A United Front

Rhonda Ridge, creator of AdminBase, explains how the installer management system continues to evolve to ensure installation businesses stay ahead of changing market trends and continue to achieve maximum efficiency.

The pandemic forced more people to work from home but since the last lockdown, the shift towards home working has remained significant. According to a study conducted by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, before the pandemic hit 1 in 20 people claimed to be working from home full time, while post pandemic this figure has climbed to 1 in 8 people. Many more are splitting their time between the office and home. This different way of working has given way to new challenges, including visibility of work and project management across remote operations. Of course, for installation businesses, who might have several teams working on site in several locations, managing a team remotely is nothing new. However, the way in which remote teams are being organised is changing and installation businesses need to stay ahead of the trend to remain competitive.

You can with Kanban

Kanban-style job board systems have become an increasingly popular way for project-based businesses to manage people, tasks, and time. The English translation for a Kanban board is ‘signboard’ and the concept is to allow workflow visualisation to clarify work processes and enhance efficiency. This is done by ensuring there are no bottlenecks with any one individual, team, or department being overloaded with work. With complete transparency across all aspects of the business, any problematic areas can quickly be identified and resolved. Physical boards of this nature have been in use for a long time, but the popularity of the online version is growing because they can facilitate teams that are office based or working remotely.

“We have made it easy for installation businesses to adopt this way of working by adding our new AdminBase Task Board feature to the AdminBase installer management system,” says Rhonda Ridge. “This latest feature provides an overview of all processes required at any one time and splits actions that need to be completed into a simple list of all jobs at each stage. So teams can focus on their responsibilities, find what needs doing first and get it done efficiently. Users can also drill down from these top-level lists to access further information on the underlying lead or contract, thanks to our all-encompassing system.

“The AdminBase Task Board feature blends seamlessly with the AdminBase checklist system to provide an overview of sales and installation pipelines at a glance. The schedule of work can be displayed on a live screen so that it can be consistently monitored allowing users to quickly identify problematic areas and resolve any issues. This invaluable resource not only boosts internal efficiencies but also improves customer service levels.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

“The benefits of using an online Kanban-style board that is fully integrated to the rest of your management system are vast. It offers enhanced visibility, increased productivity, less waste, improved predictability, and better communication and collaboration between teams and individuals. AdminBase already facilitates this, but the addition of our AdminBase Task Board allows everyone to see their role and their impact on the bigger picture. They can see directly how the speed and quality of their work has a direct impact on the completion date of the overall project and the date of invoice. It sounds obvious but when teams are working separately, they can become focused on what is directly in front of them and forget that they are part of a bigger team.”

Rhonda concludes: “The concept of Kanban comes from a system of continuous improvement, which is a philosophy we follow closely with AdminBase. We are constantly evolving the installer management system to ensure it continues to deliver the very best and most up to date features, ultimately making life easier for installation businesses everywhere.”

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