does allow for order processing as part of its work order management features, which is one of the core functionalities of the platform. While it is primarily a workshop and service management system designed for scheduling, tracking, and managing jobs, it does have the capability to handle certain aspects of order processing. Here’s how Jobber can help with order processing:
Jobber Order Processing Features:
1. Work Orders and Job Creation:
• When a job comes in, you can create a work order in Jobber. This includes all the details of the task, such as customer information, service details, and job requirements. You can also assign jobs to specific workers.
• Jobber allows you to track job status as it progresses (e.g., pending, in-progress, completed), helping with the workflow management of service requests or tasks.
2. Quote Generation:
• Jobber allows you to create and send quotes to customers for approval before converting them into work orders. You can include pricing for services, materials, and parts, which is key for order processing.
• Once a customer approves the quote, it can be converted directly into a work order, streamlining the process.
3. Invoicing:
• After the job is completed, Jobber automatically generates invoices based on the work order, which includes the materials, labor, and any additional charges. You can also add discounts, taxes, and payment terms.
• These invoices can be sent to the customer via email, and payments can be tracked.
4. Inventory Tracking:
• If the job requires specific materials or parts, Jobber has an inventory tracking feature. You can track the stock used for each job and even create purchase orders if additional inventory is needed.
• Jobber does not have full order management capabilities like a dedicated e-commerce platform (e.g., managing product lines, multi-step order fulfillment), but for service-based businesses and simple job-based orders, it offers basic order management through work orders, invoicing, and inventory tracking.
5. Custom Fields and Workflow Management:
• Jobber allows customization of job fields to capture any specific order requirements your business may have, which can be part of the order processing flow.
• You can also set up automated workflows to trigger actions like sending follow-up emails or reminders about pending orders or jobs.
6. Customer and Service Tracking:
• It provides customer management tools, allowing you to track job history and services performed, making it easier to manage orders from repeat customers or maintain ongoing services.
Limitations:
• Jobber’s order processing is tailored to service and workshop-based operations, so it’s not as comprehensive as full e-commerce platforms or order management systems that handle product sales and multi-stage order fulfillment.
• For a business that deals with complex product orders or inventory-intensive services, you might need to integrate Jobber with other tools or platforms for more specialized order management.
Conclusion:
Jobber does offer basic order processing capabilities within its work order management system. It’s ideal for businesses that handle service jobs, repairs, or installations, as it allows for quote generation, job tracking, invoicing, and inventory management. However, for more complex or multi-step order processing (such as managing large-scale product orders), additional systems may be required.
under construction - which means I am thinking about it. It’s like an onion, always another layer we cannot see.
Whatsapp (Facebook)
Telegram
Messenger (Facebook)
Wire
and countless others
Signal
Threema
Ok so typing that list leads me to realise I am not intending to evaluate the whole world of Instant Messaging, just only my experience of it and thoughts about it, with my reasons.
I have used all the above and others.
The first thing I think that strikes me is the willingness of others to use the same as me. As a result I still have all the above installed.
The second thing is there is a significant distinction between “social” use (friends and family) and “business” use.
The third thing is that millions (billions?) of users simply don’t care who knows what about them and it is certainly not my place to engage with them.
https://threema.ch/en/why-threema In order to use conventional chat services, it’s necessary to disclose personally identifiable information. WhatsApp, for example, requires users to provide their phone number. Threema, on the other hand, doesn’t force users to disclose any personal information whatsoever. Instead of a phone number, the Threema ID (i.e., a random string of characters) serves as unique identifier. Linking a phone number or email address to one’s Threema ID is possible but optional. Hence, Threema can be used completely anonymously, which is a crucial feature in terms of privacy protection: Where there is no personal data in the first place, no personal data can ever be misused.
After the initial VERY simple setup process, Threema is NOT simple to understand compared to the rest. It is however easy enough once one gets the hang of it. Indeed a 92 year old I know prefers it to use above all the others including Facetime and iMessage. I have yet to fathom why and remain impressed as for sure it has nothing whatever to do with technical matters.
