How Mobile Apps Are Improving Productivity

All businesses have information they need to collect and share. There are millions of processes happening each day–some you see (e.g., the plumber who brings an invoice to your house) and some you don’t (e.g., safety inspections happening at every construction job site).

There’s a revolution happening with how these organizations are collecting and sharing information, and it’s awesome seeing GoCanvas lead the way.

But how are businesses and organizations really using mobile apps to better collect, share and learn from their data?

We love seeing all the ways businesses are streamlining their processes and rapidly transforming their work with mobile forms on phones and tablets. Organizations are not only using multiple form apps, but they’re also building and deploying them to their workforces faster than ever before (almost 70% built an app in a day or less!)–an indication that businesses of all sizes are shifting from expensive, resource-intensive custom builds to cloud-based mobile business app solutions.

Here’s a look at how a few key industries are using mobile form apps to automate their work processes.

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The GoCanvas 2015 online survey was completed by more than 1,600 decision makers from a broad range of company sizes and industries that have historically relied heavily on paper forms and manual processes, most prominently construction and contracting, field services, retail and wholesale distribution, healthcare, manufacturing, government, and transportation & logistics.

Key Survey Findings

Organizations using multiple mobile business apps – Two-thirds of respondents indicated their organization used 1-5 mobile business apps in 2014, and a robust 20% of organizations used 10+ mobile business apps last year.
Organizations are saving money converting manual processes to mobile apps – Of those tracking their cost savings, 17% saved between $25,000-$100,000 annually switching to mobile apps, while 81% indicated cost savings between $1,000-$25,000.
Mobile apps are still used most heavily for inspections and work orders – When it comes to specific tasks businesses are using mobile apps for, inspections (52%), work orders (35%), checklists (20%), and surveys (20%) remain the four most popular – as was the case in last year’s survey.
Signature capture and image capture popular features – The 2015 GoCanvas survey also tracked, for the first time, which mobile business app features organizations have used in the past 12 months. Image capture (56%), signature capture (52%), workflow (23%), and GPS (22%) were the most popular.

Use of Core Business Applications

64 percent of businesses see value in integrating core business applications – such as Dropbox, PayPal Here, Salesforce, and Quickbooks – with mobile devices and tools, up 1 percent from last year’s survey. That said, significant customer data gains were experienced by Box and Google Drive for cloud storage, and PayPal Here for credit card processing.

What business applications are being used in 2015

The survey of GoCanvas customers, conducted March 25^th – April 7^th, 2015, included companies from a broad range of industries and sizes. Of the respondents, 28% were from businesses with 500+ employees; 26% were from businesses with 101-500 employees; 19% worked at organizations with 26-100 employees; and 27% hailed from small businesses with 25 employees or less.

Interested in how your business can streamline manual processes, eliminate paperwork and transform the way you collect, share, and learn from your business information? Browse our collection of Inspection and Survey mobile templates.

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Smarter, Faster, Safer: Improving Safety Compliance with Mobile Technology

Compliance, there are many ways we talk about it. A necessary evil, a chore, a struggle, or a critically important part of business. We all know how crucial it is, helping save…

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Your Guide to Waiver Forms — Examples and Templates

Waiver forms are a type of legal protection used by businesses to reduce their liability and risk. This type of agreement between a business and its customers is used…

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Duotank Transforms Business Processes with GoCanvas

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Businesses Rapidly Building, Using More Mobile Apps

The 2015 survey of more than 1,600 businesses suggests that organizations rapidly building and deploying multiple mobile apps.

Construction Businesses are using mobile apps for: 49% Work orders; 31% Checklists; 61% Inspections.

33% of businesses used more than 5 mobile business apps last year. Retail Businesses are using mobile apps for: 36% of Inspections; 38% of Checklists; 41% of Surveys.

68% of organizations were able to build a mobile app in 1 day or less. Manufacturing Businesses are using mobile apps for: 25% Work Orders; 30% Audits; 41% Inspections.

Google Drive, Box, and PayPal Mobile applications saw the biggest year-over-year usage gains. General Businesses are using mobile apps for: 20% Checklists; 35% Work Orders; 52% Inspections.

64% of businesses see value in integrating mobility with core business applications, such as file storage, CRM, credit card processing, note-taking, and accounting. Healthcare businesses are using mobile apps for: 25% Work Orders; 18% Invoices; 20% Logs.

Eye Opening Facts About Field Service

Eye-Opening Facts About Field Service

There are dozens of websites, publications, and email newsletters dedicated to field service technology. But what’s actually driving field service companies to technology? What kinds of software and devices are they using?

We’ve gathered some eye-opening facts to help you understand where the industry is today, and how real businesses are using technology to innovate and stay productive.

