CATCH UP! (helping irrigators with technology)

Smartphones may very well be phones that are smarter than we are.  Slim and portable, smartphones are capable of carrying everything important to us wherever we go.  Do you NEED one?  You can decide, but it could sure make the irrigation contractor's life a whole lot easier.  Here's some features that are compatible with most smartphones:

On-the-go Scheduling

Most smartphones, whether Apple or Android based, have calendars and event schedulers already built in.  This allows you, while in the middle of an irrigation job, to quickly schedule a meeting or appointment on your phone and get right back to work.  You can set the appointment up with a reminder to let you know the appointment is coming up.  Most calendar programs allow you to set your own preference on reminders: a day before the event, a week, an hour, whatever you want to help you remember those important dates and times.  Most calendar applications also allow you to share the appointment with others, making it super easy to let co-workers know there is something coming up.

Pictures
All smartphones these days come with an on-board camera.  Cameras can be extremely helpful when on a job.  You can take before and after pictures of the actual irrigation work for your customer files, as proof of what you did on the job, or simply some nice before and after shots for your portfolio.  Pictures can be stored and attached to customer files later, or can be attached to your mobile customer files if you have a customer tracking application.

There's an App for that
There truly is an 'app' for just about everything.  A search of the Android Market shows applications that are convenient and cost effective for an irrigator to use.  Some of the apps listed are: measuring distances, job estimating, time tracking, customer records, job site trackers, etc.

Some applications are pretty robust.  They include maintaining irrigation customer files, measuring distances for irrigation on site, preparing quotes that you can e-mail from your phone, and more.  Some apps even allow you to connect with vendors so you can check available stock!  Talk about convenience!

With today's technology, there is no reason an irrigation contractor has to struggle to do it all by himself.  Mobile apps and smartphones make it easy to be a one (or three) man show!