Jonas Software Delivers Strong Support, Scalability and Mobile Service Technology to Growing California Service Contractor
Executive Summary
A growing southern California service contractor needed integrated construction accounting and service software with strong support, regular enhancements and scalability to support further growth. Jonas software promised – and delivered – all these and more.
Customer Profile
Aire Rite Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Inc. is one of southern California's largest service contractors. A leader within the restaurant and food service industry, over 80 percent of its business is generated from restaurant customers who represent more than a thousand commercial buildings throughout the area.
With more than 70 service technicians in the field, the company provides regional and national restaurant chains with a one-point contact for comprehensive maintenance programs; consulting and engineering services; routine and 24-hour emergency services and air conditioning (A/C) equipment retrofits and replacements.
Since its establishment in 1972, Aire Rite’s commitment to customer service has allowed it to flourish. Its annual revenues have actually doubled in the last five years and are now at $16 million, which has made the company a dominant force in its industry.
Business Challenge
In 1995, Don Langston made the transition from Aire Rite field supervisor to service manager. Back then, the service department's dispatchers were on an old "card and file" system. "There was no consistent integration between accounting, inventory, job costing and the service department," says Langston, who is now Director of Operations.
Over the next few years, Aire Rite's management team and outside consultants actively researched integrated software solutions based on specific expectations. "Our most important requirements for new software were strong support and scalability for future growth,” Langston explains. “We wanted to work with a company that had a number of programmers and support staff." These requirements would ensure that Aire Rite’s new software would stay up-to-date as technology changed.
"By January 2001, we had narrowed our list of vendors by comparing systems, looking at references and measuring the benefits,” Langston says. "Then, we put every prospective software vendor under an intense review of their product."
Six months later, Aire Rite made a decision. "The program that stood out and met all of our specifications and expectations was Jonas Software Ltd. The company had a willingness and open-mindedness to create and improve its software so it will always have a cutting-edge product," Langston recalls. "Jonas was an organization that could grow with us."
The Jonas Solution: Organized Installation & Training
Over the following months, Aire Rite prepared for its Jonas software installation. "A trainer was brought into the picture early to help us chart out a plan that would direct us to success," Langston says.
Jonas’ organized installation process was a big improvement over Aire Rite’s previous software implementation experiences. Written training guides were used to ensure that appropriate training would be received and that the system would be setup properly. The guides were broken down by functionality, stating how long training should take for each particular function, as well as what training steps should be followed. In addition, specific training checklists were provided to each employee based on their responsibilities.
With Aire Rite's busy schedule, it was hard to coordinate employee training times. This was easily resolved by creating a training classroom. “We took a section of our warehouse,” Langston explains, “and set up hardware with the Jonas software running. Small groups of people from certain departments took turns doing half-day training, while the company continued to function as usual. Jonas’ great resources provided well-planned training.”
Benefits for Aire Rite: Ease of Use & Strong Reporting
With solid training and a software system that’s inherently easy to use, Aire Rite's personnel adapted quickly to the new program. "Jonas is a true Windows product,” Langston states. “Visually, the colors make it easy and fun to use which, in turn, make it easy to comprehend."
Robust reporting gives management pertinent information instantly, which allows key decisions to be made quickly. "Reporting is a very valuable tool,” Langston relates. “With our old software, a lot of the reports were worthless. The report generator was very limited and not user friendly. The Jonas reporting system gives us a wide variety of 'canned reports,' but the greatest value is the flexibility to create our own custom reports. With Jonas, we can get instant and customized reports to help management make decisions that are critical to the overall profitability and productivity of the company."
Looking Forward: Building a Long-Term Partnership
After seven years with Jonas, Langston concludes that Aire Rites’s relationship with the company is a successful one. "Jonas repeatedly demonstrates that it cares about its clients and that's important to us,” he says.
Aire Rite’s founder, Punky Langston, agrees: “From our first contact with the salesman, to the trainers, programmers and our increasing interaction with the management, Jonas has shown a high level of integrity and professionalism throughout the entire process.”
Jonas has also demonstrated a proven commitment to enhancing its software and staying on top of technology advances. Jonas Mobile, for example, was recently created to improve work order processing, manage inventory better, reduce paperwork and eliminate extra data entry. "The latest mobile product is all part of keeping us up-to-date with the latest advances in the industry,” Punky Langston says. "This product will make us more efficient and enable us to provide our customers with even better service.”
Aire Rite prides itself on building long-term strategic partnerships with both its customers and vendors. Its relationship with Jonas is one that Aire Rite believes will only continue to grow stronger well into the future.