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?

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.