Pretty much says it all really. I prefer Threema and use Signal with those who refuse to use Threema. As we can see from their own comparison Signal is the closest to Threema, but in use and setup I can see in fact Threema can be easier to use on desktops and laptops and the coup de grace is what I call their “walki-talkie” mode which is more properly called “peer-to-peer” mode. What that means is no server-in-the-middle at all. They claim their voice quality also much better and I have to admit, before I read that, I was thinking exactly that, but scarecely believed it. So there we are. If you “just want it simple” that’s not Threema. Signal is under constant development and can be a tiny bit clunky compared to Whatsapp, and it needs its notifications settings and updates settings to be set up so that you get notifications properly and updates are pretty much seemless taking only a few seconds, NOT requiring to be “re-installed” every time (that’s user error).
Takeway: if it is “free” then YOU are the product being sold. “You” is your private data. As regards Signal in this context see here:
“Signal makes money via donations. As a non-profit organization, it relies on these donations to continue offering its service. Launched in 2014, Signal has grown to become one of the world’s most-used messaging apps. Over 40 million people now use the messenger.”
Whatsapp users? TWOBILLION. It’s free and very easy to use.
In the UK, the inheritance tax (IHT) allowance regarding the matrimonial home is primarily covered under two main allowances:
⸻
Nil-Rate Band (NRB) — Standard Allowance
• Every individual has a £325,000 inheritance tax-free threshold.
• This is called the nil-rate band.
• Assets up to this amount can be passed on tax-free upon death.
⸻
Residence Nil-Rate Band (RNRB) — Additional Allowance for the Home
If you leave your main residence to a direct descendant (e.g., children, stepchildren, grandchildren), an additional allowance applies:
• Up to £175,000 per person (on top of the standard £325,000).
• Applies only to one home and only if it was a residence at some point.
• Must go to a direct descendant to qualify.
• If the estate exceeds £2 million, the RNRB tapers off by £1 for every £2 over the threshold.
⸻
Combined Threshold for Married Couples or Civil Partners
• Spouses and civil partners can inherit from each other tax-free (no IHT between them).
• Unused NRB and RNRB from the first partner’s estate can be transferred to the surviving spouse.
• This means the combined total allowance could be:
• £325,000 + £175,000 = £500,000 per person
• Up to £1 million per couple if both allowances are fully available and used
⸻
Example
A couple leaves their family home (valued at £800,000) to their children:
• First death: no IHT due (assets pass to spouse).
• Second death: if full allowances are available, £1 million threshold applies, and the entire value may pass tax-free.
⸻
Let me know if you want details about trusts, taper relief, or downsising protections under the RNRB.
This page is “under construction” in that it is an area I am exploring and suffering some amazement as to how much I did not know (no surprises there then).
A major milestone was achieved this week in RAN (Plenary meeting #69) with the decision to standardize NB-IOT, a new narrowband radio technology to address the requirements of the Internet of Things (IoT). The new technology will provide improved indoor coverage, support of massive number of low throughput devices, low delay sensitivity, ultra-low device cost, low device power consumption and optimized network architecture.
It sounds to me like current offers to building owners are continuing to be traditional BAC wired systems and these will have the following characteristics:
traditional hard- wired BAC (Building Automation and Control) systems are
costly to install, as I understand it the cost reduction is VAST, for example 10 Eur for ten years: https://1nce.com/en/pricing/ I have not tested this, but if true it compares to thousands (£8,000 for one building I know) of infrastructure wired costs not being required. The order process requires business to business only and is of German origin.
difficult to extend, and (difficult because building wiring is not easy)
inflexible when it comes to adding new functions that match evolving building use. (same reason as above, no plug and play here).
So why has a supplier not offered a modern solution?
LoRa is the de facto wireless platform of Internet of Things (IoT).
LoRaWAN®?The LoRaWAN open specification is a low power, wide area networking (LPWAN) standard based on Semtech’s LoRa devices, leveraging the unlicensed radio spectrum in the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band. The http://www.lora-alliance.org/, a nonprofit association and fast growing technology alliance, drives the standardization and global harmonization of the LoRaWAN standard. LoRaWAN is recognized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as an LPWAN standard.LEARNMORE
The LoRa Alliance® is an open, non-profit association with the mission to support and promote the global adoption of the LoRaWAN® standard, the leading LPWAN.
Members collaborate in a vibrant ecosystem of device makers, solution providers, system integrators and network operators, delivering interoperability needed to scale IoT across the globe, using public, private, and hybrid networks.
