Now that ADD Systems’ 2023 Business Tech Conference (BTC) is in the rear-view mirror, we want to give you a glimpse of what was shared. The BTC is our triennial conference where we bring together ADD users, partners, and employees to learn about the latest software, share best practices, and plan for the future, all in a week-long, action-packed event. We also held many sessions that showcased our software to help clients understand their ADD products more thoroughly. With a deeper understanding, clients can utilize their ADD software to help their business be more efficient, agile, and profitable.
Our first article in the BTC Education Series will be on SmartConnect. The SmartConnect portfolio of web services empowers you and your web developer to safely gain access to all your customer information for both real-time data retrieval and editing. SmartConnect can link to various 3rd party tools such as tank monitors, web portals, mobile apps, phone pops, and more. Your web developer can gain access to ADD Energy E360/E3® data through SmartConnect’s application programming interfaces (APIs).
Understanding APIs
If you don’t consider yourself a technical person or have never heard of APIs before, don’t worry. We’re here to help. Simply put, an API is an interface that allows two applications to interact with each other without interruption. You can think of an API as a liaison between two connected parties. For an analogy that illustrates this, think of an API like a restaurant server.
When you tell a server what you would like from the menu, they will enter your order into a food ticket system. The chef will receive this ticket and cook the meal you would like to eat. Once the chef has finished cooking the meal, the server will bring your food back to you. Essentially, an API serves the same role when communicating between two different applications by relaying information between them. In this instance, your SmartConnect software is your “server,” while your E360/E3 database is the “chef,” sending all the meals to the patron (your 3rd party application).
“What a SmartConnect module allows you to do is trade information in and out of a specific section of your database,” ADD Systems Account Manager Steve Gent said.
Serve Your Customers through Both the Analog and Digital Worlds
There are many goods and services that were once solely purchased offline. But for many years now, things like clothes shopping, food orders, and even car purchases have stakes in both the analog and digital worlds. Because technology has made its way into so many facets of life, your customers expect you to have a web portal that makes interacting with your business easier and more efficient. With a web portal, customers will be able to see their general account information, but they can also have the ability to drill down into more specific information. Account balances, payment history, budget programs, service plans, and delivery and service locations are just a few things customers can access through a web portal. SmartConnect makes that possible all in real-time.
“One of the most common applications people want is the ability for their customers to go online and pay a bill,” Steve Gent said. “In order to do that, you have to acknowledge that they’re a customer, so they have to have a lookup. You could give them the ability to change and modify their account, whether they want to add a credit card, telephone number, or change a name. And then they can see there’s an invoice and pay it.”
Because customers can pay bills and view other pertinent account information through a web portal, your CSRs will have more time to answer more complex questions and delegate their time to other important tasks. Building a web portal offers not only bill pay and general account information, but also other, more specific functionality for customers. Heating oil, propane, and kerosene deliveries, signing up for price protection plans, and tank monitoring can all be done through a web portal using SmartConnect.
SmartConnect users can connect web portals specifically tailored to their type of business. For example, many wholesale fuel companies have started using B2B-style web portals with SmartConnect. No longer are strictly B2C businesses the only company types able to use web portals. In the wholesale world, pricing changes quickly, and one delivery can be thousands of dollars. This makes the wholesale industry an ideal place for a customer portal, allowing people to keep a close eye on their accounts.
Going Mobile
Because of how ubiquitous smartphones are in everyday life, consumers expect companies to have an app. Mobile apps give customers the ability to access services through a quick, easy-to-use format, and SmartConnect enables this smooth connection to E360/E3. Customers can order fuel, make a payment, request a delivery, and check their account balance. Mobile apps can be made not only for serving customers but also for internal business management. Your company can create an app that helps your company with sales team functions, field service management, order and inventory management, approvals, exceptions, and more. An internal business app can help your team stay more productive and organized and create better teamwork amongst the whole company.
The Benefits of Tank Monitors
Besides being a bridge for different types of portals, SmartConnect can also connect with technology in the field. Connecting tank monitors to your database through SmartConnect offers many benefits. With a tank monitor, you can access your customers’ tank levels to ensure they have enough fuel. Having customers experience out-of-gas situations is a scenario that should be avoided at all costs. Another benefit is efficiency. When E360/E3 has an accurate tank reading, the most efficient delivery can automatically be scheduled. Your driver won’t waste time and money by going to an account that does not need a fuel delivery.
“They developed tank monitors to be like the gas gauge in your car,” Gent said. “It automates and sends that fuel level daily into E360/E3 so that on each customer account, you have a certain threshold you’re trying to reach before you go and deliver fuel. So, the tank monitor enables you to set that trigger threshold to know when to go put more fuel in that tank.”
Tank monitors are super beneficial for accounts that are difficult to forecast. Accounts with inconsistent K-Factors, keep-full accounts that can’t run out, or any customers that are furthest away in a service area can all benefit from the safety net of tank monitors.
Help Your CSRs with Phone Pops
Phone pops are a useful tool that can help CSRs gain immediate access to customer data more quickly than before by automatically bringing up their accounts when they call. CSRs can view a customer’s call history, notes, and any other information that may help the CSR understand why this person may be calling.
“A phone pop is the ability for the phone system to be integrated into the E360/E3 database,” Gent said. “To have the customer’s account pop up immediately means your CSR can give a great customer experience without any delay.”
The Possibilities Are Endless
The features and benefits mentioned before only scratch the surface of what SmartConnect and our 3rd-party partners can do. ADD Systems is proud to always work with its customers and to develop products that continually serve and evolve with them. With SmartConnect, we can help turn your vision into a reality. We understand that new challenges and opportunities arise when you run a business, so it’s important to have a software partner that can help you be adaptable and approach solutions in ways that are efficient, profitable, and also creative. If you’d like to learn more about SmartConnect, please contact us by email at sales@addsys.com or by calling us at 1-800-922-0972.
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