How Famous Cleaning Companies Use Technology to Find Success
How successful can a cleaning business be?
Current reports estimate the professional janitorial services industry has a market size of over $90 billion (US), £1 billion (UK) and $14 billion (AUS). With each market anticipating growth over the next five years, cleaning businesses can help maximize growth and revenue by:
- Using technology to scale alongside the growing market
- Protect profit margins by increasing efficiencies and controlling labor costs
- Expanding proof of service tools to grow and retain customers
Who are the major players of the cleaning industry? And, how can you learn from them?
Don’t believe us? Global market leaders in the commercial cleaning and facilities management industries are already using TEAM Software by WorkWave’s software solutions to meet critical business functions in areas like:
- Recruitment and hiring
- Field operations
- Proof of service delivery
- Understanding of financial profitability
- Efficiency gains
Using their success stories as a guide, see how technology can future-proof your own company’s unique business processes and needs.
1. Coastal Building Maintenance: Saving 40 hours a week in overhead resources
Coastal Building Maintenance (CBM), a full service janitorial and maintenance company with locations serving areas of Florida and Vermont, provides customized services to meet the unique requirements of each client’s contract. With the company’s combined reputation and expertise, they’ve cultivated a client portfolio including office buildings, condominiums, schools and universities, medical facilities, retail, hotels and more.
As the company grew, they needed a way to:
- Manage work tickets
- Record timekeeping
- Connect it’s records through to billing
- Data share with operations, HR and finance teams seamlessly
After implementing WinTeam* – TEAM Software’s market-leading and industry-specific ERP software, CBM began to realize improvements almost immediately.
“Prior to WinTeam, we’d have to work backwards to bill customers for consumable supplies by contract,” said Agatha Velez, controller. “We’d have to enter a purchase order into our accounting software, collect the orders that were due to be billed, manually enter them into a spreadsheet, then make copies and bill it. Now, we have a purchasing workflow built into WinTeam that streamlines the process and cuts out the manual work.”
The improvement transformed a process that formerly took Velez’s team one to two days to complete into one that took only one to two hours, a savings in single task effort anywhere between 75-94%.
When looked at business-wide, Velez estimates CBM has saved 40 hours per week just in time savings and productivity — the overhead equivalent of an additional employee — even as the company has grown, increasing employee count by 40% and revenue by 60%.
*WinTeam is currently available for TEAM Software by WorkWave North American clients.
2. Regular Cleaning: Controlling overhead and increasing revenue growth by 24%
Regular Cleaning had been looking to implement electronic solutions for some time before they were introduced to TemplaCMS, TEAM Software by WorkWave’s contract management software.
They needed a way to:
- Seamlessly share data
- Integrate with accounts and billing
- Gain real-time field management tools
- Support functionality for each client
Using TemplaCMS, Regular Cleaning has been able to control central overhead resulting in a period of 24% revenue growth.
“TemplaCMS has enabled us to grow the business significantly whilst actually reducing central overhead. It is a tool that is without comparison in the contract cleaning market.” Julian Lingham, Regular Cleaning
Read more in this case study.
3. Bolana Enterprises: Accessing business-critical functions in one system
Bolana Enterprises is one of the fastest growing janitorial services companies in the Washington metro. To support company growth, they needed a tool that could:
- Improve time keeping and prevent inaccurate clock ins/outs
- Track fixed assets
- Support onsite inspections
- Secure data
On top of that, they wanted a tool that could centralize business-critical information within a single software solution.
Now, they’re supporting business operations – and over 350 employees – with WinTeam, TEAM Software by WorkWave’s ERP Software, available in North America.
“One of the big benefits [of using TEAM Software] is that everything is in one place. You have the payroll, you have accounting, accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets, human resources, insurance – all in one system,” – Valarie Doc, Bolana Enterprises
Watch their video testimonial.
4. Kleenmark: Future-proofing with workforce management software
Kleenmark has been a user of WinTeam*, the leading ERP for cleaning contractors, since 1999. From an IT perspective, they needed a solution that could manage all core business processes in one system to:
- Improve efficiency
- Support regulatory issues
- Save time manipulating data
- Focus on doing right for their customers
The company also needed a solution to scale. As the company grew, expanded, and evolved, they were able to gain more value from TEAM Software’s growing features, enhancements and functionalities. Kleenmark is now using WinTeam to manage everything from HR to payroll to time and attendance – all with a single technology partner.
“It’s already there to help you grow into it, as opposed to outgrowing what your solution is,” – Patrick Donahue, Kleenmark
Watch their video testimonial.
*WinTeam is currently available for TEAM Software by WorkWave North American clients.
5. ARA Property Services: Using Timegate and TemplaCMS to grow your cleaning business
With customers spanning across commercial, healthcare, government, educational, corporate, multi-site, food manufacturing, office, aged care and retail industries, ARA Property Services provides services to thousands of job sites across the country every year.
