Real Time Manager is a customizable online service management and dispatch software that can be tailored to fit numerous service industries. From its creation, Real Time Manager was designed to make keeping records and tracking employees easier for the managers of field service companies. The first version of the software was designed for the locksmith service and towing industries. The services available for those companies were pre-defined in the system. But as time went on, the software grew to a more customizable form that allows the user to define their company services in the system. This works out better for companies, since they do not have to be bound to a list of generalized tasks. The list of services can be as generic or as specialized as they see fit.
As business owners know, keeping communication between your dispatchers and the service technicians can be a job within itself. Real Time Manager can bridge that gap of lost communication between a dispatcher and a technician. Within Real Time Manager, information for new service calls are entered, and jobs are assigned to the an available technician out in the field. Dispatchers can use Real Time Manager to send SMS messages to the technicians to keep them updated about service calls and other related information. To make the job of the dispatcher easier, GPS technology has been utilized by Real Time Manager. Through the implementation of Google Maps, GPS enabled mobile phones can be tracked and used to obtain the locations of the technicians using them. This saves employee and customer time, by allowing dispatchers to assign the nearest available technician to the job. Being time efficient allows the technician to complete more jobs and hence make more money for the business.
Real Time Manager is an optimal means to organize and improve the efficiency of any locksmith, towing, plumbing, pest control, electrician, cleaning, restoration, landscaping, pool cleaning, and many other field service industries.
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Once upon a time in a far off land, there was a small locksmith company. The business was doing well and their client list was slowly growing larger and larger. As time went on the small office was getting buried in piles of papers. In what once was a desk, was now just a stack of invoices, addresses, and part order forms. When looking for past orders, the staff was just stuck, they could only dig through the papers and wish for some luck.
When the telephones rang, the dispatchers couldn’t find the phones. And when looking for the technicians, their whereabouts were unknown. When a job came in, assigning it was a joke, the dispatcher called every technician to see who was close. As efficiency went down, customer frustration went up.
The manager of the company knew something must be done. “This clutter and disorder must be undone”. He fired up his computer and was off with a click, searching through Google, his results came up quick. He searched “dispatch” and “locksmith” and “software” galore, but finding his answer was a quick and painless chore. At the top of each page a company would sit, “Real Time Manager” was the one that he picked.
It was the solution he had been looking for, to fix the company quick, moving everything online, would certainly do the trick. The need for stacks of papers and filing cabinets were gone. As every service was entered in the system, the filing would be done. Dispatchers no longer had to dig for the phones and with GPS Tracking, the locations of the technicians were known. With this knowledge in hand, arrivals were swift. And every locksmith service was performed efficient and quick.
The company was saved, the clutter was gone, the office was clean, and nothing was wrong. Past invoices were recorded and work histories were clear, finding past orders was nothing to fear. All accounting records were readily known, whether it was payments due or money that was owed. The business picked up and operations did grow, and to “Real Time Manager” the credit was owed.
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The Top 10 Service Fields Real Time Manager is Perfect For.
In its first iteration, Real Time Manager was designed specifically with the Locksmith industry in mind. Since then it has evolved and can now be outfitted to different field service businesses. Each service industry has a set of preset service options, with the capability of customizing more tasks and choices.
The Top 10 Service Industries suited for Real Time Manager:
- The Locksmith Industry
- Cleaning Services—Office Cleaning, Maid Services, and Carpet Cleaning
- Moving and Storage Companies
- Plumbing
- Towing—Real Time Manager is preloaded with key-cut codes for various makes and models of vehicles and motorcycles.
- Restoration Services—Restoring items from Fire and Water Damage, mold cleanup, air duct cleanup
- Home Remodeling and Repair---Garage door installation, Gutter installation, painters, roofing, Satellite Dish installation, and other general installations.
- Pool and Spa Maintenance
- Septic Tank Cleaning
- Lawn and Grounds Maintenance—Gardening, Tree Service, landscaping
This is not to say that there are not other service fields that Real Time Manager is not suited for, these are just some highlights. Real Time Manager can be customized to meet the needs of most any field service industry.
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Tips for Choosing a Locksmith
Hiring a locksmith is like buying a product, do some research and price comparisons before making a purchase. As others have mentioned, it is a good idea to do this work before you need a locksmith. So in the event that you need a locksmith’s service, you will have one or two phone numbers handy.
While doing your research, start by asking your friends, family, or co-workers about any locksmith companies they have used in the past. Take any recommendation you can from them, but still check out the companies for yourself. If you got a phone number from a friend or a phone book, still call the company to see what they are about.
When calling a locksmith or locksmith company there are a few questions to keep in mind and ask them during your conversation.
- How long have you been in business?
- Is it a company of multiple locksmiths or a one locksmith company?
- Is there a physical shop or just operated out of a home or vehicle?
- Are you fully licensed and insured?
- Do you give written estimates before any work is done?
- Do you have any references?
Find out how long that have been in business or if they have worked under any other company names. It is good to know where the shop is located, it is also a good idea to go drive by and make sure there is a shop at the address given to you. You want to know about their insurance information in case there is any damage done to your property.