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Mobile technology is no longer a rarity in field service: it’s becoming expected for staying competitive and improving service. You may have noticed that this trend is only going to grow further to 2.5 million units.

Discover the innovation-making field service companies thrive

Learn more in our free ebook: How the Best Field Service Businesses Use Mobile Apps

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Improving Your Operations with Field Service Management Software

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Should You Connect Field Service Management Software with QuickBooks?

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How the Best Field Services Businesses Use Mobile Apps

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EYE-OPENING FACTS ABOUT FIELD SERVICES

Driving field service mobility: 80% customer demand for improved service; 44% Competitive pressures; 33$ Need to work with reduced field workforce; 41% Growing volume of service requests.

Common mobile workforce challenges:

1. Ensuring the mobile workforce is at optimal productivity/efficiency

2. Accurately capturing and sharing data in real-time

3. Improving first-time fix rates

Berg Insight expects mobile workforce management to grow to 2.5 million by 2018 in North America and Europe.

What devices are the workforce using? – 66% Currently use an automated software solution; 47% use a cloud solution; 41% mobile phones; 22% tablets; 37% computers.

Top 3 reasons for the cloud: 1. Faster deployment; 2. Less strain on IT; 3 Lower upfront cost.

Clear Water Streamlines Communications and Saves 200 Hours

How Clear Water Products Streamlined Communications and Saved 200 Hours

Overview

$66,684 Annual ROI
Standardized language for records
Saving over 200 hours a year
Improved customer communication
700% increase in productivity

Apps Used

Dewatering Quality Testing Form
Daily Report
Maintenance Request Form
Extra Technician Request Form
Materials Request Form
Testing Completion Confirmation

The Background

Clear Water Products, LLC offers 27 years of oilfield experience along with cutting-edge solids control services. Offering the most effective solids control equipment available on the market today to satisfy the ever-changing needs of the oil & gas industry.

Clear Water Products is dedicated to customer satisfaction. The company understands that each rig and each project is different and work closely with each rig to optimize their solids control program to minimize costs to the drilling companies

The Problem

Yet Clear Water Products struggled with internal communications. While they enjoyed the speed of sharing information via group text, it was difficult to sift through, and often missed important information for reports.

The end result? Managers back at the office would waste time sifting through text messages for pertinent information. There was no standardized language for reporting. Information would be missed as the rigs locations are incredibly loud and made it easy to miss text messages.

Jay Ziesler, an Engineer with the company, knew they could do better. “Our company was growing” Jay said. “We needed better communication between the office and various locations and between locations.”

So Jay reached out to his Verizon rep for a technology fix that would make their reporting easier and clearer.

The Solution

In November 2014, the company’s Verizon representative helped Clear Water Products switch to GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. Thousands of organizations leverage Canvas’s cloud-based, “Software-as-a-Service” mobile app platform to replace cumbersome paper forms with highly customizable mobile business apps.

Businesses can search from over 16,000 ready-made apps in the GoCanvas Application Store that can be customized to an individual business user’s needs. In addition, GoCanvas offers a do-it-yourself app builder that enables non-technical users to build apps in minutes.

The Outcomes

Over the past fourteen months, the company’s employees have stopped using group text messages and started to use tablets and GoCanvas mobile apps. The company has discovered measurable results, including:

Uniform Record Keeping

Previously, employees used multiple names often for the same chemical compound. The office manager would simply write down the name used in the communications from the field. The various names made it difficult to track chemical use and understand work occurring at various locations.Today, Clear Water Products now uses a drop down menu for chemical inventory. With one click, reporting is easier for employees on the rigs. At the home office, management enjoys better understanding of what is going on in real time.

Improved Response Time

With group text messages, it was difficult to respond quickly. Everyone received a text on a technical issue, not just those who needed to know. This made it easy to ignore the stream of messages, and harder to know what employees did or didn’t have to respond to.With GoCanvas, these reports are now separated. The company now has multiple apps it use inside of GoCanvas, each submission going to the appropriate manager. “I don’t have to go through 30 messages to look for something important” Jay explained, “the reports I need come straight to me.”

In addition, working with oil rigs meant projects were often moving in remote places. “If someone got sick and needed a replacement,” Jay said, “it was easy for the person traveling to the new location to get lost.” He estimated that this was a problem they faced at least once a month.A trick with GoCanvas has removed this issue: geo-tagging. All GoCanvas submissions include a location tag. Now if an employee needs to get up to a remote site, they can take the tag from a recent submission. This will automatically open in Google map and give the driver directions straight to the site. Getting to remote locations has never been easier for Clear Water Products.

