A successful career, just like a successful marriage, takes a lot of hard work and dedication. In companies today, it is unusual to have one or two employees celebrate a 10 year anniversary, but dESCO was fortunate enough to have 5 employees hit that achievement in 2011 alone. Aside from those five, there are 4 employees with over 15 years tenure, 2 with over 20 years and one who will be celebrating 25 years of service in 2012.  Currently, the average dESCO employee tenure is 9.7 years – an amazing achievement!

The culture at dESCO has long stood out in contrast to more freewheeling software companies who continually seek to lure new employees, creating a constant churn. While dESCO has established a strong base of long-tenured employees, many of whom have spent their entire careers here, that model is hardly common in today’s workplace.

“It is important to me to hire the right people and retain them over the long haul in order to give our customers the best all-around experience with our company and products,” explained Dean E. Schreiner dESCO Owner and President. “We have built an environment that permits creativity and autonomy, while maintaining the discipline to stay focused on the needs and goals of our customers.”

This commitment and loyalty is translated to dESCO customers through each interaction. dESCO’s customer service/support process is high-touch and focused on total care, digging deep into each customer’s business needs to deliver true results. With clear communications and a personal approach to help service companies overcome business challenges, dESCO values cultivating long-term customer relationships and having the opportunity to watch businesses grow and thrive.

While its employees give the company a competitive advantage in the marketplace, dESCO remains committed everyday to converting that into continued success. With over 6,000 dESCO customers nationwide, great products AND great people really do make the difference.

2011 was an exciting year for the Services Industry and according to the experts it seems 2012 will be even more action-packed. But, before we look into the future, let’s take a quick look at 2011 and the memorable moments. So in honor of the SportsCenter Top Ten List, I give you the top ten ESC version 12 highlights of 2011 in NO particular order.

#10 More Features Added to the ESC Mobile App
Although the ESC Mobile App was not new in 2011, the screen navigation was redesigned to make it easier to find the information you need. Additional new features include a new mobile management feature allowing managers/supervisors to modify and assign dispatches, promised dates and times of dispatches while in the field. Equipment can now be attached and edited through the mobile apps to help keep more accurate customer records. Credit cards can be processed in the field using ESC’s new Merchant Warehouse integration.

#9 Increase Customer Communications Automatically Through ESC
ESC users can automatically send an email to customers to inform them of the status of their dispatch. This can be configured for each status code so you can remind the customer of their appointment, tell them when you’re on the way, send a technician profile and picture and even send them a survey or a coupon after the dispatch is complete.

#8 Managing Service Agreements Becomes Easier with Added ESC Features
The Service Agreement screen was revised to include a robust new scheduling system; enhanced invoicing options allow you to include renewal amounts on particular dispatches to ensure the customer renews; additional options on the qualification screen allow you to easily combine service work with scheduled maintenance to decrease the number of trips you make and increase your profitability; and the ability to automatically order all parts required for service agreement dispatches, ensuring that you will always have the parts you need to complete your agreements.

#7 ESC Adds the Ability to Color Code the Dispatch Board
For increased visibility and priority associations, the ability to add colors to dispatches on the dispatch board was added.  These colors can be assigned directly to dispatches or to customers for all future dispatches.

#6 Encourage Your Sales Staff with ESC Spiff and Commission Tracking
ESC now includes spiff and commission tools. A spiff can be attached to any billing code or inventory item to track these bonuses by salesperson and can be set to a flat rate or a percentage of the sale price. The new three tiered commission system allows you to increase the commission percentage to those who exceed their sales goals and gives you the flexibility to set different goals for your technicians and sales people.

#5 Comparing Vendor Prices Made Possible with ESC
When ordering parts on a dispatch, invoice or quote, view a list of all the vendors that carry that part, their part number, last price from that vendor and the date the price was last obtained. This information will be updated automatically as you receive items and can be manually updated as well to ensure you are always getting the best deal possible.

