Zuper (https://zuper.co) is an intelligent field service management and customer engagement platform for organizations that features basic and optional customizable modules to facilitate optimized management of the workforce and customer experience.
Basic modules include work order management, scheduling and dispatching, location services, estimating and invoicing, customer notifications, configurable business process workflows, and a mobile app for Android and iOS devices.
Scheduling and dispatch offers drag and drop scheduling, on any device, of an individual worker, crew, or team, using calendar and employee views. A dispatcher can configure one-time or recurring jobs.
Work order management capabilities provide drag-and-drop pre-defined components, including bar code scans, drop-downs, and photos; the ability for technicians to select from pre-configured responses that can be sent automatically (technicians can also free text responses); and the facility to configure SMS and email templates to reflect w/o status and milestones that can be sent automatically to customers.
Estimating can be performed on any device, with the opportunity to convert an estimate to a job with a single click. Estimates and invoices can be customized with a company logo.
Contractors can offer a contact-less experience to their customers to select a preferred technician, review the work, and provide a signature on work order completion.
A company can create business process workflows with no-code, customize taxonomy, create intelligent workflows, policies, and checklists to enforce governance and oversight on operations performed in the field or in the back office.
Location services provides GPS-based live real-time location tracking of field personnel by geographic zone of the work order or by employee.
The Zuper Pro app for Android and iOS enables personnel in the field to get push notifications of job assignments and reminders automatically, update job status and add notes and photos taken in the field, create new jobs onsite, manage the work schedule, and put in time-off requests.
The Reporting and Analytics module offers a customizable dashboard and 50+ reports for insights on KPIs such as w/o’s, timesheets, payments (partial, complete, overdue), and customer feedback.
Premium modules include Smart Scheduling and Dispatch, Customer Engagement, Contract Management, and Remote Time Sheet Management
With Smart Scheduling and Dispatch, an AI powered engine enables contractors to automatically schedule and dispatch work orders to the right technicians based on availability, location, customer preference, and other criteria.
Customer Engagement provides a website builder that can give customers a way to browse through the company’s offered services; a booking widget that customers can use to book their own appointments; the means to offer gift cards to customers for specific services; and a discount management feature.
The Contract Management module enables creating and maintaining a variety of service contracts and manage equipment and assets and offers the ability to track history of tasks and activities and collect data on assets on a mobile device.
Remote Time Sheet Management, for use by field technicians on their mobile apps, features facial biometrics and geofencing rules.
Zuper integrates with 40+ apps such as Stripe for payments in the field, QuickBooks for accounting, Zendesk for ticketing, Zoho for CRM, Slack for collaboration, Twilio for text messaging, Outlook and gmail for email SMTP integration.
Pricing: based on number of users, number of optional modules that are onboarded, per month.
Time Tracker by eBillity (www.ebillity.com, 800/851-0992) is a cloud-based time-tracking solution used for payroll and billing, from any device anywhere. The software, which includes free downloadable mobile time-tracking apps for iOS and Android devices (that allow users to track time offline and sync when you reconnect to the internet), geo-tracking, and geofencing, also features a color-coded schedule.
The online scheduler lets managers schedule one or many workers from one centralized location and assign shifts by client or by project. Various filters allow viewing by day, week, or month. You can create custom color-coded shift categories and can see employee paid and unpaid time off. The On-The-Clock feature displays each team’s location on a zoomable Google map, and you can view different statuses, such as clocked-in, on break, or day off. Users can allocate time entries to a project or client, activity task, billable type, or rate type, and mark entries as billable and to be invoiced.
Administrators can create overtime rules and notifications (hours turn red when the employee is in overtime) and approve timecards individually or by team, with the approvals screen showing pending, submitted, approved, or rejected. The administrator can set up codes for time-off requests (such as for sick leave, vacation day, holiday, or personal day) and block off any days or dates when leave cannot be requested.
A new feature added post-COVID allows the administrator to create pre-login screening questions for employees to answer in order to successfully log in (for example, do you have a temperature?), and also provides a way of sending announcements to one or all employees.
Time Tracker offers job costing insight reports (such as estimated versus actual labor) and integrates with numerous payroll, accounting, and other software solutions.
The upgraded Time Tracker + Billing account has all the features of the base application plus the ability to track expenses online and the option to invoice clients from any device. A secure client portal allows customers to login and view their invoices, make payments, and see receipts. The upgrade also offers additional reports and integration with payment gateways (e.g. Stripe).
Pricing: per user/per month with a base fee. Free 14-day trial available.
Patti Feldman writes articles and web content for trade magazines and manufacturers of building products. She can be reached at [email protected].