Whether you’re in the commercial or industrial side of the cleaning industry, you know that it’s only normal that the industry — including yourself, to look for ways to make processes more efficient. This goal isn’t only to increase profits, but also to provide the quality of service your customers deserve.
The cleaning industry has been around long enough to adapt to changes. Especially ones that are brought by technological advancements that disrupted industries relevant to cleaning and those that aren’t.
Those changes pushed companies focused on cleaning services to look for ways to innovate the tools they use during service and hasten the processes involved. Technological advancements are also affected how business owners manage their companies, and how their employees conduct their on-the-job activities.
How big is the cleaning industry?
2020 saw the commercial cleaning industry’s worth at $117 billion, employing about 2.4 million individuals nationwide. The commercial cleaning industry is an undeniably competitive one, with 1.4 million establishments composed of 36,000 franchised outlets and small contractors. The demographic consists of your mom & pop cleaning companies and industry big-names such as ABM industries who saw $6 billion in revenue last year.
The onslaught of the requirement to keep commercial environments sanitized pushed for the need for the services of cleaning companies. As businesses try to follow sanitation mandates to continue operations that are safe for both employees and customers, they’re increasingly looking to cleaning companies to provide expert services. The same stands true for companies focused on providing house cleaning services.
As businesses from different industries reopen one by one, we’re yet to see precise numbers on how the requirement to sanitize working and service areas are affecting the revenues of cleaning companies big and small.
How is the industry improving its processes?
In order to keep up with the changing consumer landscape, the not out of the normal desire of businesses in the cleaning industry to give what customers are looking for stands strong. Customers are looking for companies who can provide services at great speeds and quality, and cleaning companies are doing what they can to keep up.
Here’s how they’re trying to optimize things on their side:
1. Making cleaning more efficient with new technology
We’ve said earlier that the innovations in cleaning services provided today are mainly products of technology. While there are some businesses in the industry that have been in-the-know for years, smaller cleaning companies are only adapting new cleaning innovations recently.
The most popular tools among businesses are data-driven ones that allow them a view into real-time information about the status of the necessary equipment they need for cleaning services. Aside from the monitoring of supplies in real-time, they can also address issues concerning hygiene and supply using dashboards accessible to managers and employees.
These data-driven tools help companies allow their employees to manage their time well, simplify their operations, and be alert for tasks that require manual care.
2. Productivity and software tools
The best tools to capitalize on are productivity software. These help businesses organize daily operations that can provide for having things done quicker.
Aside from task organization, there are other aspects of the business that used to require management that is solely manual, which takes more time, such as client billing, progress tracking, and keeping equipment organized.
Fortunately, hundreds of software tools are dedicated to simplifying the processes required for those aspects of the business.
One example is HubStaff, a time-tracking application that can be used to monitor the progress of cleaning crew tasks. The application can also generate invoices based on the billing rates provided.
3. Cleaning services are becoming increasingly reachable
70 percent of today’s customers prefer reaching out to businesses through text and email rather than calls. The fast-paced lives of people make them unable to devote their time to phone businesses to inquire and transact with them.
As more consumers prefer reaching out using text, cleaning companies are opening channels in messaging and social media platforms. This makes them easier to reach even for the consumers who absolutely dislike having to call businesses.
Cleaning companies are also optimizing their websites to be more mobile-friendly, as most customers look them up through their handheld devices.
Keeping up with new customer preferences can be a lot to businesses, especially the ones still trying to get their names out, but the effort is usually worth it. One might think that changing processes in one go can destroy a business’ momentum, but the key is to adapt while navigating the process that inevitably comes with a business’ growth.
