From keeping track of inventory and employees to scheduling and billing, running a business is a lot of work. Autotask says its IT business software can help increase efficiency and profitability.

In one location, Autotask makes it possible to schedule, service and bill clients from any location with internet access.

Rather than take the manufacturer’s word for it, here are thoughts from one of your colleagues on the product:

Reviewer: Jason Hersh, Dynamic Sound Systems, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Since this product relates to business management, can you tell us a little bit about the size and scope of your company? 
12 Team Members - DSS’ focus is on our relationships and ensuring our design delivers functional, sophisticated, and easy to use AV solutions for both the residential and commercial markets.

Tell us about the business tasks for which you use Autotask software? 
We use AT for a number of tasks including CRM, sales commissions, account management, file and document storage, service tickets, calendar and scheduling, assignments and to-do’s, reporting, invoicing, payroll, QBKS API, and auto and individual notifications (WFR). I would have to say the WFR work flow rules are an instrumental feature in our ability to manage how our clients are internally processed.

The rules allow us to pass projects through different departments based on status. We streamlined our process to allow two tickets to run side by side for every project. One ticket is for engineering, purchasing, staging, CO, and billing while the other is reserved for the PM and installers to centralize notes and occurrences on the job. As each ticket moves through the departments, sales is auto notified with updates, notes, and statuses until our system instructs sales to follow up for QC and final system review.

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Which of the product’s specific features were instrumental in your decision to use this product versus another solution and why?
I reviewed between seven and 10 different platforms from SugarCRM to InfusionSoft. A lot of these systems were great PM, payroll or CRM platforms, but none offered the combined levels I needed. I found AT not only provided all three at advanced levels, but it’s framework flows perfectly with my AV installation business. Another plus is AT’s ability to customize the system to your business. The majority of systems I reviewed allowed this, but AT was the only one that did not require you to close your door for two months to rebuild the platform to make it work. Pricing was also a big factor. I can manage 12 people for less than an annual salary for a new office admin.

Are there specific types of business operations for which you’d specifically recommend other commercial integrators use Autotask? Which ones? And why?
Centralizing job site notes and knowledge based articles. Knowledge based articles is a big one for us because it allows my techs to create how-to articles, troubleshooting tips, and company standards. My staff can retrieve these documents to help train or gather job site information from any internet connection, allowing my team to work without immediate supervision.

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