In time past, climate startups like solar, automobile, and biofuel companies did not find it easy to commercialize their business. These industries especially the solar ones had to develop large-scale production plants with their basic science knowledge. They didn’t have the opportunity to benefit from any software technology company like newer solar tech startups enjoy today. Today, the solar technology market is booming due to having a lot of software-centric companies.
The future of solar companies is very bright. Newer tools, policies, and technologies are created to support this climate tech. One commonly used design tool is solar software. This is commonly used by many startups to improve their business and services. This tool assists solar engineering firms to plan their projects from the construction to operation phase.
Other software packages help these firms to design layouts, track down the price of materials, optimize their configuration, and plan an effective energy storage unit. For firms to enjoy this, they would need to hire the services of a solar software company. Since these companies already know how to design an application or custom-built software that would suit their needs, hiring them would save solar tech startups money and time that would have been spent in other projects.
If you own a solar company, you would realize how broad your options are when it comes to choosing a software company. The best platforms would use various software applications that cover every step of your solar installation process and sales management. With this in mind, let us discuss some software that the best platform would use and factors to consider when choosing the platform for your climate tech startup.
Software that Helps Solar Tech Startups
The following are some of these applications:
Customer Identification
Finding target customers is difficult and expensive for solar companies. Most of the time, contractors end up doing word-of-mouth advertising or leveraging the use of social media platforms. These are excellent tools to use but it is hard to reach target clients at a short notice. However, with a customer identification app, contractors will easily find their target clientele.
Customer Relationship Management
After knowing your target customers, it is vital to keep track of your progress. This ranges from drafting out a proposal to completing the project. Each of the activities needs a good amount of organization and work. With a customer relationship management app, it is easy for you to track down your relationship with clients. If you would like to know more about how CRM works, check here: https://www.solargraf.com/ for help.
Operational Management
This helps contractors to manage and monitor solar sites. This app or software improves the accuracy of asset management with automated data inputting.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Software Company for Your Solar Tech Startup
Here are some vital factors that will help you make an informed choice:
Specialization
You would surely choose a software firm that specializes in the solar industry. But as stated earlier, there are various software applications that this platform can design for you. This depends on what you want for your business. Are you finding it hard to reach your target market? Look for a firm that specializes in the design of a customer identification app. Or do you want to have a track record of how you relate with clients? Then, you need a customer relationship management app.
It is also possible that you require full custom-built software services. If that is the case, ensure that you choose a reputable firm that can offer such services.
Use of Intelligence Automation
Is the software firm up-to-date with the latest technologies? One technology that you need this firm to include is satellite imagery. This gives accurate geographical information about your solar designs. It helps you to calculate the photovoltaic performance, shading analysis, and energy production models. It also makes it easier for you to determine how weather can affect a solar panel installation. For this reason, make sure that you choose a platform that includes satellite imagery tech in its applications.
Software Integration
Any firm you choose must create software that can integrate with other applications which includes energy and financial management apps. This integration allows you to make changes during the project with ease and no confusion. Ensuring that the software can be used along with others help to maintain your proposal integrity and the installation project.
Update Frequency
You wouldn’t want an application that becomes obsolete or useless because the designer stopped updating it. You want one that is frequently updated with the latest technology. So, ensure that you choose a reputable company that is known to frequently update their software applications. For more information on the importance of update frequency, read this article.
Mobile Compatibility
You need a company that offers a mobile compatible application. This is because your team of contractors would not always be at the office. Most of the time, your entire workforce would be on the field so you need a mobile app that you can easily access anywhere.
Pricing
You want a platform that offers designing services at affordable prices. If you decide to go for very cheap companies, you might get a mid-range application that lacks many customization abilities and features. If you want to grow your business, ensure that you choose the best solar software platform.
Customer Support
This is very vital to consider when choosing a solar software solution because regardless of how easy an application is to use, you would sometimes have issues. You would want to lay your complaints and without a customer representative to speak to, you wouldn’t know what to do. There are several things to note about the customer service of this firm before choosing it:
- 24/7 availability
- Quick response to your phone calls or emails
- Multiple means of communication
- Access to online knowledge and video tutorials.
If the platform you had in mind is lacking in most of these areas, do not hire its services.
Conclusion
By incorporating technology into your solar projects, you will gain more customers and your business will grow. In time, you would join the high ranks of the biggest climate startups in the industry.