Achieving Efficiency by Eliminating Workflow Bottlenecks

Achieving Efficiency by Eliminating Workflow Bottlenecks

There’s a reason why certain challenges come with paper-based processes and workflows. Outdated and manual practices contribute to common industry issues such as client dissatisfaction, project delays, slow payments, disjointed communication, and repetitive work. By going digital, you’ll be empowered to finish high-quality projects on time and budget, achieving operational efficiency.

In this on-demand webinar, Brent Nieder, VP of Product, and Lauren Sunday, Product Training Lead, will give you insight into:

  • What operational chaos looks and feels like
  • How going digital brings operational control
  • Two real-world scenarios from the construction and manufacturing industry

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We’ll help you put together the right solution for your needs.

Recording: Achieving Efficiency by Eliminating Workflow Bottlenecks

Achieving Efficiency by Eliminating
Workflow Bottlenecks

Webinar Overview:

Outdated and manual practices contribute to common industry issues such as client dissatisfaction, project delays, slow payments, disjointed communication, and repetitive work.

In this on-demand webinar you will gain insight into:

  • What operational chaos looks and feels like
  • How going digital brings operational control
  • Two real-world scenarios from the construction and manufacturing industry

Check out even more resources

Man inputting digital work order into a tablet from a work site.

How Digital Work Orders Impact Your Key Business Outcomes

Is your company still using paper sheets to manage work orders? The drawbacks of using paper forms are often hidden, making it difficult to understand the true impact of paper forms on a business…

Woman reviewing data via her mobile phone.

See How Centurion Got Amazing ROI from GoCanvas

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

A man reviewing data on tablet collected by GoCanvas solutions.

5 Tips to Improve How Your Business Collects Data

Companies rely on collecting data in order to operate. In a fast-changing world, companies that focus on streamlining and improving their data collection processes will be able to do more. The good news is that it’s become easier than ever for businesses of all… 

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13 Ways to Create Better Forms

13 Ideas to Create Better Forms

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Converting your paper forms into digital forms instead? The switch from paper to digital brings you new possibilities on what to include and how to create your forms to optimize your results. This article covers some of the ways you can create better forms using digital form builders. 

Instead of trying to replicate your exact paper form, it can be useful to think outside of the box to come up with smarter ways of collecting, sharing, and storing your information. You can definitely keep the same look and feel of your paper forms in the digital world, so think about how the technology can build upon what you have to make it even better. Here are 13 ideas on how you can start creating forms to maximize your results.

You never know what information your workers are going to jot down when it comes to paper forms. Many times you are left with missing fields or incorrect information that creates additional work to fix the mistakes. 

But with digital forms, you can create required fields that help to ensure information is filled out completely. A required field you may see marked with an asterisk to denote that this field can not be skipped over. This is a simple feature of a digital form, but it can go a long way to helping you get the information you need for complete data.

While making fields required will give you more complete data, creating standard fields will help you to get more standard data. Standard data may seem unimportant, but when you go to run a report you will find that standard fields ensure you have accurate reporting.

Take for example a form field that is asking you to fill out a client’s address, including their state. If the client lives in DC, your submission from the field could be formatted as several different options (i.e. Washington, Washington, D.C., DC, etc.). When you go to run a report of all clients in DC, you may be left with incomplete data since the spelling is inconsistent throughout your data.

The best practice here is to standardize how you collect data with the digital form. By making the state field in this example a “drop-down” list with predetermined options, your data will come out uniform. Be careful with open-ended form fields and instead use a drop-down list or check boxes to ensure information is formatted consistently across submissions.

By moving from paper forms to digital submissions, you have the ability to include new types of media in your submission. Including images can be added to your form, so that an employee can take photos on their mobile device and have it attached to their submission.

This can be useful for things like inspections, where you also have a report that is generated after the completed inspection. Showing images in those inspection reports bring greater detail and more value for the client to see exactly what is being documented in the report.

Signature capture is an essential part of many forms, from invoices and quotes to inspections and audits. This feature is simplified with digital forms, giving your teams the ability to sign documents directly from a tablet or mobile device. Make sure that you include signature capture on any of the forms where you need to verify approval or want a digital record in the future of an agreement between parties.

Another added advantage of digital forms is the ability to use native mobile features, like GPS tracking captured by a cell phone. You can include this information in a form submission so that the exact location is captured and documented in your final report. This can be useful for use cases where you need to document and verify the exact location, like a job site inspection for example. GPS coordinates can also be tracked as a hidden field, so it’s collected automatically when the worker is on a specific job site.

One of the biggest challenges for field teams can be calculating math on the spot for an estimate or invoice. An added benefit of using digital forms is that you can actually create calculations within the form, so that all your calculations are performed automatically. For the person filling out the form, they will simply need to input the correct numbers (i.e. hours worked or parts used) and the calculation will be done for them. This simplifies the job for teams and ensures that there are no costly calculation errors.

Many industries rely on barcodes on the job, including industries like Retail, Manufacturing, Construction, or transportation and logistics. Digital forms can include barcode scanning, allowing your teams to submit this information directly from their mobile device or barcode scanning hardware. This feature saves companies time by enabling them to quickly scan codes into their forms without having to manually type 12+ characters into the form field. It also helps reduce errors in data collection, since typing out data manually can often introduce human error. Barcode scanning and QR code scanning is another great add-on to enhance your digital mobile forms.

Creating forms with the option to collect a digital payment is a nice feature for companies that work directly with clients. This feature can help your business get paid faster and simplify the process for clients with seamless digital payments and invoices. Many digital forms on the market today will allow you to connect to a payments platform like Square, so you can capture credit card payments directly from your mobile device or tablet from a customer.

A simple paper form can be time-consuming to fill out all of the appropriate information. When you move to creating your forms digitally, you can also leverage tools for enriching your form field data with information that is already known. For example, you could bring in data from your CRM system, so that a customer’s address is pre-populated in the form, rather than having that filled out by hand. This type of data integration allows for faster form submissions and makes the job easier for employees.

Similar to a scenario where you would want to integrate data into your forms, you may also want to have a data integration set up to take your form submission data and push it into another database. For example, you may have an integration set up with payroll or accounting systems to process invoices or timesheets based on the data that is submitted within a form. This can streamline and automate your business processes, and helps increase productivity for your staff. Consider data integrations when creating forms, as this can be another advanced way to leverage the technology to save your business time and money.

When creating forms, you may also want to take advantage of the ability to assign and collaborate with different people at your organization. Form builders will allow you to dispatch or assign a form to one person at your company and then have a workflow setup to pass the submission to another person to complete their assigned task. This type of collaboration and workflow features within forms, allows you to create forms that can be distributed to multiple people in real-time.

After all of this hard work you have done to collect accurate and rich information through your form submissions, the final step is to make sure you are putting that information into the hands of anyone that needs it. This could be in the form of a report that is automatically sent via email to the appropriate stakeholders, or it could mean using analytics reports to identify trends in your business. A digital form builder allows you to share information in real-time, cutting down the time it takes to create and share reports. Analytics are becoming more widely adopted to spot trends within the submission data to discern patterns.

Another way to create better forms is to use a platform that is built to support compliance. OSHA and HIPPA are two of the common compliance requirements in the US when collecting information. When selecting a platform for creating digital forms, be sure that they can support compliance needs for your organization when handling this critical information. Most best-in-class form builders will have this feature built into their platforms, but it’s an important one to remember when you embark on creating your digital forms.

GoCanvas is a mobile platform that makes it simple for any business to automate how work is done, replacing outdated processes and expensive paperwork. The GoCanvas App works on all smartphones and tablets, helping companies easily collect information across their organization, share it instantly with others and gain real-time insights on their business operations.

