Due to challenges caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic U.S. companies have been advised to pivot. That’s not always easy to do. According to a recent article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR), How Businesses Have Successfully Pivoted During the Pandemic by Mauro F. Guillén, changes don’t have to be sweeping to have a positive impact. Fixing basic issues that may have been long-term problems can go a long way in lowering costs and improving collaboration -- especially with many employees working from home part, or all, of the time.
In the HBR article, Guillén notes that rather than focusing on a company-wide initiative, "The reality of how companies are dealing with the crisis and preparing for the recovery tells a very different story, one of pivoting to business models conducive to short-term survival along with long-term resilience and growth.” To be successful a pivot must address long-term trends influenced by the pandemic, including remote work, shorter supply chains and expanded technology usage.
Rebel Refrigeration keeps Las Vegas cool
DocuWare Cloud customer Rebel Refrigeration, AC & Plumbing installs water heaters, air conditioning systems and provides other home services to the residents of the Las Vegas region. With about 20 employees, the company serves 8,000 to 10,000 clients, responding to over 10,000 service calls a year.
“During the lockdown our office was closed, and we fell behind. I wanted my people to be able to seamlessly and smoothly work from home. I wanted to have a cloud-type of system where we could really go paperless,” Owner Joe Johnson explains.
The company responded to the business challenges caused by COVID-19 by digitizing invoice processing with a preconfigured solution, DocuWare for Invoice Processing. Their automated system, which is integrated with QuickBooks, was up and running in a few days. Their experience illustrates that change doesn’t have to be drastic to have a significant positive effect on your business. However, maximum speed to go-live is vital.
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Advantages of Using a Preconfigured Solution
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| Ready-to-start standard solution |
| Quick implementation within a fixed budget |
| Fast digitization off processes based on industry standard workflows |
| Flexibility to expand and scale over time |
| Easy entrance point to adopting a cloud-based model |
Benefits of the new automated invoice process
An eco-friendly company, Rebel Refrigeration was already partially paperless—its contractors use iPads and digital invoicing in some business areas, but certain aspects of the operations still required printing invoices on paper. A typical job requires purchasing equipment and parts. A rapid invoicing process was needed to keep the company solvent so they could continue to provide their customers with high-quality service during the pandemic.
When the lockdown order was issued, company employees were working from home. They couldn’t access the paper documents stored in the office, and invoice processing stalled. With DocuWare Cloud, "At any given moment anyone can pull up a purchase order, an invoice number or a job number and see all the documents that pertain to it. Going digital is a game changer,” Johnson says. “They can now do it all from home, which is crucial. If there is a second wave of the pandemic this fall, we are going to be ready for sure.”