Top 6 reasons why your business should be using mobile forms

LEEDS, U.K. - Jan. 2, 2014 - PRLog -- By Cassandra Fielding

January 2, 2014

Top 6 reasons why your business should be using mobile forms

Leeds, UK - According to “Winning the Paper Wars” released by AIIM (http://www.aiim.org) (a leading information management association), 74% of survey respondents have business improvement campaigns that would benefit from paper-free initiatives. Why is this the case when, on average, those surveyed feel that driving paper out of the process would improve speed of response to customers, citizens or staff by a factor of 4.0x?

Here we give 6 reasons why your business should investigate paper free mobile forms solutions and explore the benefits you are likely to receive.

Cost
In the AIIM study, two-thirds of those adopting paper-free processes report a payback within 18 months whilst 50% see payback in a single 12-month budgeting period.

Our findings indicate an even faster return for mobile form solutions. Savings are generated in the following areas:

* Cost of paper
* Cost of printing
* Administration time
* Reduced travel time for field workers

Time
On average, the AIIM study respondents feel that driving paper out of the process would improve the productivity of process staff by 29.7%. This is achieved by removal of superfluous administration tasks such as re-keying data entered on paper forms, distributing form data automatically and saving filing time (estimated at £20 per form).

Error reduction
Unreadable handwriting, the lack of data verification and re-entering form data all contribute to increased errors when using paper forms. The effect errors can have on your business is dramatic -  Gartner estimate that each one costs your business £80 to rectify.

Errors can be virtually eliminated throughout your operation by automating the process. A mobile forms solution should be able to take the data collected in the field and pass it through to invoice or into any other relevant system. This automated workflow greatly improves efficiency and eliminates errors, which can entirely pay for the cost of the solution.

Speed
Not only can data be collected quicker when using a mobile form, the solution can dramatically reduce the time taken to complete the whole end-to-end process. What effect would it have on your business if an invoice was created and dispatched to the client whilst the field worker was still on site? Clearly, getting the invoice created right first time and in the hands of the client will speed up the payment process too and improve your DSO (Days Sales Outstanding).

Do you wait until your field workers are in the office to collect the paper based forms? How often do they come in, and do they make special journeys just to deliver these forms? A mobile forms solution will eliminate unnecessary journeys to deliver forms, speed up the processing time for work orders and compress your process from start to finish.

Environmental
Did you know that every sheet of A4 paper produces 20g of CO2? Twenty field workers completing four forms per day with five pages will produce 1.7 tonnes of CO2 every year. Add to the fact that a study from Xerox suggests that 45% of all paper printed in an office is discarded within 24 hours, and up to 25% of pre-printed forms are outdated before they are used, and you can see the environmental impact paper based processes can have.

A mobile form solution removes this unnecessary use of paper from your business which greatly reduces your carbon footprint. Even if you don’t consider yourself an environmentalist, the incentives and penalties for excessive environmental impact will have an effect on your bottom line.

Compliance
Whichever industry you operate in, guaranteeing compliance with your internal and external regulations is much easier with a mobile forms solution. Field workers can be directed on the mobile form to ensure they are completing the correct fields and the data entered can be verified so it complies with all the regulation schemes in place.

Adding a customer signature to the form whilst your field worker is still present not only improves customer service but confirms the client is happy with the work undertaken. Taking photo’s of the situation where relevant - before and after servicing a boiler for instance - reduces customer complaints and verifies that any work undertaken meets expected standards.

About Confluit

We have reached the stage with technology which could be described as a ‘perfect storm’. Several technologies – mobile devices, form development and cloud solutions in particular – have progressed to such a point where they can deliver real business benefits. Together they are unstoppable, and Confluit helps our customers to gain most value from them.

We are a talented, innovative and experienced group of mobile form experts with a desire to assist businesses in removing paper trails from their processes. Our experience lies in various industries but particularly in the home services market – the trades visiting householders to perform various services.

Based from our Head Office in Leeds, we work with clients throughout the UK and overseas. We offer a full range of services and packages to assist organisations like yours make the move from traditional paper forms to mobile forms, and ensure that the potential in these forms is fully exploited.

@Confluit (http://www.twitter.com/Confluit)