Calling all pest control businesses – If your current system is bugging you, here’s your solution.

Changing the game for businesses is what we do, and we do this through giving them the most innovative and efficient technology that is purpose-built for their respective industry. With that being said, we’re excited to roll out our refreshed pest control app!

Pest reports have historically been driven by insurance companies and so the wording, structure and even appearance, clearly comes from an insurance perspective. Our Pest Control clients were being forced to use them because there simply was no viable alternative. Now, don’t get me wrong, the insurance companies in this industry know what they are doing and it is extremely important that our clients are protected from an insurance liability perspective, but there are many elements to the reports that in our opinion, were not being considered.

We wanted to make the reporting process as clear and as methodical as possible for the pest inspectors and technicians out in the field and, just as importantly, make the reports as clear as possible for the end customer.

As such, our digital system for pest control is:

• Compliant from an Australian Standards perspective and the industry insurers.
• Respectful of the direction of AEPMA and their Codes of Practice.
• Clear, helpful, and process-driven for Technicians and Inspectors in the field using the app.
• Clear, straightforward, and easy to read for the end customer.
• Professional looking — the industry has been stuck with Word versions and basic looking reports for too long.
• Flexible – the solution has been built so that our clients can move between fields, add additional content and change any element of the report themselves, using the drag and drop form builder. Naturally, all changes and edits need to be approved with insurers to ensure that compliance has been maintained.

Photo inclusion was another consideration. There are very strong and valid reasons to have lots of photos in reports and conversely, to have no photos in the reports at all, so we needed a solution that catered to both sides.

A priority for the app was to make sure that the end-user is less likely to misunderstand or miss things, or to be tripped up by legal terminology. So, to provide additional clarity, our coloured traffic light indicator system that we’ve integrated into the reports provide a ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ signal using red, green and orange buttons.

As it stands, most current reports do not differentiate what has been added for the specific inspection versus the generic legal terminology. In the new reports, the standard terminology is grey, with the directly relevant sections in very clear black. Coupled with the traffic signal system, we believe this report leaves nothing to doubt.

We have also utilised our Webform technology to deliver online agreements to save our clients so much time and frustration. The end customer can read and sign the agreements on their desktop, tablet, or phone screens instantly and have them returned in minutes.

Overall, the app has been designed to be as user friendly as possible for the inspectors. We have many clients that were initially hesitant to move from their old processes to the new technology – they knew it was the way forward but, as with most of us, there is a hesitation to change, especially when technology is involved. However, once they have done a few inspections and see how easy it is, they never look back.