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ArbPro Software


John Shutler
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Having recieved an email today to inform users that the Arbpro software will be closing as of novemebr, its raised the question of what else is out there?

having become fairly reliant on the Arbpro software this is quite an inconvinience

 

what other similar software is out there? it doesnt neeed to be industry specific particulary

cheers

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I used a product called Jobber, was customisable. You could do all the normal stuff i.e  managed your calendar, customer database, setup teams, schedule quotes, visits jobs, raise invoices,  lots of management reports etc.  Worth a look and they have a 30 day free trial.  It's a proper CRM field solution with an app also.  I used if for 3 years until I sold my business, never any downtime and always worked.  Think it's around £45 per month.  Hope that helps 

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The news of Arbpro to cease trading has certainly come as a shock. My entire business runs from it and I'm comfortable with using it. What else do we use? Im considering a non are specific one now as there is obviously not the market for it in this country. Seems strange though... how many users do they have at £60+ a month? how much does it cost to maintain? I don't really need them to develop it more, they could just leave the servers running or sell it as a program to run off our personal computers.

 

I hate change... this is pushing all my neurotic buttons. ;-)

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I'm with you all. Absolutely gutted! We started using it at the beginning of summer this year and it has completely changed the way we run our small company. So much easier and great to have everything in one place. I have been looking over the last week at new software, the one thing they all lack compared to AP is ease of use. So many boxes to fill out and really time consuming. Also not many of them have the work pack as well organised, detailing tools etc. 

 

It was hard enough getting my partner to use Arbpro. He now loves it and also hates change! We spoke to Mark at Arbpro only a month ago and he said that they were due to release a new version of the app, so I can only imagine it's possibly personal reasons for closing. I'm hoping someone comes along and buys it!

 

Any way, I'm testing Powered Now and Jobbers free trials so will give a bit of feedback in a couple of weeks to let you know how we found it. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

 

So, I have been trialling Jobber and Powered Now for the last couple of weeks but before I give any feedback, I thought I should let you know about some info from Arbpro that may be of interest to someone. 

 

We emailed this week to say how disappointed we were and wondered if there was anything we could do to keep them open. Mark came back and said they are currently looking for investors. They need £40k and currently have been offered £15k of that. They still need investors and are selling off shares so they can remain open. This all has to be done ASAP as they are tied to the deadline they previously sent in the closing down email. 

 

If Arbpro manages to remain open, I will 100% remain with them as since trialling, I have failed to find anything that comes really close in doing all the amazing things they do. However, if they close, I think the next best software would be Jobber.

 

I've listed some of the pros and cons for both below, these are just my personal view, i'm sure some people might not worry about certain things. But thought it might be helpful to those struggling to find something that will work for their business, should Arbpro close its doors.

 

Powered Now pros:

App shows all the same items as desktop

Customer service and training exceptional and always available (Graham was great spent nearly an hour on the phone training and happy to offer more)

Great for regular repeat customers

CIS capable

Price much cheaper than any other company including Arbpro (£34 for 2 pro users)

 

Cons:

Not the most user friendly for flow (enquiry -> quote -> booking in -> job sheet -> invoice)

Not very easy from iPhone when out in the field or quoting

Quote and invoice templates - cannot attach header/footer, only logo

Emails with quotes and invoices send a link (as well as PDF) and looks a bit like a scam email

Pictures (taken at quote stage) appear on quotes and invoices and cannot be removed. Personally this is a con for me but may be a Pro for some.

No tool list

Cannot put Tree name or T1 etc. as you can in Arb pro.

Tailored to gardeners with regular clients (weekly/monthly visits)

 

 

Jobbers Pro:

Extremely user friendly

Training videos online are easy to follow as well as the training team. Had a half hour call with Joel and booked to do morfe 

Flow (enquiry -> quote -> booking in -> job sheet -> invoice) is easy to do in the office as well as out on the field 

Dsahboard gives you a very quick view of whats outstanding and reminders in calendar ensure you cant forget an invoice or follow up on quote

QuickBooks compatible 

Payment intergration (paypal/square)

 

Jobber Cons:

Based in America so can only call from 2.30pm (7.30am their time)

Price $116 (incl 3 x extra pro users @ $9) total £ 88.17 / m :(

Quotes look a lot like invoices (or arbpro schedule) and no letter - you can however attached a document to be sent with every quote but it would have to be non client specific

CIS not compatible 

 

Sorry for the lengthy essay! Hope this helps at least one of you in some way. Be interested to hear others feedback.

 

Cheers,

Sophie

 

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