Saving Solutions

Brooke Inzerella on Using Technology to Make Business More Efficient 

I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with technology, to be perfectly honest. I left my job as an investment advisor many years ago and took a (very) entry-level position with a landscaping company because I wanted to find my passion. I loved working with my hands, in the dirt, building and maintaining beautiful outdoor spaces. I wanted to work outside and not be tied to a computer screen. 

That’s what I did for three years until I decided it was time to be my own boss. I opened Horticare in 2007. Back then, there was very little “technology” in the industry, and I was unaware of what was out there! Our project management, job reporting and time-tracking were all being done by hand, then hard copies turned into accounting (me) for billing and reconciliation at the end of the workday. After a few years of hard work and struggle to get the business on its feet and growing, I really started to think about ways we could be more efficient and productive. I knew that would save time and money! 

Around this same time, our cell phone provider representative approached us with an offer to partner on the development of a specialized software. We could tailor to suit our needs for centralized project and fleet management, and time and material tracking for a more seamless scheduling and billing process. I was able to customize the forms, fields and prompts for every module to satisfy exactly what we needed at that time. It was going to be a huge time-saver. Back in those days though, apps were a new thing. Plus, about 50% of my supervisors were, let’s just call them “old school” guys. Hard-working and dedicated men in their 50s and 60s, including my dad. Not one had ever used a Smartphone, much less an app. The learning curve was not easy, but we stayed the course. Over time, everyone became proficient in the project management, time tracking and job reporting system. Now, daily job reports are submitted digitally to project managers and accounting (not me) with the click of a button. 

"We’ve continually adapted our software to growth & change in the business, which benefited tremendously."

From clocking in, to gps capabilities, to dispatch and many more features, the app has become the heartbeat of our operations. We have many different divisions doing different types of projects and the app helps us stay connected and organized, which saves time and money.  

There are two major points I’d like to make about digital tools for the horticulture industry:

1.Be selective.
There are a lot of digital tools and software options out there and you can get bombarded with all that’s available. Really think about what your biggest challenges and obstacles are. Is it project management? Scheduling? Billing? HR management? Try to find the best solution for your biggest challenge, or one system that does it all. For example, there are some fancy digital tools for scheduling out there but we have finessed and fine-tuned our Google calendar system and it’s easy to use, accessible to everyone, and efficient. I don’t feel the need to change yet!

2.Be patient with change. 
When you do decide to adopt a new digital tool (and there are some great ones out there!), don’t expect it to be seamless.There will be hiccups and lost productivity along the way. The reason they call it a “learning curve” is because your productivity will certainly dip in the beginning. Keep at it and stay focused on the benefits you’ll enjoy down the road.

ABOUT

Brooke Inzerella is a licensed landscape horticulturist and owner of Horticare Landscape Company in Lafayette, Louisiana.
www.horticarelandscape.com