See the details of each service dispatch.

With ESC Mobile, you get instant access to your ESC service dispatches in the field. ESC Mobile dispatching works with the ESC desktop software to give you instant access to your service dispatches on your Windows Phone 7.

With this app, you have the ability to track and modify the jobs you’re working on, giving office personnel real-time updates. You can try this app with your Window’s Phone 7 even if you do not currently have the ESC desktop software.

With the ESC Mobile, service technicians in the field are able to see all the information pertaining to the dispatches they have been assigned to complete.

ESC Mobile for the Windows Phone 7 works with the latest Version 11 release of ESC Service Software.

Install the Windows Phone 7 app today!

Why get the ESC Mobile on your Windows Phone 7:

• Instantly access critical dispatch and work-order information in the field
• Spend less time calling the office to give and get updates on jobs
• Add dispatch notes, send status updates, and send text message to the instantly back in ESC
• Quickly get detailed customer location information, equipment details, and service agreement information before arriving on site
• See complete service history of all the work previously preformed for the customer, including who did it, when it happened, and how much was charged
• Create new dispatches and customers
• Use the phone’s built in GPS and Bing Maps to get detailed driving directions and maps to the customer’s location
• Captures GPS data and sends it back to ESC so it can be viewed on the dispatch board (MapPoint integration required)
• Use real-time status updates to track time spent traveling to and working on each job
• Attach photos from the phone’s camera to dispatches to create a record of work completed
• View files that are attached to the customer or dispatch (Word, Excel, PDF, text, images)
• Use the phone’s camera to take pictures of completed work and attach them to dispatches
• Build invoices and email them to customers in the field
• Process cash and check payments as well as credit card payments with QuickBooks Merchant Services
• The ability to call or email a customer contact by touching the hyperlink

The ESC Mobile dispatching is a simple and affordable way to outfit your field technicians with real-time job information and time tracking. ESC Mobile is designed to work with ESC Service Software, used by over 5,000 HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, Equipment, and other service contractors in the United States and Canada.

Below are several screen shots of the new app:

See the list of upcoming service dispatches

Get maps and driving directions to your customer's locations

Create invoices in the field

Log cash, check, and credit card payments

Process credit cards with Intuit Merchant Services

Get a detailed summary of each dispatch

Install the Windows Phone 7 app today!

LinkedIn is a powerful resource for connecting with others in your industry. It provides a forum to share expertise and experience, as well as a good place to learn from other experts in your industry. For HVAC and other service contractors, there are a number of active groups you can easily join and get involved with.

LinkedIn groups help you quickly discover what other professionals in your industries are discussing. They also give you an opportunity to listen in to the discussion as well as have an active voice in the conversation. You also get a vote on what is useful to you by ‘liking’ posts and comments.

Below is a collection of some of the largest of these HVAC and service contractor’s groups on LinkedIn.

Air Conditioning Contractors of America Members

Helping HVACR contractors acquire, serve and satisfy their customers.

HVAC Professionals

I created this group for those who are dedicated to the HVAC Industry and would like to expand their network with professionals within the various facets of this business. I encourage everyone to utilize the knowledge base of the other members so that best practices can be shared.

Owner: David Spaeth | 6,812 members

Home Service Professionals

This group is for Marketing, Sales and Business Development discussions in the home service professional industry. Companies such as home improvements, plumbers, electricians, HVAC, landscapers, cleaning services, window replacements, roofers, painters, etc.

Owner: Lance Brown | 1,021 members

Service Roundtable has shared a PowerPoint presentation by Linda Couch, Chief Operating Officer of Parish Services. She gave the presentation at Comfortech 2010 in Baltimore, MD.

The presentation shares 10 ideas for making your service technicians more productive. You can get it from Service Roundtable’s website or by clicking the image below.

Linda’s 10 tips are:

1. Clearly define and prioritize “productivity” for your techs
2. Define and manage productivity goals
3. Equip your techs with productivity enhancing tools
4. Equip techs with a proper, organized inventory
5. Train your techs: Technical
6. Train your techs: Advising
7. Use supporting customer service and dispatch strategies
8. Use supporting warehouse and purchasing strategies
9. Use supporting sales and marketing strategies
10. Use IT to increase productivity

She goes into much greater detail within the PowerPoint presentation, which also includes her speaking notes. Implementing all of Linda’s tips will take a great deal of time, focus, and dedication. But the effect her tips will have on the profitability of your business will be profound.

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.

It seems today everyone has a cell phone (or even two). A device that was once the plaything of the rich is now a part of everyday life, both personal and professional.

The question then is should there be a line between how cell phones are used for business and personal matters? It makes sense to carry one device, to receive calls from your spouse and your boss on the same phone, but is it a good idea to rely on your technicians to use their own cell phones to receive dispatches and business information or is it better to have your technicians carry company phones to do use to do business.

One obvious question is information security. It might be wise to have your technicians use company phones if they’re downloading price books or customer details that you would want returned and secured if they are fired or quit. If that information is on the tech’s own phone it may be difficult to secure that information. However, if they’re using a work phone, that would get turned in along with their truck and keys at the end of their tenure.

On the other hand, if the work related information is not downloaded to their phone, but simply accessed through the internet, it doesn’t seem to make as much of a difference if they use their own phone or a work phone. In this scenario, it’s not the device that holds the information but the login credentials that grant access to the information. Under these circumstances, if the tech is no longer working for you, you change their login codes so they can no longer access your company information. This way it doesn’t matter that they used their personal phone to access your business information or if you issued them a company phone.

Many technicians might want to use their personal phone for business if only to avoid having to carry more than one phone with them at a time. Also, keeping contacts’ phone numbers synced across two devices might be more trouble than it’s worth. Others may want to have a better separation of their work and personal phone numbers, making it easier to switch off on the weekends and after quitting time.

Do your techs use personal phones for business or do they get company phones, and why?

“We switched to ESC about six months ago because there were a lot of problems with our previous software. We really didn’t get any support with our previous software, and they were charging astronomical pricing for the support. If we would do an update, it would mess everything up.

“dESCO’s support team is all in the same place, so all the techs know what’s going on. That helped me a lot because they’re all on the same page. That helps tremendously. I really like that dESCO uses the program to test it out. If you’re not actually incorporating the program into your day, you don’t have a clue.

“It’s been a very easy program to use. When we first got it I was trying to figure out our letters for our service agreements. I ran off the report on one of our service agreements, and I could see right there in front of me who needed to be inactive and who needed to be billed. The email and letter templates were great. That’s what I couldn’t get over. They made billing our service agreements so easy.

“On this program which I really like, you can do things and it doesn’t screw it up. ESC has just been great and as I go on, I find more and more things that I can do. I’m really enjoying the program. It’s just so much easier to me. This is such a great program. The more I play with it, the easier it gets. Our previous software was so hard to me.

“This is my game. I feel like a kid. I get to play with it all day long, and get paid for it.”

Lisa Betz, Service Coordinator. Nardco Heating and Air Conditioning

Here’s a video from Fast Company about getting ahead by doing the hardest thing first every day.