ARA’s goals for a software solution included:
- Managing cleaning staff rosters
- Simplifying contract management
- Moving away from manual systems and paper-based processes or spreadsheets
- Improve processes for more reliable business information
These needs pointed them to an integrated software approach, which connected TEAM Software’s Timegate and TemplaCMS solutions for an ERP-style solution*.
Now, ARA’s cleaning staff can clock-in and clock out of shifts from a job site, view current assignments and communicate with supervisors or back-office staff. Supervisors can manage job sites by exception – meaning no action is required unless the system spots a possible issue, like scheduling errors. The two systems provide data accuracy from the moment a cleaner’s shift starts and stops, to if they’re being paid on time and correctly.
“From a process perspective, it has saved us a lot of time across the board and made everything so much easier,” said Dani Anderson, director of client relations. “From where we were using multiple systems, we now just have one. And, it’s all integrated, so it covers from cleaner on the ground all the way to the end of payroll.”
*This software pairing is available for TEAM Software by WorkWave customers in EMEA and APAC markets.
6. ABBCO: Establishing end-to-end hiring best practices using ATS and onboarding software
When ABBCO Service Corporation saw a need to begin shifting manual, paper processes to digital methods; they began with aspects of their financial, operations, and workforce management systems. They tackled these first priorities by using WinTeam.
Quickly, their plan for process improvements expanded to include their recruiting systems through Kwantek, TEAM Software’s applicant tracking system (ATS) and onboarding software solution.
As an ATS, Kwantek:
- Acts as a single source platform that can post a job (or job advertisement) to multiple sources, including high-traffic pay-for-performance recruitment advertising networks, as well as free job boards and social media sites
- Sends candidate applications back to Kwantek where applicants from multiple job boards can be managed in one place
- Captures data on prospective job applicants, reducing the rate of lost applicants
- Seamlessly connects hiring processes, from recruitment through onboarding – without the manual work
Now, ABBCO can capture prospective job candidate information — even if they never finished filling out an application. This is an important metric, as the rate of lost applicants continues to increase. In fact, according to reports stating approximately 7% of those applying through a desktop station complete a job application through completion, with just under 5% of mobile applications being finished through completion.
*Kwantek is currently available for TEAM Software by WorkWave North American clients.
7. Simply Right: Understanding true profitability by site with software-supported job costing
For Salt Lake City, US-based building service contractor, Simply Right, tracking employees time worked was a challenge. As timekeeping impacts critical accounting work to ensure positive cash flow, they knew they needed a solution that could ensure time and attendance records were accurate, and use that information to determine profitability by site.
After implementing WinTeam* from TEAM Software by WorkWave, Simply Right can:
- Know with accuracy when employees are clocking in and out
- Use timekeeping data to adjust budgets based on time needed to complete service
- Understand site performance and financial profitability
- Tie accounting to billing, sending invoices directly out of the system
WinTeam has even enabled Simply Right’s back-office teams to save 75% on certain accounting tasks, like setting up recurring invoices.
“For anyone in the service industry, I would recommend TEAM Software by WorkWave. The support is awesome…I love it. I’ve never had a problem,” – Kara Chavez, Simply Right.
*WinTeam is currently available for TEAM Software by WorkWave North American clients.
8. Corporate Cleaning Group: Improving proof of service – fast
At Corporate Cleaning Group (CCG) – commercial cleaning company serving niche markets
like healthcare, corporate office space, educational systems and religious facilities – the phrase
“closing the loop” is a familiar one. It’s an expression used to describe an internal framework they’ve developed to ensure service quality is high and delivery is consistent. With corporate offices based in Michigan and Kansas, and franchise locations spreading across the continental United States, ensuring those service standards is no small feat.
Previously, the company had relied on manual documentation and paper processes to manage everything from:
- HR documentation
- Training paperwork
- Work tickets
- Inspections
The company saw an opportunity to streamline their service delivery operations even tighter to benefit service quality and strengthen communications from field-based cleaners using Lighthouse, a leading mobile workforce management solution specializing in proof of service.
Less than a year after implementation, CCG built their own library of templates within Lighthouse. It features a collection of HR forms, digital close-down checklists, screening questionnaires, training templates and more.
Cleaners in the field can access the documents (shared based on permissions established by the company) and complete them using their mobile devices as they move through their work at each location. Templates can be saved as they go and photos can be added to demonstrate cleanliness and task completion. They can also send communication through the Lighthouse mobile app to their managers and supervisors in real-time, supporting quick “close-the-loop” resolution.
Using successful cleaning business stories to improve your bottom line
These success stories share a common theme. The cleaning companies featured have experienced measurable improvements in how they are completing, proving and measuring profitability from services delivered.
At TEAM Software by WorkWave, we know every cleaning business is different. Because of this, it’s best to chat through your unique needs one-on-one.
Request a demo today to start taking positive steps in your own measurable improvements today.