Did you know the universal truth about businesses and technology?
‘When technologies are introduced, they can certainly rejig the entire way industry operates – and this, in turn, has an effect on the business, no matter how small or large it is.’
You certainly cannot agree more with this statement, can you?
There are two types of companies that we get to see – one, those who adopt new technology quickly to learn and evolve
Difference between the two?
There are so many companies who were big names but are struggling or don’t exist today because they did not adopt the technology with the changing time
Billions of mobile devices and zillions of mobile applications exist in the world today – let’s not get into statistics, they have been written about an umpteenth number of times
But did you ever imagine a simple mobile app changing the dynamics of the business entirely?
Before we jump to how businesses are changing with mobility, let’s quickly learn what these mobile forms apps are
In a nutshell, a mobile form is a digital version of the paper form, which can be accessed through mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, etc
But how do these mobile forms apps work?
Imagine that instead of filling a paper form, you fill data on a mobile form through a mobile application. As simple as that
But if you are wondering if this is just about digitizing processes by making the physical form digital, then the answer is no. There’s more to it, in fact, a lot more
Of course, it will depend on the industry that you are using for, and what type of mobile forms app you are using for your business
But interestingly, there are some enterprises who are using simple mobile apps for even advanced benefits
Okay, here is your surprise: few mobile forms app also allow building workflow
When businesses found out these mobile applications, they started automating their business processes
Simple and easy mobile forms builder offering the capability of automation sounds unbelievable, but it’s true
Platforms such as Axonator has enabled many enterprises to build mobile forms apps that don’t just allow data collection, but also automate the processes, generate report automatically, use advanced analytics, etc
(Not all mobile applications come along with these features though – you will have to check. You can read our previous blog here about the checklist)
Well, even if a long list of benefits has been given above, there are companies who will just be more than happy to use a mobile forms app even if the app solved their one major problem
Still not convinced? If you are someone who loves to see the numbers, let’s look at calculations as well:
Tell anyone that this mobile forms app will save you 300 manhours a day, and they will start listening right away
Large organizations are always on toes to boost productivity – and such a tool can really help them do that
300 additional manhours mean you can do more jobs/tasks a day – that’s a straight boost in revenue, anyone with basic math will be able to tell you that
Believe me, these are just modest figures – it can get even better if you know how to put this mobile app to use and leverage it
If this has got you to think how can a mobile form save that kind of time? After all, it’s just the same paper form in a digital version
Example: If you choose ‘no’ as a response for a question – ‘did you inspect the 1st-floor facility?’
Such advanced logic of visibility, validity, etc. allows teams to not fill irrelevant details and waste time
1. You can capture images, record video, and audio through mobile forms app – this saves time since teams would have wasted loads of time writing the description
What this means is you just scan an object with the mobile app to fetch all the related information – without having to type/ write everything
That’s cool, these mobile apps are saviors – aren’t they?
These are few features of mobile forms app that can save man-hours in a way that you probably didn’t imagine
Not one or two, but so many industries like construction, mining, oil & gas, HVAC, facility management, utility companies, supply chain, logistics, fleet management, professional services, etc. are using mobile forms app to boost productivity
The moral of the story is that a mobile strategy or mobility is helping businesses conquer new opportunities like never before
But hold your horses, there’s something more that you need to know about the capabilities of mobile forms app
Did you know that there are mobile forms app that allows you to collect data even when you are offline?
So if your teams are working at remote locations – then this is one tool that will surely make them fall for
When teams travel to remote locations to collect data, one of the biggest nightmares is fluctuating internet connection
If you have used mobile form apps whose data collection depend on the internet connection, then you have already faced the issues of data loss due to a bad network
But not anymore, since there are mobile apps like Axonator that allow data collection and data submission even without a connection
The real-time sharing of information empowers the managers to access data from their desks – exactly at the same moment when the executive submits the data from the field
There is no real-time sharing of data, which is very critical in today’s business environment since the companies are moving at a breakneck speed, and having the right information at the right time to make a decision is very vital
This is another pain point that mobile forms app has the capability to answer. Mobile forms app allow tracking the status of any task very easy
When any task moves through a lot of hierarchy and approvals, it is difficult to know what stage the task is in, agree?
Notifications on the mobile devices enable the team and managers to stay updated at any point in time
Bottlenecks can easily be identified and taken care of – especially if tasks are stuck due to non-approvals. Therefore, delays can be avoided without any effort
So, what does this do?
Since everything can be tracked smoothly, this also brings a higher degree of transparency and accountability in the business
Businesses spend so much of time on admin tasks, data entry, and report-making. Imagine if this could be easily done in just clicks
Some mobile forms app come along with feature like report generation – as soon as the data is submitted on the mobile app, the report can be fetched through clicks
These reports can be fetched in PDF formats. Platforms like Axonator even allows customizing of PDF reports
What this means is that PDF reports generated after data submission can be designed in a way you want and can be branded with company logo, name, color, etc
Do you imagine how much of time this can save which otherwise would have been wasted in making reports manually?
Mobile Forms App like Axonator also allows integration of different other platforms like CRM, SAP, Salesforce, PeopleSoft, Zapier, Google Drive, etc
The data flow from one platform to another is automatic after integration – this means you don’t have to enter the data again manually
A survey conducted by Forbes gave some interesting insights. Did you know that sales representatives spend only 35% of their total time selling?
The rest 65% of their time is spent on non-revenue generating tasks like data entry, report generation, etc
Just imagine your sales reps using their entire time in just selling – a mega boost in sales, isn’t it?
Mobile forms app can help you manage the teams very efficiently. Imagine your teams are always on the field visiting different sites
As they submit the data by adding the location and timestamp on the forms, it will help you can know exactly when the task was completed
This allows you to track the team on the map as well. You can make decisions in real-time, check the performance of the teams location-wise by tracking various parameters like time taken to complete the tasks, time consumed at each location, etc
It’s a blessing, especially if you are managing a fleet – every stage of transport, delivery, dispatch, etc. can be tracked with a mobile forms app
Sending bills and invoices on time is another challenge that many enterprises face occasionally. It’s a part and parcel that you can’t get rid of
With mobile forms app, bills and invoices can be generated and sent to customers directly on their emails as soon as the form is filled and data is submitted – automatically!
Paper forms can take way longer since forms have to be brought to the office. The accounts department will prepare invoices manually and then send the same to customers
Same is the case with purchase orders – they can be sent to vendors for new material requirement through mobile forms app. Even better, if you can integrate the same with the ERP system
Forms can be designed for purchase orders, which can be filled through the mobile app, this will trigger PO to be automatically sent to the respective vendor
They can take care of many other functions for you like maintenance reports, dispatch reports, vehicle inspection forms, service quotes, supply chain management, etc
If you are wondering how a mobile forms app will be the magic bullet for your business, then you can get in touch [email protected]
Axonator is one of the best mobile forms apps available in the market today which is robust and hyper-agile. As a platform, Axonator allows businesses to build enterprise-level apps easily by just dragging and dropping widgets
You don’t need to have any technical knowledge or write any code to make an app using Axonator. You can customize the mobile application at any point in time – it is fully scalable and secure
Collect rich data faster, automate your business processes, create custom PDFs, deploy intelligence, etc. with Axonator today
1. What is Axonator’s MicroApp Strategy?
Get a free consultation from the best!