Look for the LoRaWAN® certified mark on end-devices to ensure consistent performance of IoT sensors.
LoRaWAN® has already become the de facto wireless protocol for smart buildings by providing low power, long range connectivity within large-scale commercial implementations. LoRaWAN® allows building managers, owners, tenants and service providers to view building functions remotely and ensure all the things within the building work in harmony.
Successful backups are the last line of defense for cyberattacks and can be the deciding factor to prevent considerable downtime, data loss and paying a costly ransom.
and from VEEAM to quote:
Veeam_Ransomware_Retrospective.indd
Mitigating ransomware attacks
End-user education (20%), bolstering backup storage resiliency (19%) and securing internet access (16%) are the top choices of ransomware mitigation globally. Similar results are seen from a geo perspective where NA, LATAM and EMEA/MEA are more apt to invest in detection, while NA was more likely to use additional network monitoring for mitigation. To better mitigate ransomware vulnerabilities, customers are now focused on bolstering backup storage resiliency, through immutability, investing in end-user education and securing internet access.
MYOPINION
See above where it says “immutability?” It has seemed to me for some time that aside from totally offline (that means disconnected sitting on a shelf) this is the ONLY type of backup defence that can be viewed as likely to be effective. It looks like the experession “backup resiliency” (which means nothing at all unless defined) is used to mean “immutability”. Ok adding in to it expressions like “education” and “securing access” are not in my view backup methods, they are defences, for sure, but they are not part of backups. So my whole paragraph here reduces all online defences that are capable of being effective are solely only and nothing else except immutabilty. That means copying your data to a W O R M drive. And no one can have rights to that drive, bceause if someone physically steals it all is for nought. So it needs to be off site and in the cloud so no one actually knows where it is. In reality this leaves small businesses etc with Amazon S3 type storage as the only
current provider I am aware of. Backblaze offers compatible resources.
All of that said I think what surprises me is the absence from common knowledge about immutable storage
W O R M stands for Write Once Read Many; so once written it can be read but never deleted (written again). That means “immutable”. I plan to have another look at Veeam, but I THINK they are not aimed at small biz.
According to a study by the Ponemon Institute, 63% of CISO’s believe that participation in IoT will increase cybersecurity risks in the future8, and that over 80% of professionals predict that their organization will experience a catastrophic data breach caused by an unsecured IoT device.
The industry is still grappling with how to secure IoT deployments. A comprehensive security approach takes into consideration different technologies, policies, and processes. Organizations interested in exploring security standards for IoT can refer to (NISTIR) 82229, Industrial Internet Consortium10 and IoT Security Foundation11. These specify security frameworks for IoT and tell how to assess and improve their ability to prevent, detect, and respond to security incidents.
and I agree with this:
IoT is disruptive technology that is growing rapidly. However, without proper security, it will never reach its full potential.
I would add to that, that ordinary folk need access to all this tech without any massive uplift in prices. So that’s retail, but “IOT retail” - so to provide context for example one present business offer is ten years unlimited worldwide IOT cellular service for only ten Euros, just as an example to compare with the current 50 Euros per month type offers.
Don’t like your professional’s fees? Don’t waste their time. Pay attention when asked. Focus on their requests. Provide 100% of what they ask for. And here’s the kicker: provide 100% of what they ask for WHEN they ask for it. That means immediately. Not next week or next month. RIGHTNOW! Do not make them close the file and do something else while they wait; that will cost you. We are not ROBOTS. Do not treat us like one. You think you are the only one who is busy? You are not.
The most common reason for changing accountant is “fees”. The most common REAL reason admitted later, is “took too long to do my stuff”. Accountants when asked why it takes so long to do their client’s work is: incomplete responses followed by months to provide that completeness. In addition to that, it takes far longer to do a job when required to pick it up and put it down many times over many weeks or even months. In this way what looks like the same work, takes multiples of the expected time to do. Multples of time means multiples of fees.
Here’s another way to run up fees: wait until several weeks or even days or even hours before the deadline before providing your information necessary to complete or even start the work. Hand over your info many many months before the deadlines, then your work can be completed in a planned and BUDGETTED way, not as a fight with a fire extinguisher. Quality takes time and lots of it. This time is time for us to think, not elapsed time on your work. None of us charge you for time spent thinking about your case. Of course giving us your stuff late means you get no quality, just the basic compliance - granted some call that quality. That’s a very low bar. Again granted that way lies very low fees. You takes your choice. The problem with that is this is all about what you don’t know you don’t know.
