I work for a Pest Management company that does not use an electronic system (i.e. bar-codes and on-line reports) as yet. We have resisted this for a few important reasons.
1. cost - the cost of these systems is high, and we're currently unconvinced by the benefits they offer.
2. Auditability. Our experience with BRC, AIB, M&S, Tesco etc is that auditors prefer a hard copy paper trail wherever possible. Some of the on-line systems provided by the 'big boys' especially are not easy to drill down into, and to check that work has been done to specification.
3. Flexability. We've found, when carrying out 3rd party audits ourelves on PC companies, that the systems seem to be hard to adjust to the needs of a specific client.
I am certainly not saying these systems are no good. We are continuing to investigate and try to find something that will work with what we want to be able to provide, both for our own benefit, but especially for our clients. At the moment, it looks like we'll migrate to a more elecronic/web-based service control system (which our clients will not see), but keep our existing amalgam of hard copy reports, risk assessments, graphs, and electronic reporting by email.
I'd be really interested in others' views on this as well.