More Robust Data Sharing with Customers

While using group text messages, it was incredibly difficult to share information with their customers. Jay explained, “It was too much information for customers to get the big picture. With drilling operations 24/7 all year round, it wasn’t feasible to share.”GoCanvas mobile apps make it easy to share specific reports with customers via email. Even if the report is in the middle of the night, it won’t cause a disturbance like a text message. As a PDF, all the information is easy to read and understand.Now customers can stay in the loop without being dragged down by unnecessary details.

Enhanced Data Collection

Clear Water Products also receives stronger and more accurate information with GoCanvas. Previously, reports would be inconsistent in both language and what was reported.“I had to reread text messages multiple times to get all the information.” Jay said. “If someone missed something in their message, I’d have to call them to find out the answer.”

Now, all the information Jay needs returns with every submission. GoCanvas does this with the option of required fields. An employee can skip a field in the GoCanvas mobile app, but if a field is required, they won’t be able to submit the app until the required field is completed. Jay no longer struggles with missing information or searching through whole series of text messages.

Real-Time Savings

Previously with all messages in the same long chain of text messages, Clear Water Products struggled to create reports. “It used to take me an hour and half to do one report” Jay said of their old system. With all submissions immediately available in the cloud, Clear Water Products enjoys easier reporting with real-time access to information. “Now it takes me just ten minutes to create a report.” Jay said. He estimated that moving to GoCanvas will save him over 220 hours in 2015 on creating his reports alone.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Business Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides Clear Water Products the flexibility to add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas makes editing apps a frictionless process. For instance, as the materials change, it’s easy for management to upload a new materials list into their GoCanvas apps. Clear Water Products doesn’t need to rely on IT support or have any knowledge of coding. With GoCanvas, it’s a simple drag-and-drop interface that anyone can use. Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost. Today, Clear Water Products has ditched group messaging for mobile apps. With more time in their workday, they can focus on providing the best in solids control services.

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

GoCanvas has helped a variety of businesses across multiple industries transform their safety processes and rethink their efficiency, ultimately saving them money. Why not do the same? Reach out to one of our experts today to kickstart your process revolution.

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How TE3CO Leverages Data Analytics to Unlock Business Potential

TE3CO provides mission-critical pressure relief technology and services to customers across the oil and gas industry. They employ a highly trained and capable workforce of field technicians and engineers. Before working with GoCanvas, TE3CO relied on spreadsheets and emails to manage their ticketing process but found the system time-consuming and difficult to track.

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VIP Lighting Gains Business Efficiencies with GoCanvas

VIP Lighting is a retail lighting and electrical maintenance company that services retail chains across Australia and New Zealand. The business has been operating for 25 years and now services 10,000 retail sites across both countries. Prior to joining GoCanvas in 2018, the business had multiple systems running different aspects of their technician and contractor network.

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Three HVAC Maintenance Checklists that will Reduce Errors and Grow Your Bottom Line

For HVAC technicians, so many errors within their daily tasks come from using outdated paper forms while completing a job. Using these HVAC inspection checklists will prevent issues before they happen, so your technicians can collect comprehensive and consistent data at every job.

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The Cost of Late Payments for Small Business

As a small business, cash flow can be life or death for your business. But what are the real costs of late payments? How do they really hurt your business? A recent UK study revealed some shocking numbers on the heavy cost of late payments.

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Protect your business and get paid in real-time

Discover how businesses are using mobile payments for faster and easier sale cycle.

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Centurian Transport saves $100k every year with GoCanvas

Centurion is the largest heavy haulage provider in Australia. They deliver national supply chain solutions to the resources, energy, construction & retail sectors…

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Duotank Transforms Business Processes with GoCanvas

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TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® used GoCanvas to increase data visibility & compliance

With a workforce that primarily works out in the field, many of the TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® locations found that paperwork was hindering…

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55 Billion pounds – Total amount of outstanding invoices in the UK.

That’s Equal to 75% of UK business investments in assets for the third quarter of 2013.

Total cash on Berkshire Hathaway’s balance sheet. 3.4% UK GDP.

The Danger to Small Business – Average business is owed £38k.

25% of businesses fail when owed £50k.

About 1 in 3 businesses have experienced late payments of 90 days or more.

Fascinating Facts about GoCanvas

Who uses GoCanvas? Where are they located? What are they using our mobile app for? In honor of our latest funding milestone, we wanted to share some facts about where our business is today.

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Improving Your Operations with Field Service Management Software

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Connect with an Expert Today.

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Fascinating facts about GoCanvas – How many sheets of paper have we saved? 25,593,595.

When placed side by side it’s enough to cover – 4,443,33 miles. That’s nearly the distance between Washington D.C. & Rome.

GoCanvas is used in 65 countries with 10 different languages.

Who we work with – 106 partners, over 30 major industries, 27 Fortune 1000 companies, 5 different telecoms.

