Overview

With news of BigChange and Tradify being sold, it’s an interesting time for tradespeople who use the software.

When any service gets sold, things can change. Customer support can take a hit, problems take longer to solve, and new features seem to be fewer and farther in between. But is it anything to worry about?

Join host Tulloch Priest as he chats to Aron Washer, Customer Success Manager at Gas Engineer Software, about what can happen behind the scenes when a business gets sold and how it can affect you as a customer. 

Listen to the episode:

Highlights

 

What happens when a business gets sold?
    • Prices normally go up following a price review. When businesses are bought, it’s a monetary venture. (0:25)
    • The company’s vision changes as you lose the founder & original purpose. It can go from having a vision of helping to become purely a profit-making business. (1:10)
    • Customer service can take a hit too, as these things can get offshored. They become scripted and there’s a disconnect – you can lose empathy and expertise. (1:50)
    • Founders don’t tend to be great employees and their main purpose is to drive it forward. Whoever buys the software might not have the same ambition and passion. (3:50)
    • For software specifically, upheaval can cause developers and people who work closely with the way the software works can leave. For the customers, this means more bugs, less reliability, fewer new features, and less of a focus on the customer. (6:10)
    • New teams can take a long time to get up to speed. From the outside, it can appear like the business has “stopped” for 6-12 months. (9:10)
    • You can normally see how much a customer cares about its customers based on the level and quality of customer support. (10:30)