Welcome to my hidden difference. Navigation in life and in business requires maps. It also requires skill and experience. The less experience (practice), the more time has to be invested for the same result — and we all have to learn somehow.
Me? 47 years experience of all sorts, so not the same year’s experience 47 times over; watch out for that one.
There’s nothing wrong with the same year’s experience many times over, such a person will be very very good at whatever it is they have had so much practice at, think “olympian”. However, outside their skillset they remain inexperienced which is also fine as long as this is recognised.
Self employed. Money matters
Executive summary: man falling passed the 25th story asked how things are going, replies “alright so far”.
In small businesses doing nothing about all the things one doesn’t know about generally makes no difference anyway.
Think so?
Actually, never having thought about it is more common. One might say it is perfectly normal.
Of course how one can become aware of what one does not know splits in to things one knows one does not know and things one does not know one does not know.
Ignoring the former is a choice, whether wise or not being a different discussion.
Ignoring the latter is otherwise known as blissful ignorance.
Experience?
Executive summary: whether you have to think.
I like the idea that having a very high i.q. means you reach the right answer very quickly,
BUT
if you already know the right answer you already instantly know the right answer.
Already knowing something is otherwise known as “experience”. Done it before, go the teeshirt etc etc
So having a lower i.q. silly means “it takes longer to get there, but the destination is the same”.
CAVEATS
Sure, the above takes it as a given that the “right answer” really is the right answer and that stupidity or recklessness et al are not in play.
Old head - young shoulders?
Executive summary: No, not possible.
I know of an excellent professional accounting business with many thousands of clients, all small businesses.
When I started there were no computers. A photocopier and fax were advanced tech. Adding machines were mechanical, so one could jam the machine by entering numbers faster than the mechanism could cope. We added everything twice and both had to match. This “dual input” method of control is still used in modern times, though it is less apparent. These days we type everything; back then it was all handwritten and in PENCIL. Why pencil? So we could rub it out and change it. Just the same as typing on a computer.
So I and my peers view modern tech through the lens of pencil and paper. Young people have no such lens and naturally see only the tech they are presented with, having to assume that said tech is its own judge of being correct, read on.
Granted, in theory, you can’t make a computer account system not balance. Mostly, because if you do, you broke it and that’s hard to do. This is because when it accepts an entry it makes both the debit and the credit entries simultaneously, whereas when by pencil, the second entry also has to then be added and may in fact be part of a total (think 14 column “ETB”) . I digress. Yes I remember “comp operators”, amazingly skilled ladies.
This is a “comptometer”
In the early years of computer software it used to infuriate me when I could feel the developer forcing me to do this and that when I roundly disagreed with him/her. They ALWAYS limit me in what I want to do and that’s true to this day. Perhaps I am too accustomed to the freedom of pencil and paper.
I even wrote a bookkeeping and accounting program in the late 1980’s which earned a whole page of glowing editorial in the business pages of the Mail on Sunday. I learned then what remains true to this day, that the popularity of an accounts system is based on the marketing of it, NOT the accounting purity and flexibility of it. Why? They are trying to be everything to everyone (exception being niche systems). So follow the money. In one case you will find a Microsoft marketing expert successfully using MS methods, the result is expensive software you buy piece by piece so you get sucked in to the initial cheap price and then find you need “extras” each of which cost. Customers are not experts, they are ordinary folk expecting the system to know and do everything for them - and the system does try to do this, but it can do only compliance, it cannot do original or critical thought, let alone planning of any sort.
Nothing wrong with being young
Executive summary: monkey see, monkey do.
In 1975 I would receive paper bank statements, vouch and then analyse each and every entry. (“Vouch” means check against the supporting document, usually an invoice).
In 2022 the client accesses a “portal” where bank transactions have been automatically imported, and “categorises” transactions. Similar transactions sometimes can be automatically categorised based on earlier entries.
What’s the hidden difference? First there is zero vouching so no validation or vat check (“who needs it? I know what it was”). Second the categorisations by the user may be right or very wrong, no one checks.
