What we learnt from investing in technology

Long-term investing can often seem daunting. Yet, one of the best ways to secure your company’s financial future is to put money in it. Isn’t it? With 2020 being so unpredictable, it’s more important than ever to focus on innovation and technological development.

How do we know this?

We started Fantastic Services more than a decade ago. In the beginning, we had just a couple of cleaning teams, yet the work environment was chaotic, to put it mildly. We used random systems (even the good, old spreadsheets) and we were trying to bring structure to our turbulent workdays.

Needless to say, it didn’t work well.

That’s why we decided to do it the hard way.

Every push towards automation has been fought tooth and nail. But you know what? Once you adopt a mentality of continual innovation and quality improvement nothing can stop you.

We invested in people. We invested in technology. We invested in innovation.

Step by step, we turned the small cleaning company Fantastic Cleaners into a global multi-service franchise company, called Fantastic Services.

What we wanted.

First things first. Let us explain the main reasons why we continuously invest in technology.

To save time and money to all parties involved.

We had to automate the whole process of booking and delivering services. From crew management and job scheduling to invoicing and payments, we wanted to revolutionise the way the home-services industry operates. Most importantly, we had an idea of how to do it.

To always be ahead of the curve.

With new software and systems emerging constantly, staying ahead of the change curve is the way to stand out and be successful. We never stop innovating and looking for new ways to make our franchisees’ work smoother. Our out-of-the-box thinking helps us to rapidly and successfully respond to every novelty we meet.

To establish a better relationship with our franchise partners and all the customers.

It’s a cliche for a reason – we care about our franchisees and our customers. Truly! We always strive to fix their problems, hear their opinions and help them to turn their desires into reality. That’s why, we can proudly state that we’re not just a franchise but a proven, profitable and pain-free partnership. And technology is a massive part of our organisation

What we did.

We poured millions into our fully-integrated CRM system, apps and training platform.

Customer relationship management system

Firstly, we started by fully synchronising the process, starting with the client’s booking. Once a customer books a service, that automatically appears in the franchisee schedule, depending on availability. This way, we’ve made it easy to monitor each franchisee’s KPI’s from anywhere in the world. We also made sure that our CRM system is tailored to each franchisee’s needs regardless of the services that he or she provides.

We’ve connected this custom-built platform and two apps (BFantastic and GoFantastic), making the whole process of booking services, managing schedules and communicating with customers a piece of cake.

Mobile applications

The BFantatsic app is for internal use only. Designed to simplify the technicians’ daily work process, the application also helps all Master and Area Development franchisees to easily manage their pros’ schedules and performance.

The GoFantatsic app is our award-winning on-demand service app. Customers can book over 100 types of services in less than 30 seconds. They can also check availability, reschedule and cancel their appointments, have a chat with a customer care assistant and even use Voice Search functionality. Brilliant, no?

Fantastic Academy

At Fantastic Services, we believe that learning is the foundation of a successful business. That’s why proper training is a priority for us. We’ve built an online training platform that gathers our 11-year-old knowledge on how to run a successful property-maintenance business.

During the past few years, our custom-built CRM, mobile apps and training platform fueled the company’s growth. However, we know that technology needs constant improvement, that’s why we’re continuously upgrading and enhancing our systems to suit the needs of our franchisees and customers.

Initially designed to train our new franchisees, today Fantastic Academy is open to all of you.

What we’ve learnt.

Finally, we’ve come to the most important part of our journey – the lessons we’ve learnt during the past decade.

It pays out quickly.

As the world moves to digital, it is crucial to invest in the right technologies that support greater flexibility, improvement of the work process, enabling for growth in the industry, as well as the ability to enter new markets. Once you accomplish that, you have the needed minds to conquer the competitive market.

You have to put in a lot of work.

Innovating is not just about adopting new technology, it’s much more. It involves research, strategy, resources, hard work, testing and most importantly – skilled professionals. Luckily, we, at Fantastic Services have the best IT gurus, who continuously strive to upgrade all our systems, apps and websites.

Throwing money at the problem won’t solve it. You need to be persistent.

We believe in technology as a force for success and business improvement. However, we don’t believe in reaching new heights by fighting problems with money. Companies often spend huge amounts of cash trying to fix a problem. Buying new technology can fix an issue but temporarily. We strive to always look at the big picture and focus on long-term success.

We will continue to invest in technology, as it’s a long-term pledge to your success. We won’t stop revolutionising the way the property-maintenance sector operates. If you want to be part of an ever-growing, technology-backed franchise and run a business for yourself check out our opportunities.