94 Ante up processes streamlined – GoCanvas believes you don’t need to have millions of dollars to give back. As part of our Ante Up program, employees can donate GoCanvas and their time to deserving not-for-profits.

Top Five Downloaded Canvas Apps – 1. Job Estimator with Dispatch; 2. Inventory Collection; 3. Building Inspection; 4. QuickBooks invoice; 5. Job Work Order with Dispatch.

Great Lakes Fusion Saves 400 Hours Annually Going Paperless

Great Lakes Fusion Saves 400 Hours a Year By Going Paperless

The Background

Great Lakes Fusion (GLF) started in 1998 as a small construction company specializing in the Landfill Industry as a Methane Gas pipeline installation and repair contractor. Since that time, they have grown into a multi-faceted construction company with the expertise to take on most any project in the excavation and construction industry.

As a family run business, they’ve worked hard for the past 17 years to grow their company. But with that growth, their paper records became a heavier and heavier burden on their business.

The Problem

This burden was affecting GLF in various ways. Forms, from equipment inspections to work orders, were supposed to be returned to the office every night. However, if employees were working at job sites far from the office, these forms could come back days or even a week later.

As their team grew to over 30 employees, this delay also put pressures on the back office. “Time cards wouldn’t come in until Monday”, Jamie GLF’s office manager, said, “With payroll going out on Tuesday, it put a lot of pressure on our office.” GLF decided they needed a solution to these slow and cumbersome processes.

The Solution

In April 2013, they decided to go with GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for the construction industry. GLF found the transition to paperless processes easy and full supported in taking their construction company paperless. “Employees picked it up easily” Jamie said, “It’s been a simple transition.”

GLF found itself in the same position thousands of GoCanvas customers have; the GoCanvas platform—with 20,000+ customizable mobile apps, the app builder and real-time data collection—was revolutionizing their internal processes.

The Outcomes

GLF has seen real, measurable results from implementing GoCanvas as their paperless solution for construction projects. Some of their immediate benefits include:

Measurable Time Savings

Previously, GLF struggled with a growing burden of paperwork. Job site timecards, for instance, would come in on Mondays, and payroll would have to be finished by the next day. This time crunch put pressure and stress on the office. Being on paper, they would need to be organized and typed up again into the database for processing.

With GoCanvas, this process has been dramatically streamlined. Foremen now collect time cards on their smartphones. These mobile time sheets now go straight to the cloud and is immediately available to the office staff on the same day.

This streamlined paperless process has given GLF measurable time savings. Switching to GoCanvas saves them two hours a day. Over a year? That’s over 400 hours they can use towards growing their construction business.

Faster Invoicing

In additon to saving time in the office, GLF also has a faster sales cycle as a result of paperless workflows. With all their construction projects, GLF relies on work orders to invoice customers. From the week’s work orders, the office sends out billing every Friday. But if a form didn’t return until Friday afternoon, GLF couldn’t bill the customer for another week, slowing down their sale cycle dramatically.

With GoCanvas, these issues have been largely eliminated for this construction firm. All work orders are immediately available in the cloud. This makes it easy for the office to create and send invoices straight to the customer. If a form is missing fields, then the field employee won’t be able to submit the form. This forces completion of inspections with all necessary documentation.

By eliminating paper forms, GLF has dramatically sped up their sales cycles with paperless billing. What once could take weeks to send to customers now happens in a day or less.

Improved Data Accuracy

Working in the field at job sites and on construction projects, it’s easy for conditions to change. Yet with paper, employees would have to start over their work orders if something happened. This meant additional work on already long shifts.

Today with GoCanvas, GLF employees can edit their records while they work. Is the well drill taking longer than expected? That can be added into the report. The shift to mobile ensures that employees spend less time reporting, and can focus on great work for customers.

With drop down lists, employees in the field capture important information faster. They also use reference data. This feature allows them to pre-populate parts of their app with information from their own system, including pricing and equipment information.

By taking their construction company paperless, employees spend less time trying to find information, return forms with fewer mistakes, and focus more on doing great work.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Organizational Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use app builder, GoCanvas provides this construction firm the flexibility to quickly add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas apps can be updated easily, with no programming required.

For instance, as GLF’s equipment changes, Jamie can go into her GoCanvas account and update the equipment inspection. Within seconds, the updated equipment inspection will be available for all her users. These real time updates ensure easy transition, with limited possibility for errors in future inspections.

Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost.

With GoCanvas, GLF has replaced all of their paper forms with mobile apps and paperless workflows. They’ve cut down administrative work, and receive more accurate information from the field. Going paperless and using electronic documents allows them to continue to grow as well and provide the best quality work to their customers.

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The Ultimate Guide to Quality Control Inspections

Discover essential steps and best practices for effective quality control inspections. Ensure accuracy, compliance, and efficiency today!