About GoCanvas

GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers. 

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

Check out even more resources

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Gown Your Business with GoCanvas Partner Program

Join our Partner Program and gain instant access to our global network of thought leaders and industry experts enjoying shared collaboration and collective success.

Forte Supply Chain Solutions Partner Video

Partner Snapshot: Forte Supply Chain Solutions

Explore how Forte Supply Chain Solutions partnered with GoCanvas, combining in-house industry expertise with our white-label mobile forms to revolutionize their processes.

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GoCanvas Integrations: Streamline your Workflow

Integrate with over 1,000 software applications. Enhance your GoCanvas experience by syncing real-time data to one or all of your business tools.

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What Is a Daily Report in the Construction Industry?

What Is a Daily Report in the Construction Industry?

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As someone in the construction industry, your foremost goals likely include keeping your employees safe and getting your job done right. To achieve these goals, it’s crucial to keep a daily construction report.

If you’re still keeping records with pen and paper, now is the time to transition to the digital sphere, which will make your life easier and your company more competitive.

Before we discuss the ways a daily construction report can transform your construction company’s day-to-day functioning, it’s important to define what a daily report actually is. Put simply, it’s a sheet that describes all the tasks your company is on schedule to complete that day and includes crucial information associated with your current job.

For example, your daily report will note whether it’s supposed to rain or if you need to order certain materials. With a daily report, you can track your progress and have detailed documentation in case anything goes wrong.

Here are a few things that could go on a daily report:

  • The weather forecast: Clouds, snow, rain, and thunderstorms will all impact the job in different ways—for instance, rain will make the ground wet, which could cause timeline delays or postponements.
  • Daily meetings: Logging meetings with vendors, colleagues, employees, and customers is a critical component of thorough recordkeeping. Including meetings in daily reports will ensure that everyone’s on the same page about what meetings are happening and when.
  • Visitors: In the construction industry, it’s vital to keep track of who comes to the job site and when—whether it be inspectors, customers, or third-party laborers.
  • Potential delays: From supply chain issues to site conditions, an array of unforeseen circumstances can impact timelines. If you’re anticipating any delays on the horizon, make a note of these in the daily report. 
  • Productivity: To ensure your team is working hard and performing well, you can use the daily report to keep track of employees’ collective and individual progress.

You’ll Stay Organized… Without the Paperwork

What’s more frustrating than having to hunt through hundreds of pieces of paper to find the document you need? Pretty much nothing. In addition to organizational challenges, the pitfalls associated with pen-and-paper records can include hard-to-read handwriting, version control issues, inability to access information remotely, and the potential for information to be lost due to everything from sprinkler system malfunctions to spilled coffee.

To stay organized without pesky paper, opt to move your daily construction report online and enjoy perks such as:

  • Convenience: With less time spent wrangling paper records, you’ll have more time to manage employees and projects on the job site.
  • Portability: As you move from job to job, your files come with you.
  • Speed: If a customer or colleague needs a certain piece of documentation, you can find it fast.

Being Thorough Is Easier With Automated Processes

Choosing to complete your daily construction report online means having the option to automate your data entry processes. Using smart technology to streamline the process will take the stress off you by removing the potential for error associated with manually entering information.

Stock and Maintenance Management Is Streamlined

Maintaining company vehicles, following device service schedules, and monitoring ever-fluctuating levels of materials can be a full-time job in itself. With online daily construction reports, you can have all your information in one spot, making it easier to determine when something needs to be serviced or purchased. You’ll never go to the job site unprepared, because with an online daily construction report, you’ll know what’s going on at all times.

Your daily construction report should log this maintenance-related information:

  • The frequency of oil changes
  • When brakes, fluids, and tire pressure were last checked
  • Which inspections are coming up, as well as when these were last performed
  • Any leaks or other issues observed
  • Records of prior ownership
  • When deliveries are arriving
  • When you last ordered certain materials

Safety Will Never Go Unchecked

With online daily construction reports, you’ll always know when your equipment needs to undergo maintenance, which will go a long way toward ensuring you have top-notch tools on your job site and eliminating the chance of on-site injuries or equipment failures. 

You can use the audit checklist component of your online daily report to monitor the following:

  • Equipment logistics: Log inspection information about heavy machinery. 
  • Health and personal safety: Note the location and availability of first-aid kits. 
  • Information about electrical wiring: Are the job site’s electrical fixtures in adherence with local guidelines? When were inspections completed? 
  • Fall-related safety measures: Did your crew members follow fall prevention guidelines?
  • Fire-related safety measures: Were fire hydrants and other fire-preventative items readily available?

You Can Keep a Tighter Budget

When you’re running a company, you don’t want to spend money frivolously, so adhering to a strict budget is important. It can be all too easy to deviate from your budget when you don’t have a record of how much things cost or when they were purchased, but an online daily construction report provides you with estimates, price quotes, and more. Plus, you can submit work orders straight from your report, so you’ll know how much things will cost before you call in the troops.

You Can Transition Old Forms Into an Online Format

If you’re used to pen-and-paper documentation, you may be hesitant to make the transition to the digital sphere because you don’t want to lose access to all the information you accumulated manually. Don’t fret if this sounds like you, because you can transfer all your paperwork from past years into your new digital system. Not only will you not have to worry about losing anything, but your information will be on a secure online platform that’s much safer than your file cabinets.

Customer Support Will Always Be There for You

When you’re keeping manual records yourself, you don’t have anyone to call for assistance. This isn’t the case when you use online daily reports, because there is always a support team that can help you navigate challenges and provide answers to your questions.

Using an online daily construction report will help you keep track of logistics and simplify your day-to-day processes. If you’re interested in finding an online daily report program to streamline your business, you’re in luck: GoCanvas is committed to helping business owners digitalize their daily reports. Are you ready to transition to online daily reporting? GoCanvas is here to help you navigate this change. Start today and impact your business for the better. For more information, schedule time with a product expert.

About GoCanvas

GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers. 

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

Check out even more resources

Three inspection workers on job site.

The Ultimate Guide to Quality Control Inspections

Managing a construction project is a complex and stressful process. Among other things, you have to coordinate project team members, materials, and equipment and ensure that contractors are not afflicted by the potential risks and hazards present at the construction site. That said, quality means different things to different people which is why you should…

A man using GoCanvas for the digital transformation of his workflow.

Constructions Digital Transformation

Your competition is finding faster ways to capture data and get critical insights from the field into their existing systems. In short, they’re not going bigger, they’re getting smarter. In this 15-minute broadcast on the construction industry’s digital transformation, find out why the trend is to modernize workflows – and how you can stay ahead of the curve…

A electrician inspecting equipment.

See how VIP Lighting optimized efficiency with GoCanvas

VIP Lighting is a retail lighting and electrical maintenance business that services over 10,000 retail locations all over Australia and New Zealand. Before GoCanvas, VIP Lighting had two separate systems that were impossible to integrate, leading to inefficiencies. GoCanvas made it easy to integrate their systems into single, centralized platform…

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eBook Content – Smarter, Faster, Safer: Improving Safety Compliance with Mobile Technology

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

Introduction

The Problem with Compliance Today 

Compliance: there are many ways we talk about it. A necessary evil, a chore, a struggle, or a critically important part of the business. We all know how crucial it is, to help save lives and keep projects on track.

Whether you are in construction or waste management, there are a variety of things that must be checked, some multiple times a day. Equipment, proper safety gear, and clear fire exits could all be things you check and recheck. A simple oversight such as using the wrong pair of gloves can lead to disastrous consequences.

