SOFTWARE
AS SUREFIRE PARTNERS WITH ONE OF THE UK’S LEADING MERCHANTS IN PLUMBING, HEATING,
AND COOLING, FOUNDER BILLY
S urefire is a digital job management platform designed especially for plumbing and heating contractors, and enables them to be more efficient by creating, managing, and tracking jobs, and issuing timesheets, job certificates, automated invoices, and receipts. The platform is accessible via standard web browsers or on mobile devices as an app, and users can also check merchants’ stock availability. The company has recently partnered with Wolseley, one of the UK’s largest plumbing, heating, and cooling experts. The merchant will offer Surefire to its customers via monthly subscription plans. The exclusive partnership also offers access to Wolseley’s stock availability, proximity, and even prices live. Surefire founder Billy Wilgar commented it is very gratifying to have Wolseley as a partner, although users can upload other merchants’ prices if they have a preference. “They researched all software providers in the UK and said Surefire was WILGAR REMEMBERS HOW THE JOURNEY OF THE SUCCESSFUL SOFTWARE FOR THE INDUSTRY BEGAN… A world of services at your fingertips, from plumbers to plumbers
Surefire founder Billy Wilgar.
by far the best. It is a huge deal for us,” he said. “I believed in Surefire almost 20 years ago and now I have a big corporate machine that believes in it.”
installation completion certificate to the client right when the job was done.
THE PROOF IS IN THE AWARDS The difference between Surefire and the other software offerings in the industry is that it is designed from a requirement point of view. “Other developers think they know what a plumber wants and needs, but from experience, I knew what we needed,” Billy explained. In the early days, Surefire had 20 businesses sign up. These companies provided a lot of useful feedback to help develop the next versions of the software and make it even more user-friendly. Surefire has 200 businesses registered but has never been formally launched or even advertised until recently. The software started being recognised in the industry thanks to AC Wilgar’s successful journey, having been voted the best heating installer in the UK five times. “People wondered where all those awards come from, and I’d say we had this software that
FROM PLUMBERS FOR PLUMBERS
Originally from Newtonbreda, Co. Down, Billy is also the founder of AC Wilgar, one of the UK’s biggest domestic heating and plumbing firms, created in 1984. The software business came about in 2003 when Billy’s employees needed a tool to streamline day-to-day operational needs. “We started using an American program, Goldmine, but it was massive and hard to navigate, and terribly generic,” he commented. “We needed software that met the needs of the people in the trade directly. Our IT technician knew a younger developer and he built this little Windows- based app that worked on a palm top.” In pre-3G times, the device used GPRS data over Bluetooth, and the first feature the company was able to offer was an
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