Today’s digital world has transformed how businesses connect with and serve their clients. Many customers expect the convenience of 24/7/365 access to the information from the companies with which they do business. As a company that provides fire and life safety inspections and/or cross connection control and backflow testing, your clients are not any different. They want to be able to access the results of their completed tests when its convenient for them. Therefore, many businesses like yours are finding the best way to serve their clients is to offer them access to an online customer portal, such as Fire Inspection Software.
For years, businesses have used collaboration tools to share information within their companies. Intranets – private, protected company websites – are an example of a collaboration tool. Intranets enable authorized employees to access the company’s software systems and stored information, so they can collaborate efficiently in a safe environment.
Eventually, due to the success of company intranets, customer portals were developed to enable external business collaboration processes. A customer portal is a private, secure website that allows businesses to share account-specific information with their customers.
At FormLink Systems, we create a unique customer portal for each of our fire and life safety and cross connection control clients. This portal enables your customers to access their specific, completed inspection or backflow testing reports. Your clients enter your portal by logging in with their specific usernames and passwords. Then, they can browse the information within the portal to find the documents they need to review.
Now that you know what a customer portal is, you may wonder why you would want to offer one to your customers? What difference can it make to your business and theirs?
Here are four reasons why your company should offer online customer portals:
Since your customers’ portals are web-based, all their inspection and testing reports are stored in one easy-to-access location. Your customers can use whatever device they would like to access their report as long as they have an Internet connection. So, they don’t have to be in their office on a desktop computer. They can view their reports from their smartphone, tablet, or laptop, with our Fire Inspection Software.
Additionally, they can review their data when it’s convenient for them – even if it’s after normal business hours while they’re at home.
After your team has completed and uploaded their fire inspection and testing forms, FormLink Systems’ software converts the data, creating professional-looking PDF reports for your customers. These PDF reports are automatically sent to your customers’ portal, so they can be accessed at any time. Easy report creation and delivery for you! Fast service for your customers!
Another advantage of most customer portals is, they’re designed with the user in mind. Therefore, they’re not complicated to use. Likewise, FormLink Systems’ customer portals are straightforward, too. If your customers have ever used Microsoft® program folders, they can use your client portals also.
Each portal lists your customer’s site address and is organized by each building or system that’s inspected and tested. Since the information is organized by report type and the most recent date, your customers will be able to quickly find the information they need.
Once your clients identify the report they want to view, they can click a button to get a PDF of your polished report. Or, if they need to review previous reports, they can easily click a button to do that, too. FormLink Systems doesn’t restrict how many reports are stored on each customers’ portal.
By using a customer portal for your clients’ inspection and testing information, you, nor your staff, have to spend time typing up reports, making copies, and stuffing envelopes. That’s time you or your staff can spend doing other more productive tasks.
Plus, by sending your inspection and testing reports to your customers electronically via a portal, you won’t have to spend as much money on paper, envelopes, and postage to send your reports to your clients the old-fashioned way.
Customer portals, especially web-based ones, can provide greater protection of their sensitive information. By storing their data in the cloud, you and your customers don’t have to worry about remembering to back up their reports constantly. Therefore, if your customers’ computers crash or their building experiences an emergency like a fire or flood, their data will always be protected.
Another advantage of offering your customers a portal is, their electronic reports are password-protected. Each company you work with will be provided a unique user name and password to access their information. So, only the individuals your customers share this login information with will have access to review their reports.
Customer portals created by FormLink Systems for your customers with fire and life safety equipment or cross connection control programs can help streamline how you provide them with their inspection and testing data. By using our convenient, cloud-based customer portal, you’ll save time and money – and project a more professional appearance to your customers. And, your customers will be happier since they’ll receive their inspection and testing data faster and they can address any issues quickly.
Contact us today to find out more about our easy-to-use software solution and customer portal. We would love to give you a free demonstration. See how FormLink Systems can make a difference for your customers!