You may think you have your compliance bases covered. But did you know that manual processes can undermine your safety? They are an inherently bad way of collecting and sharing information. It can take hours or days to get information back to your office. Even then, it can be difficult to understand and be missing crucial information.

Even worse, it takes additional time to enter all this information into your system. A broken piece of equipment, thus, could take hours or days to fix, just because of slow reporting. This lag drains time and money; employees spend time on data entry and filing instead of other tasks. Instead of making decisions, you spend hours collecting and formatting the data just to get an understanding of what’s happening in your business. 

You deserve the bigger picture, especially on compliance. You deserve to get that quickly, with accurate information. You deserve to get it in a way that allows you to make the best decisions for your business. But getting the bigger picture with paper or Excel spreadsheets is costly and inefficient. 

In this guide, we’ll show you how the strategic use of mobile technology can help you save hundreds of hours and get actionable intelligence in real time. With more accessible and affordable options for smartphones and tablets, there are new ways to ensure your work is safe and more productive than ever. 

More than faster work, you’ll get greater insights and stronger record keeping

Chapter 1: How to Think Strategically About Compliance and Technology Today

15 years ago, the iPhone didn’t even exist. How has mobile technology changed the safety industry? Mobile technology has had a huge impact on the safety industry within the past few years.

Today with a smartphone or tablet, an employee out in the field has the ability to conduct and record safety inspections and share their findings faster than ever before. Thus safety coordinators have access to the most current information.

Even if employees are working in an area without an internet connection, they can still use mobile technology to collect and share data. For example, our clients can use GoCanvas in the field and users can sync their data once they regain internet access.

Has technology made compliance easier? Has anything become more difficult in the past 15 years?

Technology has certainly made it easier for organizations to achieve regulatory compliance. Many safety management software systems allow users to quickly and easily generate accurate regulatory reports, such as OSHA 300, 300A, and 301 logs. 

Managers can also use safety management technology to reinforce their employees’ compliance with safety processes. This can be done simply by using the system to schedule email notifications to alert employees to complete a training course or to perform an inspection or corrective action. 

As regulations change, technology makes it easier to update inspections and collect data quickly. Instead of printing off new forms that take hours or days to reach the field, edits can be made quickly to a mobile form, and be ready for immediate use. 

Since 2007, regulations and safety training requirements have increased in complexity, which has made using safety technology even more crucial.

Does technology give companies a strategic advantage? Why or why not?

Technology absolutely gives companies a strategic advantage because it saves their employees time and energy by allowing them to automatically generate required reports and collect data more efficiently than a manual process. A safety inspection done on paper, for instance, could take hours or days to make it to the office. 

In addition, safety management software allows safety professionals to easily track and identify trends in their companies’ reporting, giving them increased visibility into their business operations.

For large work sites, corporate sites, or mobile workforces, safety management technology helps promote consistency in record keeping and reporting.

Still, many companies resist adopting time-saving technology. Why is that?

Change, in itself, is often difficult and professionals may be reluctant to modify their established business practices. In addition, a company must feel not only that a piece of technology will help save time, but also that it will be easy for employees to use.

Moving forward, technology is changing faster than ever before. What strategic questions must companies keep in mind? 

Because technology is advancing at such a quick pace, keeping an eye out for emerging trends has become extremely important. 

Companies should be mindful of how these trends and changes will impact their users’ needs and how they could be used to better serve them. Collecting feedback is a great way to determine the next steps that users would like to see.

How do you overcome barriers to adopting technology?

One specific client ensures their software’s navigation is clear and its design elements are simple and straightforward. They believe that it’s important to work with customers throughout the implementation process to ensure that their specific business needs are correctly assessed, that the software is configured to best suit their organization, and finally, that they are familiar with all available tools and features. 

It’s wonderful if an organization decides to use safety management software, but if they aren’t leveraging all that the technology has to offer, they won’t get the maximum return on their investment.

Chapter 2: Four Ways Mobile Inspections Ensure Better Compliance

The whole point of inspections is to ensure compliance. They help you ensure your work is up to code and your employees are safe.

Here are four ways mobile data collection ensures better compliance:

1. Receive each and every report

Perhaps it got lost on the way to your office. Maybe you go to look up a form later on and just can’t find it. Either way, you’re missing a report. It happens to many businesses. In fact, up to 11% of documents are misfiled or lost. That’s 11% of your time wasted. Worse, lost inspections create a massive liability risk. 

Going mobile ensures you receive every inspection. Every finished safety inspection is stored securely in the cloud. There, you can access each and every data point. 

GoCanvas also makes it easy in case OSHA audits you. With all safety inspections stored in your GoCanvas account, you can quickly retrieve your safety inspections to prove your continued dedication to a culture of safety. 

A mobile data collection ensures your business has all the safety inspection records you need to stay in compliance and give you an accurate bigger picture.

2. Wait, what does this say?

Reading handwriting can be an art. You can have amazing inspectors, but if you can’t read their writing, they might as well have written the information in Latin! 

Mobile data collection allows you to gather that information in a clear and easy-to-understand way. Every inspection has typed text. Easily read it at your computer, or even on the go on a smartphone or tablet. You’ll spend less time trying to translate and more time getting work done.

3. Right time, right place

A safety inspection done on paper can be hard to verify. How can you be sure that it occurred at the appropriate time and place? Some companies have tried to game the system: New York is taking up a case against a business that hired unqualified people to pose as licensed site safety managers. These bad eggs, however, can put additional pressure on other businesses to prove that their work sites are safe.

Going mobile can provide additional information to protect and validate your inspections. Automatic date and time stamps prove when an inspection took place. With one click, you can have GPS capture your location, proving that the inspection occurred at the right location. You can also take photos, providing visual information to back up your inspection. Need a signature? Just sign with a finger or a stylus. 

All of these features provide additional proof that manual processes can’t provide. They create external validation, protecting your business even further. Digital processes keep your business safe and help you gather more information than ever before.

4. No more holes in knowledge

It doesn’t matter how many asterisks or underlines you use; sometimes forms come back incomplete. With forms taking hours or days to come to your office, it’s often too late to go back and get good information. 

A mobile inspection removes this headache. With one click, you can make the fields required. Even if an employee skips a section, they won’t be able to submit their inspection until they fill out the required fields. No more chasing down employees days later, just easy-to-read and complete inspections at your fingertips. Creating accurate reports relies on having the best data possible. Mobile technology reduces human error and allows you to gather more information in real-time. Say goodbye to illegible handwriting, missing paperwork, and other holes in your information. Say goodbye to incomplete information and say hello to accurate, real-time data each and every time.

Chapter 3: How TE3CO Leverages Data Analytics to Unlock Business Potential 

Now that TE3CO has implemented GoCanvas to help with field operations and management, they’re able to save time and money by eliminating manual processes and having data that’s accessible for decision-making.

About TE3CO

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.

The Challenge

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. The business had grown from 3 units to over 140 units across the U.S. and Canada in a short period of time, and the ticketing process had become an “absolute nightmare” in the words of John Kovac, Technology Integration Manager at TE3CO. 

  • Highly complex 
  • Multiple clicks 
  • Manual data entry 
  • Time-consuming 
  • Traceability was difficult

The Solution

TE3CO partnered with GoCanvas to simplify its ticketing process and increase efficiency: 

  • Minimize rework and ensure accuracy by automating data entry 
  • Streamline data collection through one database 
  • Identify bottlenecks and improve process efficiency with data analytics 
  • Spend less time on reactive admin tasks, allowing more time to focus on a proactive growth strategy

“The ability to fill out field tickets real-time, have the customer sign real-time, and be able to track it from its fruition through the final process was absolutely game-changing for our company,” said Kovac. “It used to take until the 15th or 16th of the following month to close out every ticket for the month, averaging approximately 85 to 90 tickets a month. Now, we’re able to have the month closed by the first or second using such things as workflow and being able to follow it from beginning to end.”

