BOSS: Committed to Continuous Improvement

While no one who runs a business can fully foresee how evolving market forces will impact their product and service offerings, the one absolute certainly is that change will happen.

That’s why from the beginning, the creators of BOSS Software rolled out their initial offering with one eye on the horizon.

“We’ve been committed to reinvestment in the technology since day one,” says Mike Cossins, owner of The Integra Group, parent company of BOSS. “When we originally priced the software, we set aside 40 percent of the revenue for maintenance to keep up with technology changes.”

And it’s not just about adding and improving features to the software. Evolution beyond the software itself, such as electronic commerce, internet browser preference, and the movement toward mobile devices for connectivity and communication have required vast investments to ensure BOSS customers can access accounts and interact with employees in whatever way they prefer.

For example, when Google Chrome proved to be a better multiplatform option as a base browser, a software rewrite was required to accommodate a shift away from Internet Explorer.
The move to mobile was another significant shift.

“When we first rolled out BOSS, mobile wasn’t what it is today,” recalls Cossins. “BOSS had been cloud-based, but typically was used in an office on a PC. Subsequently, over several iterations, we designed new mobile screens to be used in the field that are now a core part of the system. And we continue to add features to it.”

Software By Contractors, for Contractors

New feature development is critical, so the software grows with customers’ businesses. BOSS has added numerous capabilities for customers including service route planning and management and integrations with accounting and payroll systems. BOSS also worked with a committee of market experts to create a business management software offering for the design build market.

Today, the commitment to growth and product advancement continues at BOSS with a significant investment in a snow management module.

“It’s a different market than maintenance or construction,” says Cossins, requiring its own approach to software. But just like the other BOSS offerings, “investment will be shared across all of our clients, and a percentage of the monthly fee will go toward the growth and enhancement of the service.”

While monitoring market forces is an internal management responsibility, BOSS relies heavily on customer engagement to ensure its development is on target, and to better understand client needs and desires as far as their management software.

“We have a Client Steering Committee featuring a hand-selected group of our top five clients who are, from our perspective, maximizing their use of all the features of BOSS software,” says Cossins.

At a once-a-year meeting, ideas from the group are vetted out through presentations and discussions and ranked by their relative levels of impact to customers and effort to create. The list instructs BOSS managers and engineers on key future projects.

“The plan now is to add a snow version of that committee to get feedback and ideas for feature development in that product,” says Cossins.

In a rapidly changing world, BOSS’ commitment to invest in the future has kept clients ahead of the curve and will for years to come.

The BOSS Difference

BOSS’ intimate knowledge of software and the professional landscape and snow removal business makes it the number one choice for businesses searching for a complete software solution. Call 866/596-5971 or request a free consultation today.