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Next-Gen Project Management for Construction

In this on-demand webinar, we showcase GoCanvas’ latest product release, which is designed for construction and trade professionals.

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VIP Lighting Gains Business Efficiencies with GoCanvas

See how VIP Lighting streamlined operations and improved efficiency with GoCanvas, improving data collection speed and accuracy.

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How AB Moving Company Saves $583K Annually with Mobile Forms

How a Texas Moving Company Saves $583K Annually with Mobile Forms

Overview

Savings of $175,000 in processing and labor costs
Savings of $125,000 in credit card processing
Improved information collection
Stronger management oversight

Apps Used

Bill of Lading
Damage Report

The Background

Founded in 1996 by owner Kenny Baker, AB Moving has a fleet of 72 trucks, serving customers in Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. The company is headquartered in Allen, a Dallas suburb, with 15 office employees, and all moving is done by subcontractors. The moving services company and its 72 teams complete as many as 700 jobs each week.

AB Moving does both commercial moving and residential moving: apartments, homes, businesses and more. For over fifteen years, AB Moving has offered highly quality work, understanding that they not only move customers’ possessions but also their lives.

The Problem

While AB Moving was trying to provide the highest quality service, paper wasn’t serving the company well. Since 2009, AB Moving was using a sophisticated software application to record customer, job booking, and moves data. But, drivers were still using bills of lading and damage reports on paper.

The end result? All movers had to come into the office at 5 am to pick up that day’s assignments. Though AB Moving had sophisticated technology, it struggled to get information from the field integrated back into their system. Brent Davis, the general manager, knew they could do better. “I was an auto adjuster for 17 years,” Brent says, “and was also the guy who test-piloted all the new technology. I’m just blessed with the ability to see how things can be done in the most efficient way.”

So Brent began looking for a technology fix that would eliminate as much of the paper as possible.

The Solution

In January 2014, AB Moving switched to GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. Thousands of organizations leverage GoCanvas’s cloud-based, “Software-as-a-Service” mobile app platform to replace cumbersome paper forms with highly customizable mobile business apps.

Businesses can search from over 20,000+ ready-made apps in the GoCanvas Application Store that can be customized to an individual business user’s needs. In addition, GoCanvas offers a do-it-yourself app builder that enables non-technical users to build apps in minutes.

The Outcomes

Over the past year, AB Moving drivers have stopped using paper and started to use Samsung Galaxy tablets and GoCanvas mobile apps. The company has discovered measurable results, including:

Substantial Financial Savings

Previously, AB Moving took payment with a manual credit card machine or over the phone. But, this process was slow, cumbersome, and had high fees. By going digital, AB Moving has lower fees and estimates that they’ve saved $125,000 in fees alone. The moving company’s previous process was also time-consuming for office employees. They would spend hours matching contracts and credit card receipts, taking credit card information over the phone, and printing bills of lading. By streamlining this process, AB has saved another $50,000 in employee time.

In total? AB Moving saved $175,000 in 2014, and since has increased savings to over $500K in 2016.

Measurable Time Savings

AB Moving’s drivers work through many parts of Texas, often far from the office. Previously, all drivers would have to come into the office at 5 am to pick up their jobs for the day. Davis recalls with a cringe, “If it was raining outside, they would come in and get the papers all wet. It was awful.”

With GoCanvas the office can set up all moves the day before hand. The light dispatch feature allows AB Moving to pre-populate bill of lading forms so movers know where they need to go and what to do. The matching and scheduling process that once took hours or days is now available in minutes. Light dispatch reduces the number of unproductive miles for drivers. AB Moving saves gas and time.

Improved Data Collection

AB Moving also receives stronger and more accurate information from GoCanvas. Previously, it would have to compensate customers up to 90 days after the move, since it didn’t have proof that items were already damaged beforehand.

Today, movers can easily take photos of items damaged before moving. With all information in the cloud, the photos are easy to find and always accessible. Those photos have reduced the number and costs of post-move damage claims.

In addition, bills of lading are required by state law to be signed. Davis explains, “There are fines for incomplete forms. With the GoCanvas application, the movers can’t upload the form until everything is complete and it is signed. It’s bulletproof now, and that is saving us a lot of money in fines.”GoCanvas does this by easily making fields required. With paper, nothing stopped a form coming back only half-finished. A driver can skip a field in the GoCanvas mobile app, but if a field is required, they won’t be able to submit the app until the required fields are completed. So AB Moving no longer struggles with missing information in their forms.

Real-Time Oversight

Previously with a dispersed workforce, AB Moving struggled to get information about their workforce in an easy manner. Who booked the move? How did the customer hear about AB Moving? Were any packaging supplies sold? With all reports immediately available in the cloud, AB Moving can understand this information in real-time. The company is even taking this data further: the data from each job is integrated with a home-grown application that AB Moving developed.