The Impact

Now that TE3CO has implemented GoCanvas to help with field operations and management, they’re able to save time and money by eliminating manual processes and having data that’s accessible for decision-making. 

“Once our technician fills out the ticket, there’s no more transferring of data. GoCanvas handles all that,” Kovac said. “Using reference data and integration data, you can have everything in a dropdown, so every person is filling out all the generic information the same way.” 

Software for the field service industry has the potential to make a significant impact on overall efficiency and productivity. Ensuring data is consistent, standard, and accessible can enable organizations to make more informed decisions. 

“I have five apps that are being brought into analytics. From there, I can break that down by district, by camp, by company – once it’s in, you can drill into it as far as you want to,” Kovac said. “The world is at your fingers, and the more information you can get for one of your customers, the better it is.”

Leveraging software built for the field, TE3CO has found they’re able to:

  • Free up 20-30 man-hours/month 
  • Save ~$60,000/year in resource efficiency 
  • Identify leading indicators in 10 minutes vs. three days 
  • Track tickets in real-time ticket 
  • Reduce billing time 

“There’s so much that you can do when you have the proper information to know that you’re running your company properly and that you’re charging properly and taking care of your customers properly,” Kovac said. 

How GoCanvas Analytics Works

GoCanvas Analytics provides a seamless solution to report on submission data, visualize what’s happening, and distribute your findings throughout your organization. Drill down into one facet of your business or keep track of everything in a high-level view. Uncover trends and make data-driven decisions that result in improved productivity, cost savings, and increased revenue.

Chapter 4: 9 Common Misconceptions About Safety and Environmental Mobile Inspections

Working with thousands of companies, we know there can be a lot of confusion and misinformation about mobile data collection, especially for safety and environmental inspections. Below are ten of the most common misconceptions we hear and how mobile inspections actually work.

Misconception #1:

Our employees are not technically savvy. They rarely use or even send an email. We like the idea, but it will be too hard to implement here.

Over the past couple of years, GoCanvas has worked with thousands of organizations both large and small. Many of our customers are in safety positions. The beauty of mobile data collection with custom digital forms with GoCanvas is that it can be as easy as you’d like. You can create mobile forms as simple as our vehicle inspection form or our environmental controls inspection checklist. Your employees can have a digital experience that is simple, fast, and painless. 

Admittedly, some of our customers have had hesitation in this transition but were able to get through this. Their advice to other companies includes:

A. Start with a test group

Companies often use our free trial period to test out their digital data collection for any potential issues. Often, they will start with technologically savvy users and their complete opposites. Even during the trial, employees start seeing that GoCanvas makes their work faster and easier. Employees begin approaching management and ask to go mobile!

B. Integrate with your back-end system

People love easy-to-use technology. With GoCanvas, it’s easy to integrate your data with backend safety software and remove the job people hate most: data entry. One New England client says it best: 

“When employees get used to finding the data easily, they will ask, ‘Hey, what about this other safety checklist?’”

Not only will this mean your employees are free to do other tasks, but they also become advocates on your behalf.

Misconception #2:

We use a lot of different devices: Android tablets, iPhones, and even Blackberries! It’s just too complicated to deploy for our business.

This is a common concern, especially if you have been looking at custom mobile app development. Often, this will lock you into one platform, and can be difficult not only with a range of devices but also limits your future mobile strategy! 

With GoCanvas, we want to help you do business your way. So our platform works on iOS, Android, Blackberry, and some Windows devices. If you need a rugged device or a large tablet, you can still enjoy an intuitive and easy inspection experience with GoCanvas.

Misconception #3:

My team writes faster than they type. This will slow down our processes further.

Our data collection process can bypass the need for typing in several ways to make your inspections or surveys even faster. They include:

  • Drop-down lists: providing a range of pre-written answers to fill in
  • Checkboxes: click once, and all done. 
  • Reference data: add your own information such as equipment information or location- or client-specific data, into forms to make your inspections faster and more accurate. 

On top of these powerful features at GoCanvas, many smartphones and tablets have the talk-to-text ability. So even if your users have to fill in descriptions, they can talk into their device, and it will transcribe for them.

In all, most of our customers find that mobile data collection takes less time, has fewer errors, and also allows them to capture more information than ever before.

Misconception #4:

I have team members in places where they can’t get the internet or Wi-Fi, so going mobile won’t work for our business.

This is a common issue for companies. GoCanvas understands that lots of companies have workers in remote places. Internet isn’t always available, especially in the safety industry. 

With GoCanvas, you don’t need to be connected to the internet to fill out forms. Once you have access to the internet, all your forms will be automatically submitted to the cloud.

Misconception #5:

We use many different carriers. I don’t have the time to figure out how it would work with each one.

Our emphasis on flexibility and ease of use has meant that we work with various carriers. We can work with any carrier in any country. We have customers in California, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and even Singapore! Our customers live and work in over 60 different countries and use over 100 different carrier networks. 

Wherever you are, whatever network you use, GoCanvas can work with you.

Misconception #6:

I like capturing data on mobile devices, but I don’t need information in the cloud. I need to integrate it into our other systems.

Being able to collect and store data quickly and efficiently is great, but we go far beyond easy information collection at GoCanvas. We have an open API, which allows customers to integrate their GoCanvas data with almost any software or database.

You can integrate with:

Google DriveGoogle Calendar
Google SheetsDropbox
SMS Text NotificationPDF
Quickbooks DesktopQuickBooks Online
SignNowHubSpot
SQLAsana
SlackSalesforce
SharepointMicrosoft Teams

Misconception #7:

I’m too busy; I don’t have time to implement another program.

Transitioning to GoCanvas isn’t like other programs. Change an app and use it within the same hour to a prebuilt template and test drive it right away. No matter what industry you’re in, we have something to help you get started today. 

With years of helping thousands of companies transition, we’ve seen many companies fully implement GoCanvas well within the first 30 days. 

Misconception #8:

Building a mobile safety inspection app? I don’t have time to learn how to do that.

Our solution builder is simple to use. You don’t need to learn any coding or any HTML. Simply drag and drop the features you want. You can have a simple custom option in five minutes, or a more powerful data collection process in under an hour.

Still don’t have the time? No worries, we can convert your form for you. We’ll convert your first form into a custom option for free. Through the whole process you’ll have a point of contact keeping in touch, and ensuring that our solution fits your needs. Our product specialists are available via phone and email. We are always happy to answer any of your questions. 

Misconception #9:

Digital data collection will mean a strain on our data costs, making it

What kind of information will you be gathering? If you will be using simple text or checklists, our forms are as light as an average email. That’s light for data, and probably won’t affect your data costs. 

Want to use images or GPS? That can cause some additional use of data. However, GoCanvas is flexible and you can use it on Wi-Fi or offline. That can help reduce your use of data in the long run.

Conclusion

Compliance will always be a crucial part of your job. The rules and regulations aren’t going away. If anything, they’re becoming more complicated than ever. Today, you can make it easier for your company to gather, collect, and visualize this data. Digital transformation allows you to collect and use this information in real-time.

Unchain yourself from manual processes and start saving time and money today with GoCanvas. Send us your first form, and we’ll convert it into a mobile version for free.

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.

Check out even more resources

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eBook Content: Unleashing the Power of Data Analytics

Unleashing the Power of Data Analytics

Introduction:

The digital transformation of the commercial construction industry shows no signs of letting up.