#4 ESC Adds Revolutionary New List Views
This new feature allows you to quickly view lists of your customers, jobs, dispatches, equipment, agreements, invoices, quotes, vendors, inventory items and purchase orders. These lists can be customized to show just the information you want to see in the order you want to see it as well as saved and recalled easily. Use these lists to quickly find records, print custom reports, export data to Excel, and send emails or letters.

#3 ESC Allows You to Track and Bill Travel Time
Travel time can now be added to the working time when creating an invoice based on a dispatch in ESC. These times will be combined on the Technicians tab of the Sales Invoicing screen to increase the cost of the invoice. The time will also be shown immediately above the invoice body so you will know what quantity to use when adding a labor billing code to the invoice.

#2 ESC Credit Card Transactions Become PCI Compliant with Merchant Warehouse
Through a recent partnership with Merchant Warehouse card services, ESC credit card transactions can become PCI compliant in adhering to security and liabilities. Merchant Warehouse uses strong encryption technology ensuring the safe handling of cardholder information, which tremendously reduces your liability.

#1 Service Roundtable selects ESC as the Preferred Service Management Software
The Service Roundtable is a revolutionary organization founded by a collaboration of leading contractors to share information and help other contractors improve their sales, marketing, operations and profitability. ESC was chosen as the recommended service management software solution for its complete solution to manage customers, work, and finances in an intuitive, easy-to-use environment with the tools and features growing service companies need.

With a recent string of hackers breaching security, stealing sensitive customer credit card information and stealing money from customer bank accounts, it makes me wonder why service companies would not want to protect themselves further with simple painless measures. 

One important step is becoming PCI compliant with credit card transactions.  But you are probably wondering why … what’s the big deal? At first glance, especially if you are a smaller service company, it may seem like a confusing topic and a daunting task.  But let me break it down for you.

PCI Compliance Benefits Versus Consequences
Compliance with data security standards can bring major benefits to businesses of all sizes, while failure to comply can have serious and long-term negative consequences. Here are some reasons why.

• Compliance with the PCI DSS means that your systems are secure, and customers can trust you with their sensitive payment card information. Trust means your customers have confidence in doing business with you and confident customers are more likely to be repeat customers, and to recommend you to others.
• Compliance improves your reputation with acquirers and payment brands — the partners you need in order to do business.
• Compliance is an ongoing process, not a one-time event. It helps prevent security breaches and theft of payment card data, not just today, but in the future. As data compromise becomes ever more sophisticated, it becomes ever more difficult for an individual merchant to stay ahead of the threats. The PCI Security Standards Council is constantly working to monitor threats and improve the industry’s means of dealing with them, through enhancements to PCI Security Standards and by the training of security professionals. When you stay compliant, you are part of the solution – a united, global response to fighting payment card data compromise.

But if you are not compliant, it could be disastrous. Compromised data negatively affects consumers, merchants, and financial institutions. Just one incident can severely damage your reputation and your ability to conduct business effectively, far into the future. Account data breaches can lead to catastrophic loss of sales, relationships and standing in your community, and depressed share price if yours is a public company. Possible negative consequences also include lawsuits, insurance claims, cancelled accounts, payment card issuer fines and government fines.

Achieving PCI Compliance is EASY
Through a recent partnership with Merchant Warehouse, ESC has become PCI compliant, in adherence to security and liabilities, when handling customers’ credit card information. Merchant Warehouse uses strong encryption technology ensuring the safe handling of cardholder information, which tremendously reduces your liability. Plus ESC Version 12 customers using Merchant Warehouse services have also seen lower rates and improved efficiency.

You’ve worked hard to build your business – make sure you secure your success by securing your customers’ payment card data. Your customers depend on you to keep their information safe – repay their trust with compliance to the PCI Security Standards. Contact dESCO or register for more information with Merchant Warehouse to take the first step toware PCI compliance today.