Through that application, Davis says, “Now I can see exactly what every mover did, who booked the move, the referral source, any boxes and other packaging supplies we sold. We can track anything we need to.”What once were disparate files are now seamlessly connected and available for understanding not a week or two later, but the very same day.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Business Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides the licensed mover with the flexibility to add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas makes editing apps a frictionless process.

For instance, as prices change, it’s easy for AB Moving to upload a new price list into their GoCanvas apps. They don’t need to rely on IT support or have any knowledge of coding. With GoCanvas, it’s a simple drag-and-drop interface that anyone can use. Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost.

Today, AB Moving has ditched paper for mobile apps. Having taken back time in their workday, the professional movers can focus on helping people move easily throughout Texas.

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

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Improving Your Operations with Field Service Management Software

Whether you have two or 200 employees, your business’ success depends on their hard work. Passionate, motivated team players are the difference between…

Read the Blog

Should You Connect Field Service Management Software with QuickBooks?

Field service management software has shown to increase productivity both for employees in the field and operations teams in the office. You may be wondering how field service…

Read the Blog

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Mobility and field service: the talk has been happening forever. The idea that real-time information improves customer service and boosts technician productivity is changing…

Read the eBook

WEINIG Increases Sales with GoCanvas

How WEINIG Australia Saved Time and Increased Sales with GoCanvas

Overview

Highlights

Faster invoicing and sales cycle
Improved tracking of labor and parts cost
More accurate and comprehensive information

Apps Used

Weinig & Holzher Parts Distribution Form
Weinig – Service Call Details
Weinig – Service Call Details (SLA)

The Background

WEINIG Australia is part of the WEINIG Group. Around the world, they are known for providing solutions to solid timber processes. With a variety of innovative wood process machinery, and round-the-clock service, WEINIG Australia puts their customers first.

The Problem

As WEINIG focused on customer service, they kept struggling with their back-end paper processes. For each service call, technicians were taking down notes on a carbonized engineer report pad. Taking multiple calls a day, these reports could take hours or days to return to the office.

Once a form arrived, the process wasn’t done yet! An employee would have to enter this information into the database as well. Often these forms would come back missing important information, requiring further time trying to find the technician to get answers. Only then could WEINIG respond to the customer issue.

Customer service response time matters: American Express found that 55% of customers will abandon a purchase because of subpar customer service. As WEINIG strived to provide even more for their customers, they realized paper processes were holding them back.

The Solution

In October 2013, WEINIG Australia decided to go with GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. Thousands of organizations leverage Canvas’s cloud-based, “Software-as-a-Service” mobile app platform to replace cumbersome paper forms with highly customizable mobile business apps.

Businesses can search from over 14,000 ready-made apps in the GoCanvas Application Store that can be customized to an individual business user’s needs. In addition, GoCanvas offers a do-it-yourself app builder that enables non-technical users to build apps in minutes.

The Outcomes

WEINIG Australia has found a remarkable difference in multiple ways. These include:

Measurable Time Savings

Switching to GoCanvas has dramatically streamlined WEINIG’s back-end processes. With GoCanvas, all finished forms are sent directly to the cloud. Instead of taking hours or days for a form to return to the home office, WEINIG can access the information in real-time.

GoCanvas also removes the need for redundant data entry as well. With bulk export options, WEINIG can also easily take this information from the GoCanvas cloud and import the information into their own databases. What once required hours of extra work now happens in minutes.

The result? WEINIG Australia can respond more quickly to customer needs and issues. Invoicing and sale cycles have also improved with faster invoicing and processing in the home office. Employees are now freed for more critical and creative roles.

Easily Track Labor and Parts Cost

Previously, tracking technicians’ movement and parts ordered was difficult. With the time lag in receiving forms, it was hard to know in real time where people were, or what they needed.

With GoCanvas, WEINIG Australia gets all this information in real-time. With GPS location capture, they can see where technicians are. They can also use time stamps on their jobs. These functionalities allow WEINIG to understand the technicians’ work quickly and quantify their labor costs in minutes.

If WEINIG had wanted to understand these issues previously, they would have had to plot locations on a map as well as enter the times and calculate it manually. Not only does GoCanvas gather information more quickly, but also our mobile app makes it far easier for WEINIG Australia to analyze and understand what’s happening on the ground.

More Accurate and Comprehensive Information

Beyond faster information, WEINIG Australia also gets more and more accurate information with mobile apps. In their service reports, they can now add:

Images of the work done
Location via GPS
Computer powered calculations

By drawing on the information from their own systems, technicians are able to have more accurate reports. Using mobile apps has also reduced ambiguity and inaccuracies by replacing handwritten notes with clearly typed text. Required fields in the mobile app ensure that WEINIG Australia receives all the information they need for proper invoicing or further customer support.