The pandemic has seen to that in ways no outside force ever could. According to McKinsey, “companies’ adoption—and the strategic importance—of digital technologies accelerated dramatically” since the pandemic, with 9 in 10 C-level and senior leaders reporting that their organizations had pursued “at least one large-scale digital transformation” between 2020 and 2022.

This may not be news to you. It’s likely your company has made its share of large and small digital bets. But the expanding flow of data raises some interesting questions:

  • How are you harnessing your database? 
  • How could data analytics better support decision-making? 
  • What steps can you take — right now — to advance your analytics?

This playbook examines the quickening pace of digital automation in the construction industry and the insights that transformation represents through real-time analytics.

Chapter 1: A Better Way to Measure and Manage

The Problem.

If one thing clearly signals the demarcation between analog and digital, it’s paper. The goal of any construction firm should be the elimination of most if not all, paper-based processes.

Why?

  • Difficult to capture and analyze data. 
  • Uncertain accountability and challenges with version control. 
  • Data sharing and collaboration are 
  • fractured and/or limited in scope.
  • No single source of truth.

The Solution.

Fortunately, these concerns are fading fast thanks to mobile form data gathering. Perhaps you’ve already integrated the technology into your workflow. Mobile forms make it easy to convert a paper process into a smartphone or tablet-based equivalent, vastly simplifying timely data collection.

Other benefits include:

Improved Productivity: Information gathering, reporting, and storage happen automatically.

Better Team Collaboration: Information can be distributed across the team in real-time.

Fast Data Collection: No transit issues with paper. Electronic dispatch eliminates bottlenecks.

Sustainability: No paper, no trees.

Easy Creation: No coding skills are required. Adapt downloadable templates or create from scratch with drag-and-drop simplicity.

Higher-Quality Data: Use conditional logic and workflow rules to lift information quality and enforce procedures.

Other Media: Allow visual data such as images, sketches, and maps to enhance reporting.

Online or Offline: Data can be entered in off-the-grid locations for later submission.

A Mobile Form Design Primer.

Mobile form simplicity ensures design requirements are few and basic. Readily available templates may also solve your mobile technology needs.

  • Use drop-down lists: Minimize typing, simplify choice, and make it easy to respond with a quick tap from a drop-down list.
  • Large Submit Button: The submit button should be unmistakable. Make it as large and inviting as possible.
  • Only Essential Fields: The fewer the fields, the better.
  • Test. Test. Test.: Make sure your form works across all devices

Advantages of Mobile Forms: Simplification, Convenience, and Enhanced Security.

Few in construction today will debate the merits of mobile forms. Anyone who has had their life simplified with a few taps will swear by mobile form technology. Initial grumbling quickly fades as superior convenience smooths the compliance path. Project coordinator Dave Cramer of Penn Line, an employee-owned infrastructure company based in Scottsdale, Pennsylvania, said, “Mobile form acceptance is remarkable. People immediately see the value.” Data gathered from mobile forms also mitigate another business concern: security. Cloud-based servers offer data security without the dangers of paper-based mishaps (lost, stolen, destroyed, etc.) and also support confidentiality.

For example, mobile forms are now available that offer security at a HIPAA certified level, which includes:

  • Auto-logoffs and session timeout to prevent information leaks due to lost or unsecured devices 
  • Disabling auto-email features to prevent accidental disclosure of sensitive information
  • Increased usage of logging and checksums to validate data has not been manipulated

“Mobile form acceptance is remarkable. People immediately see the value.” 

Dave Cramer, Project Coordinator at Penn Line

What happens to the data gathered through a mobile form? Data can be immediately available to customers, colleagues, and/or partners.

It’s up to you.

Website: All data is stored and searchable on the mobile form service provider website by registered users.

PDF: Fill-in-the-blank convenience and easily emailed as a PDF.

CSV: All data can be exported in a CSV file for analysis.

Web services: Connect your system to the mobile form service provider for automatic data display.

Integrations: With cloud-based services such as Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Evernote.

Chapter 2: Analytics: On-the-fly Visibility and Insight

Analytics is a seamless way to visualize submitted data in a near real-time environment. 

A credit score, to cite a common example, is a data analytics report. The credit score integrates data points to reveal a composite picture (the score) of an individual’s credit risk.

Similarly, construction industry analytics is a way to identify data patterns that can adversely or positively affect your business.

Take job site safety. You may have teams spread across many locations and want to stay current on safety conditions at each job site. An analytics dashboard can be displayed showing the location, the topics addressed in a toolbox talk, when the talk occurred, the frequency of the talks, and which workers signed off on attendance. You can also track job site incidents by time, place, what happened if it resulted in a talk, and if it could have been prevented.

Enhancing safety and efficiency through analytics and real-time visibility.

You may also want to track a worker’s safety record by incident type, frequency, location, and such. Analytics allows you to visualize diverse datasets and easily discern patterns. Considering that nearly 1 in 5 workplace deaths occurred in the construction industry in 2021, real-time visibility into safety data has the potential to save lives.

For example, GoCanvas, an industry leader in construction industry mobile forms management, reports that its users reduce risk and liability by 18%.

GoCanvas reports that its users reduce risk and liability by 18% 

Of course, analytics can be applied to any area where data is collected.

“We give our field people real-time visibility into the data they’ve harvested with a production summary,” Cramer said.

“Each row represents a mobile form submission. If the field supervisor wants to look at it or the foreman who submitted it, it’s available to whoever we share the sheet with. It’s very organized. We actually share this with our customer, too, which is a PennDOT inspector.” 

In short, there is a single version of the truth.

“We give our field people real-time visibility into the data they’ve harvested with a production summary.”

Dave Cramer, Project Coordinator at Penn Line

Analytics can range from bar/column charts to more complex visualizations. Reports are customizable to best reflect organizational needs.

Other analytics and reporting functionality include:

  • Email alerts are sent to select staff when metrics rise or fall beyond a preset threshold
  • Scheduled email reports that share metrics and trends throughout the organization
  • Filtered, high-level views of the business that the user can drill down with point-and-click ease

Chapter 3: Use Case Study Organizational Transformation

Not so long ago, the billing unit of an $80 million business group within Penn Line relied on the U.S. Postal Service for timely billing.

“Our folks in the field submitted all billable work on paper. It was very slow. The reports were typically mailed on Saturday, reflecting a week’s work. Days, even a couple of weeks, might pass. It wasn’t a good situation,” Cramer said.

All that changed in 2017, when Cramer visited a customer in California. “Our account manager there showed me a mobile form built by our customer. It was a eureka moment. I knew on the spot this was exactly what we needed,” Cramer recalled.

65 Mobile Forms Later

That night in his hotel room, Cramer jumped on the GoCanvas website and signed up for a free trial account. “I started playing with it. When I returned to headquarters, I announced this was the reporting tool we’ve been looking for.” Cramer could already visualize a safety audit and pre-trip checklist forms. Simple stuff, but plenty to demonstrate proof of concept to others.

Now jump ahead four years and 65 active mobile forms later…

No Code. No IT. No Worries.

“The funny thing is, I’m the primary GoCanvas mobile form developer, and I have no application-development background whatsoever. I just happen to be a process freak. I like workflow automation. The other thing is, IT has never been involved. They’ve been encouraging and helped administer a couple of security matters for me. Other than that, it’s all self-service,” Cramer said.

“By moving to electronic submission, it’s cut at least a week off the calendar. Some contracts required us to submit photos of finished work. Our foreman used to have to take pictures and get hard copies developed at Walmart and mail them off with a report. It’s easy to see why foremen and supervisors have adapted so quickly to our system.”

Dave Cramer, Project Coordinator at Penn Line

Remarkable Visibility.

