How a Texas mechanical service company achieves 300% ROI from Dropbox

In an article I posted about my 2016 predictions for the cloud, I talked about change. Change is critical to any business’ long-term success. But how can we make smart changes?

We all know that there are costs to any change—those are usually transparent. Measuring the benefits from change, however, can be more challenging. And like most challenging things, it is also more rewarding. Striving for those benefits is the only way for true innovation to take place.

Our customer Brandt is one such innovator, and has the numbers to show for it. As the largest mechanical services company in Texas, Brandt specializes in fixing other peoples’ problems. When equipment breaks down in schools, hospitals, and office buildings, the team dispatches one of its technicians.

But recently, Brandt realized it had a problem of its own that needed fixing: there was no easy way for headquarters to collaborate on service call-related documents with field techs. Techs would lug binders full of forms to job sites, spending valuable customer time filling out paperwork. After they faxed or emailed forms back to headquarters, supervisors sometimes had trouble finding the right invoice.

“We needed something that would save everyone time and money,” says Kevin Underwood, Service Business Analyst. “And the solution we found was Dropbox Business.”

With Dropbox Business, headquarters now assigns jobs to techs by uploading new service call paperwork to shared folders that the techs can pull up on their tablets. Customers can sign the paperwork directly on the tablets, enabling techs to instantly share the completed documents with headquarters through Dropbox. Supervisors now approve invoices in hours — instead of the previous average of four weeks — leading to faster revenue recognition.

“To see a 300% ROI in our third year was totally beyond our expectations and has transformed how our business works.”
Steve Hayes, Senior Vice President, Brandt

Brandt estimates that using Dropbox Business has shaved 15 minutes off every service call. With 120 technicians responding to two service calls daily, the company estimates it saves about $400,000 a year. That results in a 300% return on investment in the third year on the platform.

“Our technicians are more efficient, our customers are getting what they need more quickly, and we are delivering to the bottom line in ways that were unforeseeable when we began this process,” says Jim Stagg, Director of Service.

We recently paid a visit to Brandt’s offices to see how Dropbox Business has saved the company time and money.

Check out our customers page to view more Dropbox Business customer case studies.