Infinite Audio Video Solutions

Based in Little Silver, NJ, Infinite Audio Video Solutions cover a wide range of residential and commercial services, including security, automation, network/telecom, smart lighting and more. The company combines experience with an always-learning mindset, innovating and evolving alongside the AV industry.

When founder Dan Tapolow created the business in 2016, he had 20 years of tech industry experience under his belt. Kristie Tapolow, Operations Lead and team morale booster, says, “The continual learning appealed to him (Dan). He wanted everyone to want to come to work and truly enjoy their work and learning.”

Initial Success and Growing Pains

In the beginning, Dan and the team could handle the service side of the business. However, Kristie, heading up administration and operations, experienced firsthand how hard it is to juggle all the moving parts that make a business viable. Before Simpro, all communications, and job management had to be done manually, using phone calls, texts, and emails.

Dispatching the team and getting the right van with the suitable materials would take “50 text messages just to figure out who has the six-foot ladder on their van.” 2020’s massive supply chain squeeze made inventory management more critical than ever and spurred Infinite Audio Visual Solutions to start stocking costly inventory items. Adding the management of this stock to Kristie’s list of duties resulted in a document system that was nothing short of “organized chaos.” Shared docs and sheets became a way of life, with constant back and forth and zero clarity. In Kristie’s words “It was a hellish experience.”

All Kristie, Dan, and the team could do was try to keep up, leaving no room to review invoices, job costs, and missing payments from clients. Did they break even on that job? Lose money, make money? They had revenue coming in, but tracking how jobs performed was impossible. All quotes were going through QuickBooks, so the team couldn’t review them on their end. “How many leads did we get? Where did the leads come from? There was no time for that,’ Kristie says.

If the Infinite Audio Video Solutions team wanted to detangle their job costing, get real insight into their bids, efficiently manage inventory and streamline dispatch, they needed a solution.

Choosing the Right Software: “Simpro has been a godsend”

The challenges to their business growth spurred Dan and Kristie to start searching for a software solution, and they found Simpro. The results were immediate: Simpro’s complete field service management solution transformed every part of the business.

Simpro’s Digital Forms, templates and cloud-based sharing overhauled Infinite’s document management. From a constant administration battle to a streamlined, centralized system, Simpro reduced time spent on data entry by 50%. Simpro’s product catalog was a game-changer for the Project Management team resulting in estimates being turned around 3X faster than before.

Dan had always strived for swift invoicing, but before Simpro, achieving those standards was always difficult. Sending invoices was half the battle, and tracking payments was almost impossible. After Simpro, it’s more organized, faster and convenient. “You just click the button, and the invoice is immediately sent to the customer.” The big question mark about job costing and revenue is finally gone. Kristie can see everything about payments with a click, thanks to Simpro’s client portal and QuickBooks integration. “The way QuickBooks and Simpro integrate, I’m hitting a button now, and they’re talking, and then everything’s done.” The client portal also lets customers handle credit card payments without waiting for a call back from the office. Simpro Payments powered by Stripe make recurring payments a breeze, enabling Infinite Audio Visual Solutions to implement their goal of membership-based service plans.

It’s a win-win for Infinite Audio Visual Solutions and its customers.

With Simpro’s integrated payments and streamlined invoicing, Infinite AV Solutions now experience 2x faster payments from customers.

With a tight-knit team, the organized chaos affected everyone. Before Simpro, techs without the right equipment had to call Kristie, who had to chase up which van and job were where. Dispatching meant Kristie looked up addresses manually, brought up the map, found technicians with the right equipment and checked if they were even available. With Simpro, getting job details is easy, thanks to “being able to see on the map where the guys are at. It shows what van is out, where it’s located, it’s all there.’

Simpro’s cloud-based field service management software keeps job details updated and available to the entire field service team, not just the office. ‘Now we’re able to see the service jobs. Simpro even separates the type of service. The tech doesn’t even have to check back with us. He can just see it in Simpro.’ There’s no more confusion about jobs, and techs can make the most of their time with Simpro’s easy-to-access calendar and job details being accessible directly from Simpro Mobile. Before Simpro, available techs would need to wait for a call or text to get another job. Now, Kristie says “The guys can assign themselves, take the parts they need and do what they need to do, without delay. They’re able to do that on the mobile app themselves.”

The results speak for themselves: since implementing Simpro, Infinite Audio Visual Solutions has seen a massive 3X improvement in field technician productivity.

Making the Change: The Challenge is Worth It

No change is easy, and the implementation of Simpro was an involved process. With a career background as a licensed therapist, Kristie had concerns about her ability to adapt to new software. The huge range of features and options seemed overwhelming at first, but Simpro support team member Joey was there to help, and the challenge was worth it.

As Kristie puts it: “Simpro is a normal program that anyone can use, not just a contractor or technician.”

The more she learned with Simpro, the more features the business could use. If there were any issues, Simpro’s help options, walkthrough guides and fantastic support team were there to help.

How Infinite Audio Visual Solutions Reaps the Rewards

Kristie says that Dan “wants to be the best AV company around,” and thanks to their Simpro partnership, that vision continues to become a reality.

With the boost to their productivity, efficiency and increased revenue, Kristie says, “the growth has been exponential.” From sending out techs across the country, the team is about to take its next step with a second business, focusing on large-scale commercial projects. The goal is multi-company, nationwide services, and Simpro’s scalability will match their growth.

As Infinite Audio Video Solutions goes from strength to strength and continues to expand its quality service, Simpro ‘s end-to-end features are here to help. Kristie says: “Most programs do a piece of each, but Simpro does all of it and brings it all together.”

Is Simpro right for your business?

Take it from Kristie: “If you want to be organized, and you want everything to be in one place, Simpro is it.”