He described how another mobile form replaced an entire notebook and pencil that was handed to the foreman to complete daily. The team is grateful for a streamlined workflow. So much, in fact, “I now get frequent requests to come up with new ways to fill in the blanks,” Cramer said.

Perhaps the biggest inflection point on Cramer’s GoCanvas journey was Analytics:

“We’ve never had a way to offer an analytic view of our field operations. We’re now engaged in an $18 million job, the largest contract in the division’s history. It involves 1,151 work sites. The mobile forms help populate a daily or weekly analytic report that anybody from the president on down can view in real time. It’s remarkable visibility we never had before.”

Digital First.

In fact, Cramer’s collaboration with GoCanvas was so successful that he was asked to present his mobile form strategy to senior leadership with an eye on expanding his paper-free ideas across the entire organization.

Chapter 4: Measure to Manage

Unleash Data Insights for Confident Decision-Making with GoCanvas.

No executive can claim too much insight, especially in construction. Imagine having the kind of decision support at your fingertips to confidently answer questions such as:

  • Should we bid on this project, and if so, how much?
  • Are the subcontractor bids reasonable?
  • Is the project about to run into trouble?

The answers to those questions and more may be waiting in your database.

As you continue your digital transformation, keep data analytics resources such as GoCanvas in mind. Look for a partner with the data analytics performance, innovation, and service record to help add a new dimension of business clarity to your planning. 

In addition to improving your analytics, GoCanvas can help you streamline your processes, save money, and spend more time with your customers.

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.

Check out even more resources

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eBook Content: How Digital Can Transform Manufacturing

Transportation workers looking at digital work orders on tablet.

How Digital Can Transform Manufacturing

Introduction

For the most successful manufacturers, technology is not an add-on or afterthought. It’s an integral part of running a company. Technology automates tedious, manual processes, saving you money and empowering your workforce to spend more time making an impact on what matters most to growing your business.

For example, a major global automated systems manufacturer increased quality and efficiency by switching to mobile forms for automated data collection during compliance audits.

In fact, many of your manufacturing peers leverage the GoCanvas platform to increase the business impact of data. By using customized GoCanvas forms that automate mobile data to conduct a range of inspections and audits (even in offline mode!), these organizations are saving time and working smarter to leverage insights in making more-informed business decisions like mitigation of compliance risks.

You, too, can transform your business by using GoCanvas.

This eBook will show you how our technology can help your business grow in three key areas:

Safety and Compliance: By harnessing the power of big data through GoCanvas mobile forms, safety checklists, and audits, manufacturers can ensure compliance with state and federal regulations across their entire operation, including OSHA’s myriad regulations for manufacturers (machine guarding, lockout/ tagout, electrical hazards, personal protective equipment) to avoid worker injury and big fines.

Standardization: By switching to GoCanvas mobile forms and tapping the analytic power of big data, companies can achieve standardization in daily operations through automation that simplifies data collection, sharing, and insights generation across dispersed organizations. In this way, manufacturing data is captured, shared, and analyzed… from New York to Sydney. This is useful for incident reporting, maintenance reporting and tracking, audits, and open issue tracking — keeping quality assurance managers on the floor up to date.

Interoperability: It’s not a new concept to manufacturing. Having systems that work with one another — so that data from one machine can be analyzed in the same software as from another machine in a plant halfway around the world — is still something many manufacturers are struggling with. Collecting data in GoCanvas mobile forms and then storing it securely in the cloud to access from anywhere allows scenarios for your company that were previously reserved for mega-corporations. The power of digital is that businesses of any size can gain access to insights previously reserved for “the big guys.”

The maximum penalty for a willful or repeated violation: $132,598.

Chapter 1: Automation

Automate how work is done

There’s not a single step at your manufacturing plant that is unnecessary. Parts need to be welded, machined, and assembled with precision. You don’t waste time with steps that add inefficiency or unneeded features.

But while the way you make your products might be efficient, the way you manage your business – especially reliance on manual, paperwork-driven processes – might not be as efficient as it can be. Tracking maintenance schedules, safety inspections, and quality control checks with paperwork includes too many unnecessary steps. Employees have to lug binders full of blank forms around. Completed forms are filed away in a dusty cabinet and often never found again. Or they’re keyed into a computer system, which takes time and often introduces errors.

Even when paper forms are scanned or retyped, there’s the lack of a “big picture.” The information in those forms could be used strategically: to learn which machines always break down (and should be replaced instead of repaired), to train employees on ongoing safety and compliance issues, or to make process improvements.

If only the information wasn’t locked into paper or typed into an inefficient system…

Data captured in the field and entered directly into a mobile form is more accurate (no more worrying about illegible handwriting or typing/ entry errors), and it’s richer. Fields can be required — so inspectors and quality control agents can’t skip a section (either by accident or on purpose) — and you can also include photos. Not only is data collection standardized, there’s no longer any need to worry about or spend lots of time looking at manual checklists.

Some fields can be prepopulated: think timestamps, geographic coordinates, and more. This saves time and keeps data in a standard format. 

As soon as the form is submitted, you have access to it back in the office or at any other plant around the world. That data can be sliced, diced, and arranged on dashboards so that the global team can spot issues such as safety hazards on the manufacturing line or equipment repair bottlenecks and make informed decisions to resolve them as quickly as possible.

Moving to Mobile for Data Access

A major flooring manufacturer frequently audits manufactured products and raw materials for defects, warping, breakage, and other flaws. The company’s reporting did not offer the transparency and visibility they desired, and quality and ease of distribution were issues. This company needed better and quicker access to its data than it could get from paper forms.

It recently implemented GoCanvas in one of its facilities. It used the GoCanvas Mobile Forms Builder to digitize its processes and “automate” the creation of easy-to-use digital forms. Now, using barcode scanning on each pallet as well as on each individual item, inventory and defect data now flow into a database.

Summary reports in Microsoft Excel with charts, bar graphs, and more are pulled out, turned into PDFs, and forwarded to compliance managers three times a day. More detailed reports are available if issues are identified, and GoCanvas-designed custom dashboards are available for higher-level analysis.

The model is being launched in one plant but is designed to scale so that it can be implemented in the company’s other plants around the country. 

Manufacturers are subject to a range of OSHA regulations, which seem to be constantly changing.

Chapter 2: Compliance

Here are three key areas in which GoCanvas is already transforming manufacturing.

Compliance

Manufacturers are subject to a range of OSHA regulations covering equipment safety, protective work attire, warning signs, and other worksite and reporting requirements. Federal safety regulations are constantly evolving; for example, OHSA issued new guidance and an enforcement initiative in 2021 regarding worker exposure to indoor and outdoor heat hazards.

OSHA continues to maintain rigorous enforcement of safety regulations; major manufacturers continue to be routinely cited with fines for OSHA violations and worker injuries, indicating that the agency is taking preventable errors very seriously,

  • On October 27, 2022, OSHA issued a $1,232,705 penalty to an Ohio vinyl tile manufacturer in response to a worker suffering severe injuries as a result of being caught in a machine. The plant where this incident occurred has been in a “Severe Violator Enforcement Program” since 2017.
  • On December 15, 2022, OSHA issued an approximately $300,000 fine to a Texas-based auto parts manufacturer due to ignoring repeated safety concerns raised by workers and exposing them to unsafe conditions, such as a lack of compliance with machine safety procedures. 

$1,232,705Biggest Single Fine So Far In 2022.

Keeping track of all these regulations — not to mention rules and regulations from other agencies — can be overwhelming. But it’s vital to do so to protect your workers and keep your company liability free. One way to do this effectively is with checklists.

