About the author
Fulcrum is a field inspection management platform built to streamline safety and quality processes, field operations, and asset inspections, especially for mobile teams.
If your field teams are still conducting inspections and surveys with paper and clipboards, it’s time for an upgrade.
Switching to mobile forms (or “going paperless”) may seem like a major undertaking, especially if your employees are perfectly comfortable with the paper-based processes they’ve been following for years or even decades.
But change is crucial for business growth, especially in a crowded marketplace. If you’re not embracing new technology, you’re losing ground to competitors that are.
Besides, once you’ve made the transition to mobile forms, everyone’s job is made easier: Field workers simply collect data using a mobile device (often the phone they’re already carrying) and sync it to the cloud, where folks in the office can access it instantly.
No more paper to wrangle (and lose) or chicken scratch to decipher. Plus no more waiting hours or days for updated information from the field. And that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
The list of benefits of using a mobile forms app is long, but in the interest of efficiency (it’s kind of a thing around here), here are the top three:
1. Save time in your operations workflow
Every minute your field teams spend filling out paperwork and ushering it back to the office is time wasted. Your field technicians are experts in their trade. Why are you paying them to do paperwork?
When that paperwork finally makes its way back to headquarters, your office staff then has to re-enter the (potentially incomplete or illegible) information into your database, increasing the opportunity for errors.
And how many times has a field technician reported an issue that was unclear or required multiple site visits to correct? With a mobile forms app, techs can take a photo or video of the problem that gets automatically attached to the corresponding record, so it can be handled quickly and efficiently.
2. Improve customer service and retention
Paper forms cause errors and delays, leading to unhappy customers. A mobile forms app with pre-populated information and automatic calculations helps you serve customers faster.
Today’s consumers demand speed. Forrester research shows 66% of adults believe valuing their time is crucial for a good customer experience. Happy customers are more likely to return. An American Express report revealed 33% of U.S. consumers switched companies after one bad experience.
Happy customers also bring referrals. Nielsen found 77% of consumers are likelier to buy a new product when recommended by someone they know.
Recurring revenue + referrals = a healthy, growing business!
3. Make faster, data-driven decisions
Re-entering data gathered on paper into your company’s database increases the likelihood of mistakes and wastes time. In rapidly changing environments, this information might be outdated by the time it reaches the office from the field.
Mobile forms give you real-time visibility into your data. This allows you to see bottlenecks and other roadblocks to project completion and act on them right away.
Paper doesn’t do that.
Ready to experience the benefits of using mobile forms? Try Fulcrum FREE for 14 days!
Fulcrum is a data collection platform that helps organizations reduce costs, access real-time data, and improve decision-making. With Fulcrum, you can create custom apps using a simple drag-and-drop builder. This tool turns paper documents into digital forms that your field teams can quickly complete on mobile devices.