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How to choose good software and not get fired

When I joined ServiceTrade to begin its services division in 2012, Billy greeted me with the welcoming threat “if you screw this up I’ll fire your ass.” I’m still with the company, so here is my advice for how to buy good software and…
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What’s Technology Worth? How to Value Your Technology Investments.

I hear customer prospects cry out for “the perfect application for my business that does everything” in nearly every sales call that I make. It does not exist. I have argued again, and again, and again that every business of any size will…
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Case Study: Ressac Implements Sage Intacct with ServiceTrade Integration

For more than 85 years, Ressac has established itself as a high quality, low-cost commercial contractor for heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration systems. Specialties include low-rise office parks, mall retail, and big…
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Whole Foods Whole World

I bet the grocers that had a bad day when Walmart got into groceries about fifteen years ago are having a really bad week now that Amazon has announced their intention to buy Whole Foods. The innovations Amazon is going to bring to grocery buying…

WannaCry? Servers will make you.

WannaCry? You will after this so-named ransomware takes over your Windows computer, encrypts all your important files, and charges you $300 to decrypt them, if you’re lucky. This virus is sweeping the globe and making headlines because of…

All-in-One is Pre-Internet Ideology

One of our most quoted blog posts is this one - where Billy says that in all-in-one software, the ALL will be SMALL. You should reread it, but the summary is that all-in-one providers can’t offer the same innovation as a suite of connected…
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Service Hazard (Infographic)

What’s holding your service business back? Is it double data entry and other accounting inefficiencies in the back office? If you solve those problems, are you going to create more value for your customers, make your techs more productive,…

I bought the wrong software.

Last year, I made a huge mistake. I purchased a marketing automation platform (I won’t name names, but it rhymes with harpstring) for our company and wasted a lot of time, money, and effort in implementing something that, ultimately, failed.…
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Rise of the Machines in Service Industries

A few months back, I wrote a blog post about the Tesla lesson for service contractors.  Tesla has a direct-to-customer model for sales and service, and they support this model with a high tech connection to the car that allows them to deliver…