Technology ▶What’s In: Adoption What’s Out: Inaction

To boost productivity and efficiency, PMPs plan to employ advanced products and technology. Most (52 percent) expect to use pesticides with broader labels and longer residuals in the next five years, found the 2022 PCT-NPMA industry survey.

Twenty-eight percent plan to use electronic pest monitoring devices. McCauley Services, Bryant, Ark., plans to increase use of these devices for rodents but “the price point on the remote sensing has kind of put a pause on” customer adoption, said CEO Justin McCauley.

He expects the price to drop as high-profile commercial clients begin requiring the devices. The technology will let technicians shift from trap checking to performing value-added activities like inspections and integrated pest management. “It’ll be a win for everybody,” said McCauley, who is president of NPMA.

In addition, companies plan to implement more environmentally friendly (27 percent) and biological (20 percent) pesticides, use interactive virtual reality for training (23 percent) and employ data protection and cybersecurity software (21 percent).

Software adoption in general is on the rise, reported PMPs in follow-up interviews. Native Pest Management integrated the Slack messaging app to streamline employee communication and Bonusly to help managers award incentives to employees. The Tallahassee, Fla.-based company also used SendJim to send direct mail to homes near existing customers instead of having technicians spend five minutes at each stop on cloverleafing.

City Wide Exterminating, Charlotte, N.C., took a deep dive into its existing CRM software to ensure it was using every capability to its fullest. “We don’t have any excuses why we can’t be as efficient and quick for the customer to accommodate what they need,” said President Ashley Morrison.