Remote Monitoring —
Being Present While Absent
By Ryan Carlson

Business owners cannot always be at their place of business. If they needed to be, it would defeat the whole purpose of being a business owner — freedom. Many wash businesses are unattended for long periods of time, and others are staffed by employees and managers at other times. Although I imagine that there are times when wash owners feel all they are doing is spending time at the wash site or calling their managers to get updates on how business is for the day. Business owners who install their first remote management system marvel at how they ever did business (and had a personal life outside of work) without one.

Remote monitoring software can track revenue and activity of self-serve bays, automatic bays, and vacuums. It can monitor changers, chemical levels, air pressure, water pressure, doors — just about anything. Better yet, business owners and service personnel can receive text messages on a cell phone telling them exactly what’s happening when the revenue-generating equipment stops making the business money. Business owners and managers can even choose to receive a message every night with daily income totals broken out by automatics, self-serve bays, vacuums, and any other profits centers on site.

By leveraging a remote monitoring system, business owners can monitor their business 24 hours a day from home, office, or on the road. Customizable to fit a business owner’s needs, these software systems offer a complete package, incorporating the latest in monitoring technology and digital communications by leveraging the power of the Internet.

Most of the popular remote management software systems integrate with all brands of equipment. Business owners who have locations with differing equipment and business types can have the system installed in new car washes or add it to their existing wash location(s). Some businesses choose to install the system themselves using an installation manual or have the manufacturer install it for them.

MAIN FEATURES

Instant Status Updates
Use the integrated remote access software to view and print reports from your car wash without even being there. Know what’s going on 24 hours a day. Some wash monitoring systems have an integrated text messaging service that will alert you when units go down or other key events occur.

Customize Alerts for Various Events
Most of the remote management software gives business owners the ability to customize what the alerts mean for their business. Although the sensor is just a dry close-contact relay that opens and closes, the recipient of the text-message alert will know it is “North Changer Out of Service” because the software allows customization for alerts and events.

Custom User Level Paging
Each item monitored allows a business owner to decide who receives a text message when a fault or particular event occurs —supervisor, employee, maintenance staffer, etc. For example, business owners who have their chemical levels tied into their remote monitoring software can have any “low soap level” events also sent to their chemical supplier’s route manager. This way the proper information gets to the right individual in a timely fashion. Business owners can feel reassured that they can go out of town on vacation, knowing that critical alerts are going to the people who can do something about it. If a business owner is the only contact he becomes a glorified switchboard operator when away from the wash.

Remote Equipment Resets and Refunds
Lisa Lyons of Buggy Bath Carwash in Vista, CA uses a remote monitoring software program to keep tabs on her multiple wash locations. She has a long drive to some of her locations and before she had remote monitoring software tied into each of her locations she wasted a lot of time and burned a lot of gas traveling out to her wash locations on small errands. These days, when her changer goes down and needs a reset, she connects into her location remotely and, employing the software, tells her changer to power-cycle. When customers call to complain about the coin-meter box having a problem and they feel that they were cheated out of wash time, she adds money to the bay timer from the other side of town rather than mail a refund for a few dollars. The applications are endless for a creative wash owner/operator with the right remote management software.

Revenue Tracking
With the ability to track money, business owners can see how much money is in any given safe in any of their locations at any time. This improves accountability for investor groups, car wash managers, and employees. Knowing how much cash a business has on hand at all times greatly reduces the incidents of employees becoming “secret partners” in the car wash.

Comprehensive Reporting
Remote monitoring software can generate reports on daily revenues, equipment usage, individual bay functions, and more. This helps business owners analyze where their peak times are, when to staff more employees, and when the bays are empty and staffing is not as important. It is in the detailed reporting that most wash owners are able to find the biggest savings in operating expenses by actually knowing what their business does, not just “feel” what the business is doing.

Do What is Right for your Business
As a business owner you should know what your business needs. If you find yourself being away from the wash wondering if any of the bays are down or wondering whether or not you hit your number for the day, it may be time to start investigating remote management software solutions. For a business owner who is trying to reduce labor expenses there is only one real way to know which shifts are the slowest and least profitable. Employees will not tell you that their shift should be cut or that they are the reason for lost profits.

In the current economic climate, business owners need to find ways to run a tight operation to remain on top. Whether struggling to stay afloat or remaining at the top of your game, it requires one thing to overcome obstacles: information. It is the key to making the right business decisions. If you are struggling to keep your doors open, you cannot afford to have a preventable loss of profits such as equipment failure, closed bays, or running out of chemical just because you were not at the wash to catch it. Remote monitoring software makes sure that a discreet and timely alert tells you that your wash bay is down, not an angry customer.

Ryan Carlson is the director of marketing for WashCard Systems and an industry expert on consumer buying trends and car wash promotional technologies. Ryan is the host of the car wash industry podcast Wash Ideas Weekly and speaks regularly at trade show about successful car wash marketing and the application of new technologies for successful business operations. Contact Ryan directly at ryan@washideas.com or visit www.washideas.com for more information.