom line?

Many consultants and IT people have traditionally maintained that the cost of integrated systems will demand a premium... and it does.  But the offsetting timesavings factor, coupled with your new ability to maximize manpower, should pay your firm large dividends - even in the short run.

 Although “systems integration” saw a dramatic evolution in the 90's, there are still knowledge barriers and false information surrounding the topic: 

·        Many companies confuse an interfaced system with the fully integrated system.  An interfaced system does allow multiple software packages to run side by side, but those different software packages may not share information.  If they do not talk to each other, double entry is still necessary. 

·        Computer consultants will often tell you that systems integration is expensive.  While the consulting firm may be outstanding in the field of computers, they often have no experience running a contracting firm.  Therefore the value of the complete lack of duplication is lost - due to inexperience in the industry.  So as they attempt to guide your decision, some may totally miss the fact that we are not at all comparing apples to apples.  Thus the fully integrated system appears to be very expensive, while, in fact, it is far less expensive.

·        “We’ve always done it that way.”  Old habits die hard.  Holding on to old procedures can obscure the present vision.  People are often blind to the benefits, capabilities and functions of an integrated system.  They often miss out on the advantages of the enhanced communications. 

With a fully integrated system, you can increase control over the entire business process, creating a cost savings and improving overall communications.  The benefits of integrated business management systems are:

·        Single entry capability  Your office staff will enter data only once.  It can then be shared by  all parties with permission to access information. 

·        Enhanced communications will eliminate going from person to person, department to department, to find out who initialized various functions like purchase orders and billing. 

·        Additional data delivery expedites ordinary office functions by reducing the time it takes to complete tasks.  The overall accuracy of your records also creates a vast reduction in the time.

·        Improved software support  With a fully integrated system, your software support comes from one source.  If you have purchased industry-specific software, your source also knows the industry.

Team Management Systems will help you work with your consultants and CPA’s to help you achieve your goals. 

Team Management Systems even offers User Meetings and classes to encourage system users to implement and better utilize their system. The net result can be huge labor savings both in the field and in the office.  This labor savings includes the ability to have your service technicians enter their “received, arrived and departed time” - from the field directly into the office system through standard lines of communication. 

David Gaus of Pacific Coast Trane in Sunnyvale, CA is happy they switched to a fully integrated system.  “If we want to know what happened at a customer’s last year, last week or even this morning, information is available on screen, instantly.  All the minute details of calling and scheduling work are tracked.  So if one person is out, another can easily step in and know exactly what is going on with their calls.  Because ACOMARC™ from TMS  is a relational database, you can search for virtually whatever you can imagine!” says Gaus. 

 For the first time, you can have your field techs information immediately update your system without purchasing expensive hardware and incurring exorbitant recurring costs.  Acoworks Suites system is cost effective, efficient and most importantly it works in most environments.