As with all business deals it is best to get everything down in writing. If you get an estimate over the phone, tell them you want an invoice indicating this price before any work is done. There are some unscrupulous locksmiths out there that gouge their customers after quoting them a low price over the phone.
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Locksmith Dispatch Software
From its original inception, Real Time Manager was designed to be software for locksmith dispatching. Where an operator at the call center or office would take service calls, look at available technicians listed on the screen, and assign a service technician to the job. From that point it has grown up to be so much more. Along with seeing a list of available technicians on the screen, the dispatcher can now see the location of said technician through the use of GPS technology integrated with Google Maps. With this feature, the dispatcher can now see which available technician is nearest to the location of the service call and assign them to the job.
In addition to being dispatching software, Real Time Manager also now manages employee information, client information, and company information. Combining attributes of both an address book and basic accounting information. Invoices, payments, commissions due, and commissions owed are kept track of within the Real Time Manager System.
There are other programs out there that handle one of these features on their own. But why buy 3 or more different programs, when you could get them all in one software package? Real Time Manager is configurable to many services fields, in addition to the Locksmith Service Industry.
Dispatch software can improve your company’s efficiency. By assigning the closest technician to the job, drive times will be reduced, allowing technicians to drive less and respond to more service calls.
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Auto Towing and Key Cut Codes
Tied in with locksmith services of the Real Time Manager “Service Form” is that of auto towing. Located on the “Distance” page are options for towing and other roadside assistance services. The assistance a client needs can be easily selected on the page. From a jump start, help with a flat tire, or the replacement of lost or broken car keys.
A library of key cut codes for different makes and models of vehicles allows your technicians to quickly obtain the information they need to quickly duplicate a missing or broken key a client needs to get back into their car. Having the information of the car or motorcycle will also let the tow company know what type of tow truck or retrieval vehicle to send out.
There is of course an address section to let the tow truck driver know where to find you. This can also pinpoint the customer’s location on the Google Map. So in general vehicle assistance needs the nearest technician can be assigned to the service call.
Having the client’s personal and vehicle information in one form will increase the speed of service to the client and help them quickly get back onto their day. Speedy service will increase the number of service calls a technician can handle, increasing their productivity and therefore raising company profits.
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Say you have a locksmith business and you want to keep track of all your past and present customers, sales of services and products, vehicle key cut information, store information on your employees, and other facts pertaining to running a locksmith business. From viewing just the first three results of a GOOGLE search, you can see the numerous options available to your locksmith business. The top Locksmith software results show up as Treskat Software, BlackHawk Products, and Real Time Manager.
Treskat has numerous programs for sale, each of which fulfills a different function.
A few of them are:
- CodeMaster—A database of lock codes and padlock combinations.
- TimeMaster-Makes Schedules for employees and tracks jobs.
- Advantage 2009 Business Software—Bookkeeping Software for tracking sales and customers.
- MaxiKey and MaxiCore—Random combination generators.
BlackHawk Products also has a selection of locksmith software and management programs. A few of their programs include:
- Desktop Dispatcher—Keeps records of services, work orders, histories, and employee reports. It can also stores pictures and sound files.
- SCG: The Safe Combination Generator chooses random number for you to set a lock to.
- COD: Codes on Disk is a collection of different types of key codes from automobiles to padlocks.
Real Time Manager is a service management system that is fully online. Instead of selling little programs for each individual function, multiple features are bundled together in a software suite. Here are some of the services offered with Real Time Manager:
- Manage Services, Appointment Times, Service Types
- Manage employees, assign them to services, and set their commission rates.
- Track the location of your technician’s with GPS enabled cell phones.
- View jobsite locations with GOOGLE MAPS.
- Keep track of product inventory and sales.
- Process bills and payment information.
- Obtain vehicle key codes.
Each piece of software has its trade offs. The programs from Treskat can be used once you buy them with updates available for purchase. BlackHawk products look like they are sold as is, with limited software updates. Most of their lock and key programs are based in older operating systems, so they should run great on DOS and Windows 95. With Real Time Manager, you are renting access to an online service. To use the service you have to pay a setup fee and a monthly service charge. But you get access to many features in one place and not have to buy a bunch of separate programs.
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Manage your locksmith business with Real Time Manager. Whether your business is large or small, Real Time Manager can help you keep track of projects, employee, clients, work orders, payment information, and many other service related details.
With Real Time Manager you can easily organize the following parts of your company:
- Set up multiple users and control their usage rights in the software.
- Set up the system to adjust for services across time zones.
- Keep track of previous and current clients.
- Keep a work history of services performed by technicians.
- Have total Dispatch Control and Technician Assignment.
- Have control of your company’s accounting. Manage payments, process checks and credit cards. Keep track of employee commissions, amounts owed to technicians, and amounts owed by technicians.
- Send invoices to clients.
Keep track of the locations of all services and the employees assigned to them.
- With our integration of Google Maps you can see the locations of current service sites.
- View live traffic conditions.
- View current employee locations with GPS enabled cell phones.
- Send SMS messages to your technicians in the field.
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