August 21, 2015, 5:33 PM
Here we are. 50 episodes in, and Johnny and I have gained a lot from the process. Between brining on customers for interviews, getting feedback on the episodes, and organizing our thoughts to map out episode plans, we’ve learned more than we ever would have imagined, and we hope all our listeners and readers are learning too.
Today we’re sharing what we’ve learned from customers that have come to us from other guard management software solutions. Having seen the frustrations that some of these customers have experienced with subpar software options, we can say that your incident reporting software simply isn’t cutting it if…
You’re Not Using It Everyday
When we interviewed Richard Sparks of Global Security Management Agency, he talked about how Silvertrac integrated into every aspect of his operation. His officers used it on every property, every day, without fail, and this created significant operating efficiencies in terms of reduced training, better customer satisfaction, and added on-site capabilities.
Quality incident reporting software should transform all aspects of your business. If you’re simply using it as an accountability tool to make sure guards are at the correct location, then you might as well just have a Deggy button.
Most companies that buy incident reporting software intend to use it regularly but don’t get in the habit for one reason or another. Sometimes the software simply doesn’t have the functionality to add as much to their operations as they hoped. Other times it might be too buggy or not have enough customer support to resolve issues. Maybe it’s even that the interface is just too clunky and guards don’t like to use it.
Whatever the reason, if you find that your officers and supervisors aren’t logging into the system every day, it’s probably time to reassess the software you’re using.
Related Post: Should I Use Security Reporting Software as an Upsell or Value Add?
You Can’t Calculate ROI
Security guard software should have a resounding, quantifiable impact on your business. If you’re in the position where you think it’s maybe saved you some time and maybe been worth the cost, then it’s not an effective tool. A quality software system should create immediate results in areas such as:
- Less time spent on training and inspections
- Fewer customer complaints and better customer retention
- An increase in the number of contracts you win
- Less time spent writing daily activity reports
Let’s look at this last item. It’s simple to measure the difference in the amount of time it takes for a guard to complete a written report and to generate a report in Silvertrac. Multiply that by the number of guards in the field, and you’ve got your time saved. Do the same for the amount of time it takes a supervisor to edit reports and email them to your clients.
Running through that process, you should be able to calculate a massive amount of time saved on a regular basis. And that’s even before the savings that come from going paperless.
The Software Causes More Problems Than it Solves
Poorly designed incident reporting software can cause lots of headaches. Supervisors struggle to find information. Guards can’t figure out how to complete certain fields of the daily activity report template. The system goes down and leaves you without important data. The problem is, sometimes these issues can have the strange effect of making people want to stick with the software even more.
“We don’t want to quit the software, or look into something else, because of all the time and effort that’s gone into the existing solution,” said Johnny on today’s episode.
Don’t think that you have to settle for these issues. There are software solutions out there, including Silvertrac, that have an intuitive user interface, that allow for clear communication, and that don’t have major bugs or crashes.
This last one is especially shocking to me. Having the software actually work on a regular basis should be the bare minimum, and yet some people accept crashes and significant downtime as the norm.
Here at Silvertrac, any update we put out goes through several rounds of vigorous testing and development, so that even the smallest new feature works correctly from the moment we release it to the public.
As the contractor in charge of security, you should be the most reliable vendor a property has. If you’re using software that is unreliable, it just reflects poorly on your entire operation.
