MarginPoint, a provider of mobile-enabled, collaborative inventory management and field management solutions, is focused on helping plumbing industry pros to manage inventory replenishment, optimize business processes and drive revenue. Plumbing & Mechanical Chief Editor Nicole Krawcke recently interviewed Vince Sheeran, CEO of MarginPoint, about the company’s new field service management software and what the future holds for MarginPoint. 

PM: What is MarginPoint focused on in 2020?

VS: Our focus is on building the best field service application in the marketplace. We started building the product in 2018, and as we enter into 2020, we will continue building a field service application that leverages our inventory architecture to create a supply chain and inventory management driven field service workflow that’s unique in the marketplace.

PM: Tell me about MarginPoint’s new field service management software. What differentiates it from other field service management tools in the marketplace?

VS: Since our field service management software is supply chain and inventory driven, we leverage our inventory architecture with its unlimited number of catalogs, suppliers, and stocking locations which allows us view and manage the contractor’s workflow with the perspective of understanding where all of their material to complete the job is. The core application of field service has been around for a long time and it's essentially a CRM architecture, but ours is a supply chain and inventory architecture that incorporates the CRM framework. It’s fundamentally very different than everything else in the marketplace.

PM: Why did MarginPoint decide to add this new software to its offerings?

VS: Our customers were asking for it because their businesses are field service driven. Residential contractors operate based on an incoming call and everything cascades from that. Our customers wanted to have our functionality integrated with the CRM functionality of a field service application.  They now have visibility not just to the customer requested job but also to the material needed to fulfill the job, to the work order, where the material is consumed, and charged to the customer. So, it was really a customer driven need.
 

PM: The industry is rapidly changing. How is MarginPoint embracing that change and helping its plumbing contractor clients do the same? 

VS: For our plumbing contractor clients, it's all about investing in initiatives that have a great ROI and that help them to expand their business.  Our software platform and professional services help them to accomplish this by running more efficiently. We look at innovation as a direct path to the efficiency and enhance their ROI.  Our field service and inventory solutions drive that innovation by facilitating best practice adoption. With MarginPoint they have more money to spend on trucks or money to spend on technicians because they're focusing on managing material in a way that returns significant capital to their business.  We help them keep up with a rapidly changing industry.
 

PM: What are some things we can expect to see from MarginPoint in the near future, and what are your longer-term goals?

VS: Certainly, you can expect us to keep working toward becoming the best field service product in the marketplace, offering great implementation services, and a great overall user experience. We continue to lead with innovations such as analytics and education, for the service contractor industry. We launched our education platform, the MarginPoint Mobile Inventory Academy in 2019 and our Advanced Insights analytics engine in 2018. We will be releasing our field service Academy product this year. These are the advancements that we feel are game changers for the industry.

Long-term, it really comes down to building the most innovative field service application, taking advantage of material management efficiencies and offering a better ROI to the businesses we serve.  Our goal is to help our customers change the way they run their businesses. We will continue partnering with suppliers like The Home Depot Pro and Winsupply because we believe deep supplier integration is very important to realizing our goals.