Running an HVAC, electrical, plumbing, or any other skilled trade company looks much different today, than it did a few years ago.

Your technicians may be working across multiple job sites while your office manages schedules, estimates, invoices, customer information, payroll, email, and dozens of other moving pieces.

Technology connects nearly all of it.

But that also raises some important questions. 

• What happens if the internet goes down?

• Is customer information on a technician's tablet actually protected?

• Can an employee safely use public Wi-Fi between jobs?

That’s why it’s important for these skilled trade companies to ask these FIVE specific IT questions. 

1. What Happens If Our Internet Goes Down in the Middle of the Workday?

If your internet goes down, could your office still.....

• Schedule appointments?

• Allow employees to process payments?

• Allow technicians to still have access to job information?

For many trade companies, an internet outage can affect much more than just your email.

If important applications are cloud-based, losing your connection could temporarily affect scheduling, invoicing, customer records, phones, and communication with technicians in the field.

Businesses should understand what operations are dependent on an internet connection.

Then, they should make sure to have a plan for what employees should do during an outage.

For companies that can't afford much downtime, options such as a secondary internet connection or cellular backup may also be worth discussing with your IT provider.

2. If a Technician Loses a Company Phone or Tablet, Can Someone Access Your Business?

Phones and tablets go everywhere your technicians do.

That means they're also more likely to be left at a customer location, forgotten in a restaurant, damaged on a job site, or stolen from a vehicle.

What information could someone access if they found your company's phone or tablet?

• Company email

• Customer names and addresses

• Work orders

• Business applications

• Saved passwords

• Photos and documents

Company devices should be protected with strong authentication, automatic locking, encryption, and appropriate device management.

More importantly, your company should have a way to quickly disable access when a device goes missing.

3. Is It Safe for Our Technicians to Use Public Wi-Fi Between Jobs?

A technician stops for lunch and needs to update a work order.

There's free Wi-Fi available. 

Should they connect?

It's a small decision that employees make every day.

Public networks shouldn't automatically be treated as trusted. Employees should avoid accessing sensitive company information over unfamiliar networks unless appropriate protections are in place.

• Using a secured company connection

• Cellular data

• A trusted hotspot

• Or an approved VPN 

All safer options depend on how your company's systems are configured.

Your employees shouldn't have to guess. Your company should have clear guidelines for how technicians securely connect while they're away from the office.

4. What Happens to a Technician's Accounts When They Leave the Company?

This is an easy one to overlook.

A technician leaves, their uniform and tools are returned, and the keys to the company vehicle are handed back.

But what about their digital keys?

Do they still have access to:

• Company emails?

• Scheduling software?

• Customer records?

• Cloud storage?

• Vendor portals?

• Shared passwords?

Employee offboarding should include technology access just like it includes collecting physical company property.

Accounts should be disabled promptly, company devices recovered, shared credentials changed, and access reviewed.

Otherwise, a former employee could potentially retain access long after their last day.

5. If Our Scheduling or Field-Service Software Went Down Tomorrow, How Long Could We Keep Working?

This may be one of the most important questions for a skilled trade company.

Imagine your technicians arrive tomorrow morning and nobody can access the schedule.

• Who is going where?

• What work was supposed to be completed?

• What parts are needed?

• What's the customer's address?

• Who has already paid?

Your scheduling, dispatching, estimating, invoicing, or field-service platform may have quietly become one of the most important pieces of technology in your business.

That's why companies should understand what information is backed up, what happens during an outage, who needs to be contacted, and how employees would temporarily continue working.

Don't wait for an outage to figure out the answer.

Your Tools Don't Stop at the Toolbox

For today's skilled trade companies, a wrench, drill, meter, or diagnostic tool isn't the only equipment employees depend on.

Phones, tablets, Wi-Fi, cloud software, email, scheduling platforms, and cybersecurity have become part of the job too.

You don't need to become an IT expert. But as a business owner, you should be able to ask your IT provider questions like:

What happens if this stops working? Who has access to this? How are we protecting it? And how quickly can we recover?

If your IT provider can't give you clear answers, that's something worth paying attention to.

At CETech, we help businesses throughout Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse manage and protect the technology they depend on, from the office to the job site.

Your crew knows how to keep the job moving. Your technology should be ready to do the same.

➡️ Contact CETech Today, to see if your technology is ready to keep up with your crew.