 [Via PCI Security Standards Council: https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/why_comply.php]

Like it or not, the workforce is increasingly mobile and workers on the go need to be fully productive from mobile devices. Service companies need to keep up with the demand of an ever-growing digital world and should take advantage of the continued streamlined benefits that go along with a mobile solution. A recent article in The Air Conditioning/Heating/Refrigeration News speaks to this very message.

Most service companies already have cell phones distributed to improve in-the-field communications and most cell phone providers now offer bundled text/phone/internet solutions that are the same price if not cheaper than the individual plans. Adding a mobile service management solution will organize and streamline the work flow of both small and large service companies, making them more manageable and profitable.

ESC Mobile is a simple and affordable way to outfit your mobile technicians with real-time job information and time tracking. ESC Mobile is a powerful and intuitive smartphone, tablet and laptop App for Service Technicians to manage work orders in the field, Technician managers to manage technicians in the field and office personnel to monitor everything with real-time updates to and from the field.

ESC Mobile has all the tools and features growing service companies need. Benefits and advantages include:

• Increased tech productivity by arming your team with the right information in the field ensuring jobs are completed faster and more efficiently.
• Increased response time with features such as GPS tracking and mapping.
• Increased field accuracy with access to all information needed to identify and work on the right equipment and eliminate illegible hand-written field notes.
• Increased customer care and professionalism with easy access to complete customer information across your network.
• Increased sales by increasing the productivity of your technicians and in turn allowing them to complete more jobs daily as well as giving your team information needed to quickly identify up and cross sale opportunities.
• Reduced costs by identifying areas of waste and inefficiencies. (Example. Reduced fuel costs with ESC’s route optimization and mapping functions.)
• Improved internal communications by giving your employees access up-to-the-minute company and customer information, all in a single location.
• Improved external communications with appointment reminders, status updates, technician profile emails, surveys, coupons and more.  
• Reduced collections by allowing techs to process payments in the field lowering processing costs, ensuring accuracy, reducing collection issues and improving cash flow.

The benefits of implementing a mobile solution far outweigh the cost. So what are you waiting for? Contact us today for a personalized demo on our ESC mobile solution.

Peer reviews are one of the most sought after pieces of content that people look for when seeking out service software. Honest product reviews are more useful to buyers than any marketing materials, advertisement, or even testimonials.

You can see what other ESC users have written about ESC service software on Capterra. We are proud of what our customers have to say about their experiences with ESC service software.

For those of you that use ESC every day, you know how the software works for your business better than anyone. That’s why we’re inviting you to rate ESC and share your personal experience.

If you are an ESC user, you can submit a review on Capterra to share your personal experience with the service software. It only takes a few minutes to complete, and your feed back will help and educate other service companies as they evaluate the software for their use.

Submit a review on Capterra

Your review will be displayed on dESCO’s Capterra Profile and will help other businesses make good software decisions.

Click Here to Rate ESC or go to http://www.capterra.com/review_new?vendor_id=2000681

Capterra is an organization that helps companies choose the right software for their needs by presenting them with all of their options and making it easy for them to compare solutions.

The Section 179 deduction in the Internal Revenue Code lets businesses expense in full qualified equipment in the year they buy it. This deduction can be used for many types of equipment purchases, including vehicles, machines, computers, office furniture and equipment, and even software.

The Section 189 Deduction is not some obscure or arcane loophole in the tax code. It is designed to encourage business equipment investment by letting businesses deduct from their gross income the full purchase price of qualifying equipment in the same year that they purchase or finance it. This incentive, created by congress, is designed to encourage businesses to invest in themselves with new equipment purchases.

First, what officially is the Section 179 deduction?

“Section 179 of the IRS Tax Code allows a small business to deduct, for the current tax year, the full purchase price of financed or leased equipment that qualifies for the deduction. The equipment purchased or leased must be within the specified dollar limits of Section 179, and the equipment must be placed into service in the same tax year that the deduction is being taken (for tax year 2010, this means the equipment must be put into service between 01/01/2010 and 12/31/2010).” (Via Section179.org FAQs)

Usually when you purchase a piece of equipment, you get to write it off a little bit at a time over its useful life. However, this section in the tax code will allow you to write off the full amount right away.

