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Whoever is in charge of the plumbing maintenance at any given commercial facility has a lot of responsibility. After talking to a fair amount of plumbers that do institutional maintenance, I have come to realize that a there's a sizable percentage of them that don't own smart phones. I'm not here by any means to oppose the idea of still having a flip phone; if that's what you like and are confortable with, then go for it. My goal is to bring to light how a smartphone could be highly beneficial in this particular line of work.
The first way that a smartphone can benefit plumbing maintenance supervisor is e-mail communication. Most supervisors have their own e-mail with the facility, but without a smartphone that access is limited to desktop computers. Even if you don't have an official e-mail with the facility, you can have access to your personal e-mail address at any given time with a smartphone. E-mail can be highly beneficial to someone in this line of work because not only can you communitcate quickly and efficiently with other people who work at the facility, but you also have the ability to engage in e-mail communication with different vendors. With a smartphone, you can have constant access to your e-mail, potentially making your job a lot easier.
The second way that a smartphone can benefit plumbing maintenance supervisors it it's ability to take pictures. Yes, some flip phones can do this, but more than likely if you aren't willing to embrace smartphone technology you are probably not going to bother taking pictures with your flip phone. Smartphones have not only take higher quality pictures, but it is also easier to send those pictures to others. This plays a huge role when doing certain plumbing repairs within the facility. Truthfully, the stamp you found on a fixture or valve you are trying to repair is most likely not a part number or model number. Most odd ball stamps like that are serial numbers, which is not nearly enough information to ID a part over the phone. Sometimes the best way for plumbing supply companies to figure out what you need is through a picture. Having a smartphone enables you to easily take that picture, send it off to your vendor, and get a much quicker response.
