When it came time to start his own business, Brandon Miller knew just what he needed — a good business management software.
Miller started Ikon Landscape, based in Draper, Utah, with his wife in 2019. Since the beginning, they’ve been utilizing a business software geared specifically for the green industry.
“It’s probably benefited us most just through me being able to see where we’re at consistently,” Miller says. “I can see how much each job is making, and we can make corrections off of that if we need to.”
Miller has been in the landscaping industry since 1998 and says after seeing previous companies he worked for struggle to know their numbers, he knew finding the right software was important.
“We started using it right off the bat because of the problems that we saw in the last company we worked for,” he says. “We never knew month-to-month what our numbers were. And we didn’t know what our numbers were until almost the new year.”
Miller says being able to pinpoint exactly where Ikon is financially has been a huge sigh of relief while trying to grow the business.
“We’re not worrying about not making money because we know if we’re not making money or if we are,” he says. “It works out pretty good for us. You don’t have to just rely on a gut feeling.”
Prioritizing the software has also helped the company grow and generate more revenue. Ikon Landscape hit $1.9 million in revenue in 2021.
And because Miller has been incorporating the software since Day 1, he says the process has been very smooth.
“Because I started off using it, it was just about learning the software,” he says. “I didn’t have the challenge of trying to turn my old systems into new systems. We just hit the ground running. That was a huge benefit to us.”
Miller recalls it took the business about three to four months to truly use the software system in its entirety.
The next step was training employees and getting them familiar with it.
Miller says the software company helped him a lot with this.
“They have a lot of online videos you can watch online,” he says. “Plus, we did a lot of in-person training — especially one-on-one.”
Another helpful way Miller got employees on board was showing them the whole software system, not just the part they’d be responsible for filling in.
“It’s a very encompassing software — it really does everything, so getting guys to realize the full scope of how each piece works can be challenging,” he says. “You have to make sure to show them the whole system to really make it work as its intended.
“You’ve got to take the time to walk people through it,” Miller adds.
Miller and his wife even took a trip out of state to the headquarters of the software system they use in order to better understand the product.
“We took an accounting class with them,” Miller says. “That class really helped my wife realize what all the software could do and how it did it. That was very helpful.”
Nowadays, Miller says he and the team are still training regularly on new facets of the software.
“I have a monthly call with a client rep to answer some of the little questions we have,” he says. “And they’re always bringing out new features, so he tells us new things we can start using inside the program.”
