Which software (or SAAS) is most suitable for MOBILE & Remote support work (no shop)?

[supporter]

I see PCRT (PC Repair Tracker) which looks great for stores/shops where clients bring equipment in for service but this really seems overkill with features not needed for onsite & remote-only services.

So, what software is most ideal for a no-shop, onsite support-only business?

What do other consultants use for contact management, service history, and billing/*AR*? Is there ONE package that will handle it all ? I have internet access while on the road via both wifi and verizon (android tablet and laptop) so it can be an online service / SAAS solution.

I see freshbooks recommended here and there but no one who seems to have used it extensively for a long period of time.

Can anyone with longterm product experience provide some helpful feedback and suggestions? What has worked best for you.

Currently, I'm just using gmail / outlook for contact tracking and simply email invoices from templates. IF POSSIBLE, I'd really prefer ONE package (can be SAAS or downloaded/installed software pkg) - preferably a mature product, cost is secondary to me (I'd prefer something not as involved to setup and get up to speed with as commit).

If it's integrated with a help desk portal for the client that would be even better but I know I'm probably dreaming there

Thanks for any and all feedback & suggestions!

 

[Kitten Kong]

I use pcrt, for workshop, and onsite jobs.

It does everything I need of it, keeps all my work orders in place, all clients contact details, each and every machine I have worked on, what was found, faults with hardware etc. Invoices are a doddle. The only thing I do not use is the POS. But in saying that with a bar code reader, scanning the part numbers, into the tech only notes, lets me know anything I should need to.

Simply having a link to it on my pen, is good for me.

 

[supporter]

I use pcrt, for workshop, and onsite jobs.

It does everything I need of it, keeps all my work orders in place, all clients contact details, each and every machine I have worked on, what was found, faults with hardware etc. Invoices are a doddle. The only thing I do not use is the POS. But in saying that with a bar code reader, scanning the part numbers, into the tech only notes, lets me know anything I should need to.

Simply having a link to it on my pen, is good for me.

How does PCRT handle remote support calls & notes? I mean how do you track pc's ? Just curious because you can't put a sticker on it and ID it for future use.

Does PCRT send email invoices? I will be using paypal pretty exclusively. Thanks for your reply.

 

[MobileTechie]

Check out mHelpdesk. It's SAAS, has customer records, service requests or tickets, estimates, invoices etc. It links with googlemail calendar so your appointments are instantly available to you. I think it has an iphone and android app too. I don't think it can sync with google contacts however.

It's relatively customisable with custom fields.

it doesn't have the item-by-item repair tracking that PCRT does, so other than adding lots of fields to the Other Information part of the ticket it's not designed to keep track of each scan or test your perform and then produce a report like PCRT does.

I would have thought it was pretty ideal for onsite only.

I tried Commit. Didn't get on with at all and don't like the pricing of the extra elements.

vTiger does all this sort of things in spades and you can customise it very widely indeed but it's open source so forum or paid support only when things go wrong.

 

[Kitten Kong]

How does PCRT handle remote support calls & notes? I mean how do you track pc's ? Just curious because you can't put a sticker on it and ID it for future use.

Does PCRT send email invoices? I will be using paypal pretty exclusively. Thanks for your reply.

The way I handle remote support, is the same as any other, create a work order, do the job etc. Obviously you cannot put a sticker on the machine, but if the same client comes back with another problem in the future, you are able to do a search by name (and i'm pretty sure its possible to search by phone number).

Yes PCRT does send email invoices, and you can email the reports also.

I can't comment on other PC tracking software, ie mhhelpdesk, commit, vtiger etc, as I have never tried them. I used to use TSMan, but gave up middle of last year, when I found pcrt.

 

[RichmondTech]

I have done onsite exclusive for the last two years and I've been using Quickbooks on my laptop. It handles all of my customers, invoices, estimates, etc. There is a notes section for each customer that I can put things like passwords, wireless network info, machine specs. I do a job for a customer, get paid onsite, and Quickbooks easily triggers Outlook to email a receipt. There is even a Quickbooks plugin for Outlook to sync your customers to your Outlook contacts. That makes it easy to sync to my phone and pull up their address in gps.

That being said I am looking to migrate to another platform because I am looking to accept drop off work as well. QB is great for mobile only, but really think hard about if you just want to be mobile only. Two years ago I didn't think about or want a shop and now I'm moving towards getting one because business is expanding.

 

[pcman2010]

I work mostly on-site. When I began I used MacFreelancer and now I use Freshbooks extensively for a little more then a year now. It's really easy to simple and easy to use. While I'm on-site I can make notes in Freshbooks and it will email the client. I also have someone else working with me that keeps track that as well. You can start with 3 clients for free, and it handles Quickbook intergration and more. If I ever expand to a shop I will invest in pcrt.

 

[MobileTechie]

Freshbooks looks pretty good too doesn't it?

It seems more geared towards straight invoicing than mhelpdesk.

It is customisable in terms of information you have about a client, about a project and about a ticket?

Does it sync contact details with google or outlook?

 

[supporter]

The only thing about Freshbooks that may be unappealing to me feature-wise is that (as I understand it) you have to create a project each and every time you need to bill a client for a new task. It seems cumbersome in this respect but maybe I am not fully understanding it yet. If someone can clarify that for me, I'd appreciate it.

I recently found capsule CRM that syncs well with Freshbooks (and freshsbooks talks to QuickBooks, also). But I don't know if freshbooks syncs contacts with outlook or gmail.

 

[cprompt]

The only thing about Freshbooks that may be unappealing to me feature-wise is that (as I understand it) you have to create a project each and every time you need to bill a client for a new task. It seems cumbersome in this respect but maybe I am not fully understanding it yet. If someone can clarify that for me, I'd appreciate it.

As I said in another thread, I'm no expert, but I'll do my best to answer with what I know. It does indeed require a project to be assigned to each client. With my limited experience, it seems better suited for someone who is billing a client multiple times for the same project - say a website design, where you spend significant time over a several day or several week period. I think it would be cumbersome to use for every little repair that might come up, from malware removal, to memory upgrade, etc. On the time tracker module, selecting a project automatically selects the client to whom that project is assigned, so it would be difficult to have one project that could be assigned to multiple clients.

 

[supporter]

Thanks @cprompt for confirming my thoughts about freshbooks. Being forced to create a new project for every job/client seems to me to be a HUGE drawback, and may make freshbooks essentially unusable for us with the many one-off jobs we do.

On the other hand, freshbooks sounds great for web designers, etc.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

QB's-Turn on progress invoicing and you do not need a new project for every charge or invoice.

I have never used anything but QB's or QB's with forms. When we were really busy we would hand fill out printed forms/work orders, give a receipt to the customer, put a copy of the job order on the pc and put it aside.

http://www.nebs.com/nebsEcat/produc...ck,+Large+Format&url=/ecatimages/full/311.jpg

Later we would enter the contact into QB;s and print out a nice looking invoice. Our customer management is both QB's customers as well as Outlook sync which then loads into a blackberry for easy contact while out on site and going from one client and having to call another or going one to the next.

I love having the manila copy for my permanent records.

 

[MobileTechie]

Looking at these products I just wish I was good at PHP/SQL and so could write one that fitted my needs.

vTiger does in theory, but I'm sick of struggling to get bits of it working.