Tech at Work

If there’s such thing as a pest control software connoisseur — or, at least a pro who’s tasted more than a Costco-sized sample of available industry platforms — then Brantley Russell is one guy you can ask about pros, cons, data migration pains and technician gripes.

Russell is Jury Pest Services’ vice president of operations and business development, and he joined the Augusta, S.C., company after tenure at two large operations. The scope and scale of software in place required Russell to round learning curves, navigate vendor relationships and figure out systems for training people to put the tech to work.

“Technology has improved tremendously and it’s extremely easier to use when operating daily to measure data related to finances, strategic planning, routing and customer interactions,” Russell says, recalling the days of ledger cards, filing cabinets and service tickets.

“In seconds, we can retrieve all the customer data we need, whether it’s agreements, service tickets, pictures of the home and the history of the property if it has changed hands,” Russell adds.

With evolving software upgrades and enhancements, you can’t let your foot off the gas — but this is like any aspect of a growing business.

“We are constantly re-evaluating all parts of our operations, including the software we use to ensure it can meet our needs,” Russell says.

When PCT surveyed pest management professionals for the 2025 State of the Technology Market Report, 78% report using operations-focused software, while 10% are evaluating options and 12% have no plans. The majority rely on pest management industry-specific software (79%).

Technology tools drive business success with 63% of PMPs calling it essential and 24% realizing some benefit.

Software sucks paper out of administrative necessities like invoicing, and it facilitates frictionless, faster pay. “Every bill is emailed, and our collections are automated and streamlined to greatly improve collections,” says Bobby Rycroft, vice president of growth, No More Bugs, Raleigh, N.C.

DATA CHECK.

Automating admin, job scheduling and route optimization are just a few benefits PMP survey respondents appreciate about their software platforms. Saving time and money while improving customer experience is reason to adopt a CRM for 65%, and 99% said more than one pro of managing through the pains of migrating to a platform make digitizing business well worth the time.

“The platform has allowed us to digitally paint a better picture for customers while allowing us to see the progression of the property — where there have been issues in the past, and if the homeowners sells the house, we can tell the story to the new owners because of the documentation,” Russell points out.

Like many, Rycroft says data entry is a sticking point — a perennial problem PMPs voice when onboarding a software for the first time or switching platforms. “You only get out of it what you put into it,” he says. “So, there has to be an internal point person or people who audit the data entry to ensure accounts are set up properly and it meets regulatory requirements.”

Rycroft says auditing to some extent occurs daily at No More Bugs.

“The more you scale, the more important it is,” he points out.

DOING DATA.

After shifting careers from the insurance and financial services spaces, Cheryl Chappuis brought an entirely different perspective about technology to Holper’s Pest & Animal Solutions when she and her husband purchased the business.

“I worked for three different software companies in the insurance segment, so I knew what technology could do for this business even though it’s a different industry,” says Cheryl Chappuis.

Holper’s adopted a CRM system and traded live calls to remind customers of appointments for an automated system. “Before, they didn’t want to spend the few cents to send a text, email or automated call but one person was doing this the whole day,” Chappuis says. “By eliminating those tasks, we have doubled in size and only added one office person.”

A similar fresh perspective on technology has fast-forwarded growth at Pest-End in Plaistow, N.H., which Courtenay Carace co-owns with her husband and sister-in-law.

“The technology in our office had undergone some significant transformations in the past few years,” says Carace, noting the business moved to a different CRM platform in December 2023. The change has meant ongoing migration, but the updated tech plus Pest-End’s use of an AI-based tool that breaks down training modules into digestible chunks has ramped up onboarding.

“We use Scribe to train our technicians on how to input work orders and fill out forms,” Carace says. “We can record videos, take screenshots and use those to help technicians learn the system.”

Carace says two years ago the company’s revenue was about $8 million, last year it grew to $10 million and in 2025, she expects to finish at an estimated $12.2 million.

Carace says, “We have grown without adding more staff, and we are more efficient in what we were doing previously.”