Do You Need Project Management Software For Your Landscape Business?

Many landscape companies – big and small – wonder if they really need to invest the time and money into project management software for their field service business. Like the old saying goes “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” Right? Well, not quite.

While you may think that your business is running just fine without project management software, you may not realize that your business isn’t being optimized to its full potential. While the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, sometimes you really don’t realize what you’re missing until you try it.

Every single field service business can benefit from project management software. Project management software helps you track spending, manage costs, organize your team and fleet, manage workflow, and keeps everyone accountable for their jobs and clients. It’s a bird’s eye view on your day-to-day business, and it’s an invaluable tool once you get the hang of it.

Here are just a few ways project management software can help your landscape business:

Organization

Software allows you to organize absolutely everything – from scheduling, to leads and sales, to quotes and invoicing. It tracks everything. When you are running a successful and growing company, you have to keep track of everything that is going on. If not, how will you ever identify or notice problems? How will you work efficiently if you don’t even know what is happening? That’s the great thing about using software. You can have everything in one place in an easy to view, organized manner.

Workflow

Workflow inefficiencies impact your business negatively in so many ways. Not only is it not cost-effective, but it creates a bad employee and customer experience as well. Managing your workflow using project management software means that you can understand what jobs need what resources, who is working on it, and you can even track all customer interactions and map routes. You can also start to watch for patterns and allocate resources accordingly, either by adding more employees or better allocating resources to specific jobs.

Accountability

The great thing about using project management software is that you have a record of who does what. You can assign jobs, and track who works on specific accounts. If there is a problem with a work order, you can see who drafted it and speak to the employee directly. It gives you a better idea of who is doing what so that if something comes up, either good or bad, you can work with the employee and coach them. It also keeps your employees accountable when they know that everything they do is logged, which can increase performance.

Cost efficiency

Project management software tracks everything that comes in and out of your business, whether it’s ordering, invoicing, payroll, or anything related to the financials of your company. You can pull reports, and analyze spend to get an idea where money is going, allowing you to make changes and stick to a budget. By having this insight into your business financials, you can also try out ways to more effectively allocate dollars – such as marketing spend or scheduling – to see if it has a positive impact.

Is project management software right for your company?

Yes. At the end of the day, it’s worth a try for any landscape company. The investment you make in software will pay off when you see how much time is saved using the software, how happier your employees are, and you see how well you can optimize your financials and manage costs.