Checklists are a key tool in inspections and compliance. As safety supplier New Pig puts it, “Checklists break down complex plans into manageable action steps. Well-written checklist questions guide whoever is using them, and allow them to complete the audit quickly and effectively. Checklists can also help whoever is using them to come to a concrete answer for each question by removing the chance for judgment calls: it’s either yes, no, or a measurement.”

Checklists are a key tool in inspections and compliance.

You can use checklists for any safety audit or compliance issue. This eliminates the need to store paper records or re-key forms into a computer due to missing, illegible, or disorganized paperwork. By using mobile forms, there is no need to worry about or waste time with paper checklists. Since they are stored in the cloud, they can be accessed immediately if an OSHA inspector shows up, eliminating the need to go hunting for inspections in filing cabinets.

GoCanvas customizable standard mobile forms help you spend less time on paperwork and automate your safety procedures related to some of the most common OSHA regulations:

A good platform will help catch compliance errors and violations as they happen and let employees document the fixes they made at the time.

It will also integrate compliance with process management, according to consulting firm AT Kearney. This means that you won’t keep seeing the same issues come up over and over again, because you have data to ensure that your processes can change and adapt.

Chapter 3: Standardization

Imagine life without standardization. Suppose every car had a different-sized opening for the gas pump, or if every lumberyard sold pieces in whatever shape they liked. Getting gas or building a house would be much more complicated than it is today.

Standardization is often derided as stifling innovation, but the truth is more complicated. If a process is written down and standardized, it becomes routine — which frees up employees to innovate in other areas. This is because standardization helps improve efficiency by focusing work time on the most important tasks as redundant and distracting administrative tasks can be eliminated.

And standardizing side processes that are only indirectly related to making products can result in huge savings in time. Why wouldn’t you want to collect data from machines in the same format, or conduct safety or quality inspections in the same way across all of your many plants?

But according to research firm LNS, more than half of executives (55 percent) say their quality metrics aren’t effectively measured, and almost as many (47 percent) say they have too many systems to measure quality. Clearly, there’s room for improvement.

According to research firm LNS, 55% of Executives say their quality metrics aren’t effectively measured.

Standardization of manufacturing work processes is part of the movement to lean methodology and, according to a post by SafetyCulture, enables “cuts down on waste, ensures constant uptime, and boosts efficiency within the organization.” One of the central benefits of standardization is improved safety as documenting and communicating the specific, appropriate ways for workers to complete work tasks minimizes distractions and promotes adherence to safety protocols.

With a standardized system to measure quality and process improvements across plants, data can be captured and analyzed across all facilities.

Data collected via the GoCanvas analytics solution is automatically uploaded into a SQL database or Excel spreadsheet to create a custom dashboard where data can be analyzed almost instantly to identify efficiencies and mitigate safety hazards at all your plants/worksites.

By establishing a standardized process, “Organizations are better able to identify standards that are not being adhered to or adopted, as well as when and where to take corrective action. Such a system simplifies and consolidates these critical processes to provide real-time insight across plants, geographic regions, and suppliers,” according to a Sparta Systems white paper.

Kevin Prouty, research director for Enterprise Applications at Aberdeen Group says that mobile inspections allow companies to add discipline to standard processes.

“Before, you might have suspected not every item was being inspected. Now, when inspections are performed using a mobile device with a bar code scanner, you know when steps are skipped. It enforces discipline in the process.” – Kevin Prouty, Research Director for Enterprise Applications at Aberdeen Group

Manufacturers must comply with strict safety and quality compliance regulations. Using a mobile app increases the accuracy of data that is necessary for quality checks and OSHA compliance checks. The inspection process is much simpler and smoother.

Chapter 4: Interoperability

Interoperability is not a new concept to manufacturing. Modern manufacturing relies on the idea of using interchangeable parts that work with one another — and that idea dates all the way back to Eli Whitney and his muskets in the early 19th century, or maybe even earlier.

But having systems that work with one another — so that data from one machine can be analyzed in the same software as from another machine in a plant halfway around the world — is still something many manufacturers are struggling with.

“Major problems remain with respect to the interface between the enterprise corporate level and the manufacturing shop floor level,” wrote researchers Hervé Panetto and Arturo Molina.

For those who embrace technology, there are huge gains to be made.

– James Kember, Industry Analyst

Some industries, particularly that of small businesses, are limited by size and funding capabilities, but with higher efficiency due to the interoperability, standards can allow for those limitations, even work with them better. This allows smaller businesses to maximize the use of property to achieve higher levels of production with fewer personnel. Many factories are using a third less space to accomplish the same thing that they previously needed far more space to do.

Kember adds that the factory of the future “may look a good deal different than what many of us are accustomed to seeing. Personnel moving here and there, machine noise, and shouts for assistance on a given machine may all be factors that are missing in the near future. The shop floor of yesterday, replete with dozens of personnel necessary to operate the machinery may be gone, replaced by just one or two people who are carrying a tablet computer or a small hand-held device that can offer them all that they need to know about what’s happening on the factory floor.”

Interoperability allows smaller businesses to maximize the use of property to achieve higher levels of production with fewer personnel.

Leading manufacturers, says IBM Global Business leader Dave Lubowe, are increasingly transforming operations with big-data analytic approaches that simulate “what if” scenarios. “For example, what if we closed this warehouse? Or assigned this customer to a different distribution center? What would be the impact on service levels, inventory levels, CO2 output, and profit and loss? Before you take a step, you can do the simulation and basically get an automatic business case.”

With data available from every machine in every plant, stored securely in the cloud, and accessible from anywhere, these scenarios aren’t — the power of digital is that businesses of any size can gain access to insights previously reserved for “the big guys.”

Real-time data collection and insights that enable you to spot trends and make informed decisions are available to manufacturing organizations of all sizes. For example, you could customize an inspection checklist with all the data you need (and none you don’t). The results of the inspection — who conducted it, what they found, and what, if any, anomalies were corrected — are automatically and instantly uploaded to the cloud, where they’re stored securely. You can use this data, presented in easy-to-use dashboards, to determine which machines are most likely to fail. Quality data and customer returns can help you trace faults back to the machine that caused them.

Purchase orders can be sorted and tagged — imagine being able to tell at a glance that 70 percent of your orders came from one geographic location.

What’s the Future?

See how GoCanvas can transform your manufacturing business by automating tedious, manual processes so you can spend less time on paperwork and more time growing your business. Our user-friendly digital solution lowers costs, minimizes compliance risks, and empowers your people to work smarter.

For manufacturers big and small, mired in manual, time-consuming processes and paperwork the future clearly lies in digital transformation. Those who are slow to adopt, or worse, ignore the trend and remain mired in the paper, risk falling behind the competition — quickly. Don’t wait to optimize your business through an automated digital solution.

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.

Check out even more resources

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eBook Content: 4 Ways Technology Helps Retailers Thrive in The Modern Marketplace

4 Ways Technology Helps Retailers Thrive in The Modern Marketplace

Introduction

If you own or operate a retail store, you know that today’s shoppers take advantage of technology in order to find the best shopping experiences and prices.

Every customer who walks in seems like an expert with a pocketful of coupons. They’ve done their research and downloaded their discounts ahead of time. Then, after pulling out their smartphones, they start scanning barcodes. Finally, when they find a cheaper price online somewhere, they demand that you make a deal and match that price, or they’ll take their business elsewhere.

It often feels like consumers are now in control. With just their smartphones and a few minutes, they can find the best prices, the best products, and the best services.

However, that’s not much truer today than it’s ever been. Shoppers have always had the upper hand because they’ve always had the option to walk out the door.

