You can’t succeed in modern business today if you’re stuck using yesterday’s old solutions.
Still using handwritten work orders? Even if you’re using spreadsheets on a desktop, you’re costing your company time and money.
With work order software, you can automate preventive maintenance task assignments, streamline processes, and gain insights into your assets for better decision-making.
Learn how innovative work order software replaces your fragile, error-prone processes with stable, seamless workflows.
6 benefits of work order software
Here are the main reasons your organization should embrace a digital work order management system:
- Security. When you use cloud-based software to manage your work orders, they never get lost, and the cloud ensures they are protected from cyberattacks. Switching from on-premises software to the cloud also saves you money since you don’t need your IT staff to manage it.
- Automation. Writing the same request multiple times doesn’t make sense. With work order software, you can automate routine activities, such as scheduling preventive maintenance and inspections, so they becomes effortless.
- Convenience. On-premises desktop software solutions either force your technicians to leave the work area to enter the data or keep the hardcopy work order safe until they can hand it off for entry. With a mobile app, they can quickly enter the information in real time from anywhere. This means managers and teams get status updates immediately—not at the end of the day.
- Clarity. If you use software that is not cloud-based, most likely you’re creating multiple versions of the same document any time someone makes a change. Instead, you could have multiple users working on the same work order from multiple devices.
- Data tracking. When you use work order software, everyone has access to the data, helping to close the gap between maintenance and operations. Technicians can see who is responsible for each one and when they are due.
- Cost. Do you know the cost of one paper-and-pencil work order? To calculate this, you have to consider the cost of paper, toner, and printer maintenance. Even if you print only a few work orders per day, it could easily be costing you 10 cents per page to print. By the end of the year, these costs add up.
Reading a typed work order is faster and more accurate than trying to decipher another person’s handwriting. Digital solutions offer templates, drop-down menus, and other features that further reduce the likelihood of errors.
The software also allows you to perform data analytics to help you to see trends, make more accurate predictions, and make better decisions for continuous quality improvement.
Your department will have a positive impact on the entire company when you use informative dashboards and custom reporting to share asset data with others, including the executive team.
Paper duplicate forms cost about $40 per package. How many do you go through in a month? A year? You might be surprised.
In 2020, ManagerPlus work order software users processed nearly 2 million work orders, all in the cloud. If they had used paper, the cost for work order forms alone could have made the difference between making a profit and just breaking even.
But perhaps the biggest expense associated with paper work orders is the added labor.
As of 2019, the median pay for maintenance technicians is $25.41 per hour. If you consider how many hours your company dedicates to chasing paper work orders, rekeying data into a solitary system, and inefficient maintenance processes, these “off the grid” labor costs can add up to thousands or even millions of dollars.
How to address resistance to work order software
With work order software, you might be able to see the benefits before your team does. It could be challenging to get buy-in from technicians.
Here are a few possible reasons they might resist the change:
- Perceived lack of modern tech skills. Some children understand technology better than their parents. It can be embarrassing for competent technicians with years of experience to admit they don’t understand new innovations.
- Fear of learning something new. This ties into the first point. If they don’t think they have natural tech abilities, they might be afraid of a steep learning curve.
- Distrust. If a tech has had bad experiences with technology, such as accidentally deleting a document and losing hours of work, they may want to stick with what they consider a tried-and-true method for recording data.
- History. Some people just don’t like change. It’s the way they’ve always done it, so if it’s working, why take up mental real estate to learn something that they feel isn’t needed?
Show them how the new software will increase their productivity and decrease frustration as well as how saving the company money can impact things that matter to them, such as pay raises.
Finally, it can help to explain the training process, including giving them a demonstration to prove the new software is easy to use.
What does good work order software look like?
When deciding on work order software, look for a program that offers these qualities:
- Ability to track work orders in real time
- Cloud storage that keeps your documents safe
- Automation for routine activities, such as preventive maintenance work orders
- A mobile app that allows technicians to enter information without leaving their work area
- Robust analytics that help you see trends and make projections
- Bar code or QR code scanning that verifies assets and parts quickly
- Custom reporting you can share with others for more informed decision-making
- Multiple user interfaces so that all members of the team can see the right information at the right time, regardless of device or location
If you’re ready to save time and money with connected digital work order software, ManagerPlus Lightning is the cloud-based enterprise asset management platform that’s right for companies of all sizes.
See what Lighting can do for your work order process by scheduling a free personalized demo today.
