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ServiceM8 (SMART 100)

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ServiceM8

This innovation initially came to life when…

…we were working closely with one of our clients, a locksmith, who was having difficulty managing the day-to-day activities involved in a do-and-charge business: providing quotes, booking jobs, using staff effectively, and remembering to invoice.

We saw that the issues with our client were not locksmith issues, but issues almost every small business faces. We knew that through the power of the iPhone and a clever web app, we would completely change how small business operated. ServiceM8 was born.

WHAT & HOW

The purpose of this innovation is to…

…save small businesses time and enable them to be more effective.

Using ServiceM8 you can manage any field service business. It manages the process from quote to job completion and invoicing — saving you time by working smarter — not harder.

It does this by…

…providing real-time information on current jobs, quotes and staff whereabouts. ServiceM8 does this through an iPhone and web app.

ServiceM8 is designed to be used by everyone in your business, from each individual field staff member, to back office staff, through all levels of management.

It is simple and effective, and best of all, it’s available anywhere, anytime.

PURPOSE & BENEFITS

This innovation improves on what came before because…

ServiceM8 is a new approach to managing staff and jobs in real-time. Most software is slow moving, and has not caught up with the Social networking revolution of the last few years. ServiceM8 is Facebook for small business, while friends on Facebook post messages about their social lives — workers using ServiceM8 post updates and photos about their current job.

Its various benefits to the customer/end-user include…

…real-time visibility into jobs and staff — literally. Staff appear on Google Maps back at the office, customers no longer call staff to issue jobs, they drag a job onto staff.

Staff ‘check in’ to jobs, giving real-time feedback to employers.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

In the past, this problem was solved by…

…using Outlook to manage their schedule and their accounting package (usually MYOB) to manage their quotes and invoicing.

When their business grows, this becomes very hard to manage and gets complicated fast.

Its predecessors/competitors include…

…other online solutions exist, but we think they have missed the point. Predecessors include whiteboards and sticky notes, as well as MS Outlook and lots of phone calls to staff.

TARGET MARKET

It is made for…

…any small business that has field staff, any small business that needs to manage quotes and jobs effectively, any small business that feels there must be a better way to manage themselves than sticky notes all over their office desk and an overflowing office white board.

In fact, almost any small business can benefit from ServiceM8, from the standard industry trades (plumbers, electricians, locksmiths, painters, etc.) to even businesses which don’t ‘dispatch’ staff at all — web & graphic designers for example. We can still manage their quotes, their jobs, their schedule, and their invoicing in one system.

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY

It is available for sale through…

our website. We’re a cloud-based service so you can sign up for free and start straight away.

ServiceM8’s pricing is simple — 50c per job. No monthly fees, no startup fees, and the first 20 jobs each month are free.

Our marketing strategy is to…

…target small businesses as we gain a better understanding of how each industry can take advantage of ServiceM8. Currently marketing is focused on the most cost-effective way to let people know we exist; we’ve been using Google Ads, Facebook ads and several other online mediums.

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