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 go well beyond low price and internal operational tweaks. Amazon […]

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 its widespread impact. Before you read any further, make sure you have run the latest Windows update if […]

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 applications from providers who focus on one part of your business. […]

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, and differentiate yourself from the competition? Nope. Accounting doesn’t drive better customer outcomes. So, why do […]

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. I know I’m not the first person who’s ever made a bad software decision, but […]

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 certain over-the-air updates while also monitoring the vehicle for proper performance.  Every […]

The ups and downs of a service contractor’s software buying journey

I’ve watched a decent amount of Oprah in my life, so I’m pretty well trained as an armchair psychologist. Today’s episode is about the ups and downs of committing to a field service management solution.  Friends, you are not alone in your rollercoaster of thoughts and feelings as you consider making a change. If you’ve […]

Beware of “all in one” software – the “all” will be “small”

The demand for “all in one” software in the service contracting space must be high, because I see lots of vendors claiming to be such.  These vendors proclaim to prospective customers that a single integrated system from a single vendor that performs every software function (customer service, accounting, time sheets, fleet management, e-commerce and so […]

Software advice from wall street

There is a saying on Wall Street regarding investment decisions – cut your losses, dump your losers, double down on a winner. The basic philosophy comes from the concept of discounted cash flow analysis. It does not matter how much money you invested (spent) historically, all that matters is what you will invest (spend) in […]

Don’t get Gigged by software – measure the GIG

Lots of companies get “stuck” (or gigged) with bad software because they do not know how to measure the quality of the vendor during the sales cycle. One of the best ways to measure a software company prior to buying the application (aside from the advice in the The Practical Guide to Buying Software for […]