What’s the catch? Only that these customers are quite frankly relying on chance that the tax authorities won’t enquire in to their accounts (lack of resources). If that enquiry happens I shudder to think of the initial findings, not least VAT (absence of “valid tax invoices”). Granted misclassifications only within the P&L rarely matter, but that leaves plenty to go wrong and opens the door to the four current years, maybe six or far less likely the last 21. In any event the stress levels are indescribable and never appreciated until experienced - something the tax people are well aware of and leverage to their advantage - including vast delays in correspondence despite demanding responses within 30 days
Is it worth the risk? To make an informed choice first requires awareness of all these matters.
Add to this that the accountancy service provider’s operative dealing with the process of these matters in to accounts is only 19 years old. That means by definition s/he is not capable of casting an experienced eye over anything and their supervisor is seeing only what they process. Sure, analytical review may show certain issues, but the data is at risk from the ground up.
So who carries the responsibility for any issues? The client of course. It says so in all the contractual docs as well as “certificates” in the accounts. Add to that by law responsibility cannot be transferred to anyone else.
Does the client understand all of this? Sure they know some of it, but appreciate the potential impact? Of course not, they will simply blame “the accountants” thinking that gets them off the hook. No chance.
I can’t see.. why? Hesitancy. Uncertainty. Fear.
Executive summary: acting based on ignorance is stupidity.
How often do we hear this expression? Of course what it means is the person saying it cannot think of reasons to do or not do whatever is under discussion. Now if this is two lay people neither have the knowledge by definition so of course they won’t be able to see anything, while feeling hesitant, uncertain and with a feeling of fear (which isusually defined as a lack of knowledge of the unknown). What’s needed is an experienced and skilled guide. Like engaging a mountan guide in the Alps. Now that is sensible.
What never ceases to amaze me is that the expression itself is used as a form of supporting evidence. Because someone cannot see they use it as a reason to do or not do something. If one ever hear’s oneself saying or thinking “I can’t see…” this should sound very loud warning bells.
The expression we are wanting is “I can see why I should (not) do this thing”. Provided what can be seen is in fact sound thinking.
This begs the question how do we know when what we think (see) is correct? That depends on our sources, starting with the “mate down the pub”. Possibly the professional’s greatest and most infuriating adversary since everything they say is presented as solid gold and even backed up, usually by total rubbish irrelevant or dangerously incomplete for our client. There is usually some foundation in law or fact, but identifying it so as to debunk the “advice” can be time consuming. The opportunity to discuss with this source always results in reconciliation and agreement, but the person who accepted the initial “advice” remains as dumb as they were unless this reconciliation experience helps them appreciate that using someone else’s prescription to treat one’s own situation is lunacy. You can tell I speak from irritated experience. Sorry about that. It’s like thinking any type of “app” can replace an accountant. Not yet it can’t, regardless of the claimed “features”. Having the
accountant use the app, now that makes sense. Get a professional driver, not an amateur. Of course then the app may well be superfluous and even get in the way. MTD is going to sucker a lot of small businesses.
Every one-man-band is different
Exec summary: self employed businesses tend to exist based on the personality of the founder.
Whether partnership, limited company or other legal form.
Without employees. In all that I write I am not really referring to businesses with employees, because these are not “individuals in business on their own account”.
Perhaps a more apparent example of this is an artist. The paintings of an artist have a style unique to the holder of the paint brush. The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker and the accountant all each have their own style, founded in who they are, their personality and character mixed in with their years (not days or weeks!) of training and experience.
When looking at advertising these differences, indeed hidden differences, are rarely apparent. Each advert offers a list of let’s, say “features”. What they do not and cannot communicate is what it is like to deal with them. Not least where the author of the copy (the words) is not the owner, then matters are even more obscured (you can see that by comparing my old web site and this one). Maybe it really doesn’t matter when the decision to purchase is based solely on price, which assumes every detail of each self employed person’s business is identical.
Here is an example. A very old friend of mine is in the same business as me, also self employed. We chat about everything, using the “short hand” of our profession and in this regard we are indeed the same. However, we both know that to deal with either of us as a client is a very different experience. Nothing at all wrong with this, and yet an identical advertisement used by us both would give no idea how different we are.
So what are these hidden differences?
That’s like asking what someone is like. We are all different. However, I will have a shot at some influencing matters in my next post or over this entire web site. See what you think.
