By David F. Giannetto, CEO of WorkWave
2019 was a big year of transition for WorkWave. We launched new products, empowered thousands of pest control companies to increase revenue and achieve operational efficiency, executed new initiatives that bettered our customers’ experiences both within our software solutions and with our company itself, and we went through a leadership change as I took on the role as Chief Executive Officer.
We also took this past year to define our company mission and our vision moving forward. This was a major initiative, and one we felt strongly about perfecting. With over 30 years of experience working with service companies, we wanted to ensure that we are providing the tools our customers need to not only increase their operational effectiveness, but also to grow their business by driving more sales and increasing profitability. Whether we are working with a small business owner who wears multiple hats or enterprise-level service companies who deal with robust and complex customers, we are committed to living out our new mission in 2020: to empower our customers to reach their full potential across all areas of their business.
Here’s a look at some of our major initiatives in 2019, and what to look forward to in 2020:
Expanding Upon Our Relationships
By the end of 2020, we believe that our solutions will be so far ahead of the competition that any company running on WorkWave technology will have a strategic advantage in their local market over any company that isn’t. One benefit of having great customers is the amount of critical information we can gain from listening to them, as their insight is crucial in developing a solid product roadmap that includes the functionality they need to reach their full potential. In 2019, we put an increased focus on our customer relationships across all of our products, including reconnecting with the ServMan customer base post-acquisition.
Having closer relationships with customers on each of our four core platforms (PestPac, WorkWave Service, ServMan, and Route Manager) is critical to our success for two reasons. First, we can learn firsthand from them what they need. Second, we plan to be a partner that is helping them take their company, their strategies, and their operations in directions that they might not have thought of on their own. That’s one key advantage they should have by partnering with a market leader such as WorkWave.
Providing SMBs With the Tools They Need to Generate More Customers, Generate More Revenue, and Increase Profitability
PestPac has always been the industry standard for pest control companies, and throughout the years we have worked with our customers to ensure it has everything that a business needs to drive revenue and profitability. However, for smaller, residential-oriented businesses with fewer technicians, we were receiving requests for a simpler version of PestPac focused on just core functionality; something simpler to navigate that allows owner-operators to easily manage their business while in the field.
Based upon this request, we launched PestPac Lite, a new version of the industry-leading PestPac solution specifically designed for small residential and light commercial pest control businesses. PestPac Lite delivers the power and capabilities of PestPac via a simplified, easy-to-use interface focused on enabling users to reach their full business potential by driving more sales and increasing overall profit.
Moving into 2020, we are committed to providing all companies—and particularly SMBs—with the tools they need to reach their full business potential and achieve bottom-line business results. Through increased functionality that allows them to manage their business from anywhere and new partnerships that create more seamless business processes, we enable these companies to drive revenue growth.
Providing a Superior Customer Experience With WorkWave Payments
In 2019, we launched WorkWave Payments, a first for the service industry. We wanted to find a way to continue to deliver the best and most flexible user experience in the industry, so we put in the time and resources to become a payments processor. WorkWave Payments is seamlessly integrated into our products to create the best possible customer experience and the best payments functionality in the industry—a key differentiator to create loyal customers and recurring sales. By working closely with our customers, we have been able to gain a deep understanding of their payment needs. Now, in 2020, we will begin delivering upon the promise of increased functionality and more flexible payment options that will create a superior user experience for both our customers and their customers.
Empowering Customers to Grow Their Businesses Through Better Marketing
The only way a company can grow its business is to get new customers, and to get new customers a company must have strong marketing capabilities. Over the past year, we took a deep look at our marketing solutions and how they need to evolve in order to drive growth for our customers. We made major strides in this area behind the scenes in 2019, and are now launching new products to give our customers better online reviews, perhaps the biggest driver of new business for all of our customers; a stronger digital presence, necessary for winning more customers via the web; and will soon relaunch lead management, much anticipated by many of our customers. With these updated sales and marketing solutions, businesses will have the tools they need to increase their profitability by winning new customers and generating more sales.
Modernizing Our Platforms, Perfecting Our Algorithm
This past year, we put a large focus on WorkWave Route Manager, launching our unified user interface, further modernizing our last mile solution, upgrading our platform, and forming new global partnerships—all supporting our commitment to last-mile logistics companies. We’ve already begun to see the positive changes of these improvements, and 2020 will see improvements to the underlying routing algorithm, an expansion into new countries globally for our WorkWave Route Manager solution, and new partnerships selling our solution under both our brand and as a white label solution.
We are looking forward to all that 2020 will bring, and we are excited to be your partners in helping you to reach your full potential.