Technology Is Great Until………….

It isn't…………

Being quite tech savy, I spend a lot of time trying to come up with new ways to streamline our business for our customer's benefit, as well as to save time on our end so we can run  more efficiently.  For example, there was a time we could only handle 400 sprinkler blowouts in a season, but now we can do 1,200 in the same time period it took to do 400.

All this is great until technology fails.  It can literally leave you "caught with your pants down", so to speak.

A little over a week ago the hard drive on my computer decided it wanted to fail, and do so in a big way.  Even after running repair utilities to repair bad sectors and move data to new sectors, I was still unable to log in to my computer.  This meant no access to my online databases to download repair requests, no email communication with our customers, no texting software to send out mass texts to our customers with updates, no invoicing, accepting payments, etc.  Enough to cripple a business.

I used a forensic program to get into my computer to copy important files to an external drive, but it is a pretty slow process.

The Silver Lining

We use Google Sheets to organize our repair requests, which we can access online, so nothing was lost there.  We use Quickbooks for our invoicing, and was able to download the program and install it on a laptop temporarily, and was able to find and transfer our business file from the old computer using the forensics program so we can at least invoice for the work we do.  Thank goodness my wife is allowing me to use her laptop temporarily for business and to communicate with everyone until I can pick up a new computer.

This fiasco has thrown us off schedule with all our repairs as well as sprinkler system start-ups, but we are still plugging away as fast as we can to get to everyone.  We currently only have a dozen sprinkler start-ups to do, and 3-4 systems we need to dig up to repair main and drain valves or install new backflow devices.  With that we only have about 10 backflow tests to do.  For regular home repairs/maintenance, we have about a 15 work orders to do.  That may seem like a lot, but actually it isn't.  The start-ups can be done in 1 day, backflow tests on another.  The regular work orders are what may end up taking the longest depending on how involved they are.

Technology wise we are not running 100%, but hope to be soon.  I am using some of my connections in the computer industry to get a good deal on a new system, but it could take a little time.  I appreciate your patience.

That being said, if you would like to cancel your current sprinkler system start-up /repair of backflow test, we hate to see you go, but click here to use our cancellation form so you are not charged if we show up at your property.  http://treasurevalleyrepairs.com/cancellation.html

 

 

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