WEINIG’s information becomes stronger as well due to removing data entry. With paper forms, it’s easy to misread a 7 for a 1, or to see someone’s handwriting and not understand a word they wrote! Mobile apps remove the need for data entry and the opportunity for possible misunderstandings. Thus, WEINIG Australia receives the best possible information, straight from the source.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Business Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides WEINIG the flexibility to add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas makes editing apps a frictionless process.

For instance, as parts change, it’s easy for WEINIG to upload a new list of materials and new prices into their GoCanvas apps. They don’t need to rely on IT support or have any knowledge of coding. With GoCanvas, it’s a simple drag-and-drop interface that anyone can use.

Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost.

Today WEINIG Australia technicians enjoy faster reports with iPads. With the day-to-day pressures of their work, they haven’t gone completely paperless yet. As they move forward, they hope to convert more forms into apps and discover more time savings for their business.

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PVFC Saves Hundreds of Hours with Digital Inspections

Pikesville Volunteer Fire Company Saves Hundreds of Hours with Digital Inspections

working firefighters. male fire fighters. fire. fire department record management. Fighting fire and fighting paperwork. Saving time and saving people. Pikesville Volunteer Fire Company saves hundreds of hours. Paperless fire company.

The Background

Pikesville Volunteer Fire Company (PVFC) has been protecting Pikesville, Maryland since 1897. As the second oldest volunteer fire department in Baltimore County, it is the only station in Baltimore County that operates an engine, tower, heavy rescue squad, and medic, offering a full range of fire suppression, rescue, and EMS services for the community.

The Problem

Though much has changed since 1897, record keeping has continued on paper. Yet, with a full volunteer force, paper record management has become a heavier and heavier burden for the department.

This burden was affecting the PVFC in various ways. When members would go out and buy supplies for the station, it could take weeks for reimbursement (if the treasurer could even read the crumpled receipt).

When a truck or piece of equipment would break, the process to verify/repair it was especially slow. If a fire truck malfunctioned, the lieutenant/engineer would have to come into the station to verify the issue and order the correct part. If a lieutenant was out on the road for business, it could be days or over a week before that truck would be serviceable again.

Justin, both 1st Rescue Lieutenant at PVFC and Director of Channel Sales at GoCanvas, saw GoCanvas as a solution to these slow and cumbersome processes.

The Solution

In April 2014, they decided to go with GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. PVFC found the transition easy and full supported. “I received a report from a volunteer I hadn’t even trained.” Justin said, “that shows you how accessible the platform is.”

PVFC found itself in the same position thousands of GoCanvas customers have; the GoCanvas platform—with 20,000+ customizable mobile apps, the app builder, and real-time app management—was revolutionizing their internal processes.

The Outcomes

By eliminating paper forms, PVFC has dramatically sped up their repair cycle. What once took over a week to order now happens in a day or less.

More Accurate Data

In addition to improving their equipment repair process, PVFC now captures more accurate information with GoCanvas. The Department of Transportation requires inspections of fire company vehicles twice a month. PVFC often struggled with incomplete forms, information filled out that didn’t pertain to the vehicle, and uncertainty on who inspected the vehicles.

With GoCanvas, these issues have been largely eliminated. By utilizing required fields, PVFC forms come back with all the necessary information. If a form is missing fields, then the volunteer won’t be able to submit the form. This forces completion of inspections with all necessary documentation.In addition, conditional screens ensure that inspections occur quickly and cover the appropriate parts of the truck. For instance, their Heavy Rescue doesn’t have a pump, so that section of the inspection can be skipped.On mobile devices, information is now safe from coffee spills and dirty cars. By no longer having to do manual data re-entry or chase down missing information, PVFC estimates that they’ll save hundreds of hours this year.

Easier Volunteer Tracking

In PVFC, there’s a credit system. Volunteers get credits for showing up to training, or fundraisers. With paper forms, employees had to sign in by hand at these events. Afterward, someone else would have to enter this information a second time, and try to decipher messy handwriting or illegible ID numbers. Not only did this take away time from other projects, but also allowed room for human error.Today with GoCanvas, PVFC can track volunteer credits more easily with almost no admin work. Volunteers can pick their name from a drop down list, and their ID number automatically populates. Hours automatically calculate eliminating mathematical errors. This means less time trying to find information, reduced mistakes, more accurate systems, and more time to focus on keeping Pikesville safe.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Organizational Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides PVFC the flexibility to quickly add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas apps can be updated easily, with no programming required.For instance, as they have new volunteers, PVFC can go into their GoCanvas account and simply update the volunteer list they use in their check in app. Within seconds, the list changes will be updated for all their future events. This allows for an easy transition, with limited possibility for errors.Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost.

