Enhancing Productivity and Efficiency in the Office and On the Go

inFlow Inventory (www.inflowinventory.com) and inFlow Stockroom are cloud-based inventory solutions accessible from Web, Mobile (iPhone/Android), and Windows. They combine stock visibility, mobile scanning, job-site parts tracking and integrations to ensure your technicians have what they need when they need it.

With inFlow Inventory users can set up multiple locations (e.g., warehouse, van stock, remote jobsites), define reorder points by location, and track quantities in real time across all sites. Technicians on site can pull parts from van stock via the mobile app, and the system can record who took what, when and where.

inFlow Inventory supports comprehensive stock-management: product names/SKUs, variants, multi-level categories, product photos, serial numbers, units, dimensions and weight, costing and pricing. Users can define reorder points or low-stock alerts by location, trigger one-click purchase orders or transfers between locations, and manage physical stock counts and movement history. Admins can set approval limits for POs and, with a few clicks, create online showrooms for customers with VIP prices.

The software integrates with major accounting systems such as QuickBooks Online and Xero so that your purchase orders, inventory asset value and cost of goods sold are automatically aligned with your financials. You can also connect via Zapier to build automated workflows across your service-business stack (e.g. when a work order is closed in another system, create a stock transfer or deduct inventory to trigger reordering in inFlow).

inFlow Stockroom is a fast way to scan-in and scan-out inventory and efficient for grab-and-go scenarios, as well as helpful for less technical team members. The mobile app allows users on iPhone or Android to scan parts in and out of any designated location (van stock, supply room, parts cage) in just a few taps: select user, scan product, record transaction. Administrators set up the stockroom device(s) and scan access. This functionality helps field crews and supply-room staff quickly update inventories without complex training.

inFlow Inventory includes three easy-to-use designers, Label Designer, Document Designer, and Email Designer. Label Designer to customize product labels including barcodes, QR codes, serial numbers, and important product information. Label Designer is available in inFlow Stockroom, as well, and is compatible with many third-party label printers but works best with inFlow’s Portable Label Printer. Document Designer and Email Designer allow users to customize sales orders, purchase orders, stock transfers, etc., and emails sent via inFlow.

Also available: inFlow Manufacturing for should a contractor have need to track bundles, kits, or operations that add to a product’s cost.

Pricing: each solution carries a monthly subscription fee. Free 14-day trial on all inFlow solutions.   

ZyraTalk

ZyraTalk (www.zyratalk.com, 888/435-9109) is a production-ready AI-powered customer service software for handling core operations for HVAC, plumbing and other businesses focused on field services. It combines virtual assistant capabilities with an agentic automation platform, delivering 24/7 responsiveness by capturing inbound customers, booking appointments, answering questions, and engaging customers across voice, chat, and text. It also acts as an autonomous agent across key workflows such as scheduling, dispatch, payment, and customer engagement, driving opportunities to users to EverCommerce’s home and field service vertical EverPro business management software, aiding in unlocking new opportunities for automation, cross-sell, and customer engagement.

Pricing: fee per month, with escalating usage-based billing. Free 14 day trial.

Praxedo

Praxedo scalable cloud-based field service management software (covered in August 2020 column) recently seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Center to extend its capabilities with the aim of enhancing user productivity and drive profitable growth by integrating the two products, Praxedo extends its capabilities to offer a comprehensive solution that synchronizes data, automates processes, and eliminates manual tasks.  

Key benefits of the integration include:

• Optimized service management and improved service delivery performance with seamless information and data flow
• Improved service delivery performance with seamless information and data flow
• Improved work order accuracy, with the ability to create and schedule work orders in Business Central and manage them in Praxedo
• Enhanced reporting with Business Central dashboards including data from completed service calls in Praxedo
• Enabling maintenance of up-to-date customer, jobsite, and asset information across platforms.

Praxedo is available in four escalating plans, Basic, Advanced, Optimized, and Automated, each requiring a minimum of five users, with a monthly fee per user. All tiers include a field operation hub, drag & drop scheduling on maps and calendars, the ability to empower technicians with the integrated mobile app for logging field tasks and tracking technician activity time, access to work order documentation and history, self-scheduling of work orders and declaration of consumed items.

The three highest plans add ability to track vehicle stock oversee operations via a real-time operational dashboard and the means to generate and send real-time customer notifications via email, and time sheet control and validation.            

The two top plans offer assisted, algorithm-based scheduling through Smart Scheduler, integrations with mobile payment terminals, and automated alerts on work orders at risk of delay. The top plan adds real time automated scheduled powered by AI via the Automatic Smart Scheduler feature.

Pricing: per month per users, all plans requiring a minimum of five users.