Here is a short video from Rhonda at Crest Capital that explains how the Section 179 deduction works, and how you can use it to write off your equipment or software purchase:

Our ESC service software meets the requirements and falls into the standard Section 179 equipment write-off. However, for anyone that wants to take advantage of the Section 179 Tax Deduction for this year, the software needs to be in service by December, 31 2010. For more information about how the tax deduction applies to software, there is an article on Section 179 and software on Section179.org.

Most businesses that purchase or finance less than $2 million in equipment purchases in 2010 should qualify for the deduction. The other important qualification is that the purchased equipment must be put into service before the end of the year.

There are less than four weeks until this enhanced Section 179 tax deduction expires, so there is still time to take advantage of this tax code. This is a use it or lose it program. With it you can write off the entire cost of equipment or software you purchase. However, as a reminder, to qualify the purchase must be in place by December 31, 2010.

If you are looking to get an idea of how much you could save with the Section 179 tax deduction, you should check out Crest Capital’s Tax Deduction Calculator. The calculator is updated with all the limits for the 2010 tax year, and can give you a good idea of how much you could save on your equipment purchases that you finalize before the end of the year.

You can find more info about the Section 179 deduction at www.Section179.org.

Have you used the Section 179 deduction in your business? Leave your story in the comments.

We are pleased to announce the official release of ESC Mobile Web for the iPhone/iPad and Android based phones. We have customized both applications to make full use of the device’s touch screens and feature the following abilities:

• View complete dispatch information
• Change dispatch status
• Track time spent on jobs
• Add dispatch notes
• Create new customer records
• Create new dispatches
• Send text messages to the office

The applications work with the ESC desktop software through a link to the Connections Server in your office, so you will need a connection to the Internet to use the software. The link is in real-time, so any changes you make, either from the office or from in the field on the phone, are instantly visible on the other. This gives you unlimited flexibility in scheduling.

Both apps include a connection to a demo database. This means that you can download the app today and see exactly how it will work for you in the field without any setup or commitment. Once you are ready to buy this add-on, just give us a call at 800-226-7529 and we’ll help you get everything working perfectly with your database for just a small monthly fee per user.

You can download the iPhone app directly from iTunes for free by searching for ESC Mobile or viewing this link. Please note this app looks fantastic on the iPad as well.

You can download the Android app for free directly from doubleTwist, the Android store, by clicking this link. You can also download the app by scanning the following QR code with a bar code scanner application on your phone.

We come across articles and blog posts every day that help service companies better operate, market, and grow. There’s simply too much out there to keep up with. That’s why we periodically will publish a collection of useful links like the ones below.

Mobile Payments As Marketing Strategy – John Jantsch lays out the argument for using and accepting mobile payments as a marketing strategy, as a way to set your company apart from the competition. He poses this question: “The question marketers of all kinds need to start asking is if their customers are mobile, how mobile does the business need to be?”

Golden Opportunity – Garry Upton and Robert Wilkos write in Contracting Business Magazine about how to get the most out of your existing customers by expanding your service agreement offerings.

Top 10 Tips on How to Sell a HVAC Maintenance Contract – Following on the idea of growing you service business with service contracts, we have a post from The Service Coach about how to sell maintenance contracts more effectively.

Forming a Board of Directors is Crucial for HVACR Businesses – Greg McAfee has a post on his blog about the importance of getting outside advice from trusted advisors, or a board, for long term HVAC success.

HVAC Marketing Terms – Ron Smith published a post on his blog says there are terms HVAC contractors and other service contractors use to describe their business that are less than idea to share with customers. He suggests 14 improvements to your marketing vocabulary.

If you come across a great link you want to share with your service company colleagues, email it to jonathanf [at] desco-soft [dot] com