With GoCanvas, PVFC continues to get rid of their paper forms. They’ve cut down administrative work, and improved information accuracy. Though much has changed since 1897, PVFC’s commitment to Pikesville safety remains the same.

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Grower Direct Farms Saves $600 Monthly Going Mobile

Grower Direct Farms Saves $600 per Month by Going Mobile

The Background

Grower Direct Farms was started by Leonard Van Wingerden in 1981. Bypassing the opportunity to buy flat fertile farmland in Somers, he acquired a 160 acre sand and gravel pit operation on its decline in the foothills of North Somers. The place looked like a moonscape with craters, rock piles, sand, stumps, some pasture fields, and wooded area. But Leonard saw potential in this land, and worked hard to cultivate it once more. Today Grower Direct Farms comprises 1,300,000 sq. ft. of crop protection structures, 43,000 sq. ft. of support buildings and 20 acres of outdoor growing area.

The key to their success? Grower Direct Farms excels at the fine balance of art and science with a highly trained work force, experienced management, and modern efficient facilities with rigorous conservation and sustainability practices as an integral part of the flower and plant growing regimens.

The Problem

Working with major retailers like Home Depot, Grower Direct Farms needed to go and remove plants from the display. Whether it was because there were overstocked or had died, this information was crucial in figuring out stocking.

Gathering this information was easier said than done. Grower Direct Farms would fax the information back to their office. However, this system came with multiple pain points: not all forms returned to the office, employees struggled to decipher handwriting, and the hours spent re-entering that information back in their database to reflect inventories. This process wasn’t just slow, but also created opportunity for errors in their information.

Grower Direct Farms needed a faster and more accurate system.

The Solution

In December 2013, Verizon introduced Grower Direct Farms to GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. With their free trial, they received full support from GoCanvas as they moved from paper to mobile apps.

Each and every account gets a dedicated senior mobile app consultant. With their consultant, Grower Direct Farms was able to explain what they wanted and to create a mobile experience for their unique needs.

Grower Direct Farms found itself in the same position thousands of GoCanvas customers have; the GoCanvas platform—with 14,000+ customizable mobile apps, the app builder and real-time app management—strengthened their internal processes.

Their consultant created Grower Direct Farms’ first app as well as had a short training with their users. Then, their users were ready to go.

The Outcomes

Today, Grower Direct Farms has 23 users, some on Android and other on iOS devices. They have experienced real, measurable benefits from implementing GoCanvas, including: significant efficiency, cost and environmental. Key results include:

Real-time access to data

Grower Direct Farms has leveraged Canvas’ cloud-based, “as-a-Service” mobile app to enjoy real-time, actionable intelligence. Employees visiting various retail sites can transmit in-store data from their devices via the GoCanvas cloud. This switch has allowed Grower Direct Farms to shift from ad hoc reporting to a systematic process for data collection that can be converted into actionable intelligence. What once took hours to become part of Growers Direct Farms database can now be accessed in seconds. Saving time has a real monetary benefit as well: they estimate that they save $150 a week in peak season processing time. In one month alone, GoCanvas will save them $600.

Improved data accuracy

More than faster data, Grower Direct Farms also enjoys more accurate data. Previously, employees had to enter in all information by hand, including type of plant and certain details about it. With GoCanvas, Grower Direct Farms harnesses reference historical data, allowing them to pre-populate forms with data on plant type and details on it. This feature not only makes reporting quicker, but also improves report accuracy. The improved data has created real visible changes for Grower Direct Farms. Today, they struggle less with demands for plants that are out of stock as well as making fewer emergency deliveries.

Flexibility to meet evolving business needs

As a cloud-based mobile app platform, GoCanvas provided Grower Direct Farms with the flexibility to easily add features and functionality to each app as user and business needs evolve. With other mobile app alternatives, making even minor changes within each app proved cumbersome and diluted the effectiveness of the tool. For instance, as they decided to use GoCanvas for their spring cull, Grower Direct Farms was able to copy their first app and edit it to reflect the plants and data they needed to collect.

GoCanvas allows Grower Direct Farms to do this quickly and easily. This flexibility allows them to be nimble and nuanced in understanding the needs of their retail partners, and ultimately, their customers. Started on a seemingly unfertile land, Grower Direct Farm discovered opportunity and began to thrive. Today, they have over 20 acres of outdoor growing area, and 1,300,000 square feet of protective and support structures. In 2014, the GoCanvas mobile app platform allows Grower Direct Farms to have complete, accurate information in real time, helping them achieve even more success.

Save time and money with your own custom mobile app

Discover how much you can save by going mobile. Search from our collection of customizable mobile form templates for Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing in the GoCanvas Application Store to find something to use as a starting point.

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