To succeed now, retailers need to change strategies and “fight fire with fire.” That is, they must use technology themselves to meet customers’ demands: discounts, deals, convenience, and an “experience.”

Technology, Now Essential

This means that technology is no longer an amenity — it’s a core part of your business and essential to turning those smartphone-wielding shoppers into customers and gaining an edge on your competitors.

Retailers need to use technology to meet customers’ demands: discounts, deals, convenience, and an “experience.” 

There’s a lot of money at stake here

According to a recent study by Cisco, implementing technologies like mobile-enabled shopping, interactive signage, and improved delivery systems could lead to a 15.6 percent improvement in profitability for a large, national retailer. 

Whether you’re a national or regional chain or a mom-and-pop store, these sorts of gains are attainable for any size retailer.

Of course, operating a retail store involves more than customer engagement. You have to move inventory, forecast trends, and document sales histories. You also have to make sure the HVAC system functions properly and the bathrooms are clean. And especially since the advent of e-commerce and then the Great Recession, you know that efficiency is king in your marketplace.

Technology, including mobile apps and point-of-sale (POS) software, is the way to solve many of these challenges. Yet knowing where to start — and what tools to choose from the burgeoning tech marketplace — isn’t easy.

To help, this eBook walks you through four ways to use technology to improve your store’s operations, your efficiency, and, ultimately, your bottom line.

You’ll find practical solutions for using technology to achieve these essential goals of modern retailers: 

  • Prepare for and pass inspections 
  • Fulfill orders and deliveries 
  • Manage and motivate employees
  • Engage customers

Chapter 1: Prepare For And Pass Inspections

For a long time, small retailers operated largely off the radar of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). After all, most small retailers don’t have many hazardous materials or heavy equipment on hand. Moreover, they don’t perform dangerous activities, like welding, on-site.

That began to change as recently as 2010 when OSHA and other regulators came to realize the sheer number of people who work in retail operations — nearly 10 percent of the U.S. workforce — and the devastating consequences of unsafe working conditions. In 2010, two years after a worker was trampled to death by a mob of shoppers during a Black Friday sales event, the Department of Labor launched a campaign focused on improving crowd management in major retail stores. This was followed by regulations to protect late-night retail workers from workplace violence, and most recently, in 2015, the tightening of occupational injury recordkeeping and reporting requirements for retailers in a number of areas, from automotive dealers to specialty food stores. 

Today’s retailers are evaluated on everything. 

Federal, state, county, and municipal inspectors inspect retail operations for illness and injury prevention plans and emergency evacuation plans. They also seek to make sure your establishment is in line with regard to policies on fire prevention, ergonomics, electrical safety, ladder use, corridor and walkway accessibility, and sexual harassment. And that’s just a start.

Today’s retailers are evaluated on everything from whether exits are properly marked, illuminated, and unobstructed, to how employees handle food and hazardous chemicals, whether floors are free of hazards, and whether proper signage is displayed when floors are wet.

How can technology help? What technologies work best?

Simple but Smart Solutions

Technology has a reputation for being costly, time consuming, and complicated. But it doesn’t have to be. Considering that your employees likely have varied tech experience, the last thing you want is to give them something they can’t use. That’s why simple solutions like mobile apps, which the majority of employees use on their own, work best.

Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets put information at your employees’ fingertips — including the many safety regulations they need to track and enforce in your store, but might not always remember in the rush of the job. By equipping your managers and employees with something as simple as a mobile safety checklist, you can lower your risk of an essential safety measure slipping through the cracks — and leading to a costly lawsuit or even workers’ compensation claim.

Why checklists? Again, the goal is to keep it simple, and there’s really nothing complicated about a checklist.

Checklists can help you systematically ensure that your safety procedures are clear, effective, and easy for your employees to access and follow. OSHA offers dozens of safety plans from which you can build your own checklists.

But OSHA’s plans are paper-based, and new and increasing regulations make it difficult to get by with paper filing, which requires a staff person to manually key in information from the forms to a computer. In addition, when OSHA inspectors show up at stores, they typically want documentation on the spot — so there’s no time to sift through paper documents. A better option is to turn your paper forms into digital, mobile versions. Software programs (like the one we offer at Canvas) make it fast and easy to create mobile apps, which means you don’t have to know how to code.

Benefits of Mobile 

With mobile safety apps, your data is always available, so store managers can see what safety measures are accounted for, and what still needs to be done. All in all, you’ll speed up and simplify the compliance process, while increasing the accountability of your staff.

With mobile safety apps, your data is always available, so store managers can see what safety measures are accounted for, and what still needs to be done.

It’s a bit like having a whole suite of OSHA safety posters on your tablet or phone, except in this case, the posters are interactive and updatable — and your 21st-century employees are much more likely to use them.

Consider the many ways mobile checklists can improve how you manage safety in your workplace:

  • Completing store and merchandising inspections
  • Identifying risks and alerting folks of them immediately
  • Creating emergency plans 
  • Labeling hazardous materials 
  • Maintaining equipment 
  • Training new employees
  • Preparing for OSHA and local government inspections

Using mobile checklists to manage your safety program can speed up your response time in significant ways. For instance, something as simple as a torn rug can be reported as soon as it’s noticed, with an alert sent straight to your maintenance team. The expedited response time, in this and other cases, can do a lot to prevent unnecessary trips, falls, and injuries. In addition, you’ll have a documented trail to see precisely what happened, when, and how your staff responded.

Meet Core Goals and Objectives 

With store inspections, mobile checklists make the process more efficient and effective, while allowing you to meet core objectives and goals. You can use checklists, for instance, for general inspections of your parking lot, restrooms, HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems, water fountains, and so on. Or you can use them for more specific reasons — like making sure your store is “on brand” with your overall look, feel, and marketing and business goals.

Mobile checklists are easy to update and tailor to your company’s unique needs. By doing so, you’re giving your staff the tools and information they need to do their job well.

Using mobile checklists to manage your safety program can speed up your response time in significant ways. In addition, you’ll have a documented trail to see precisely what happened, when, and how your staff responded.

Chapter 2: Fulfill Orders And Deliveries

Keeping your store in top shape is key for the safety of both employees and customers. But unless you can get your merchandise into your customer’s hands when and where they want it, none of that matters.

Delivery and fulfillment are critical in today’s marketplace, with a company like Amazon.com — almost always the low-price leader — continuously upping its game by promising faster delivery, creating membership programs, and even testing drones for same-day delivery.

But wait, you say, you’re a brick-and-mortar storefront.

However, as global competition and e-commerce heat up, even the smallest local shops are pursuing multiple channels for selling their goods. That means you should be doing a lot more at your store than just point-of-sale purchases.

That includes selling items through appropriate online channels such as Etsy, eBay, and Amazon itself. It also means offering customers innovative ways to shop.

Besides operating an e-commerce space on your website, allow customers to buy online and pick up in the store (BOPIS), which turns your store into a small fulfillment center.

Delivery and fulfillment are critical in today’s marketplace.

It’s all about offering your customers both greater convenience and a better price.

However, the purchase orders and deliveries that come with e-commerce and BOPIS involve a lot of moving parts and logistics, especially in today’s global marketplace, where products are purchased and shipped all the time from one country to the next.

Unfulfilled orders, damaged merchandise, and late deliveries can damage your company’s reputation and result in lost customers. And in-store order fulfillment, once as simple as ringing someone up at the cash register, has become as complex as e-commerce with the advent of BOPIS. There are many technologies, including mobile apps and mobile payments, that can help.

New Marketplace, New Solutions

Still, using the old pen- and paper-based forms that have served retailers so well for decades?

You’re missing out on productivity and cost savings. Mobile forms and purchase orders, for instance, can be automatically populated as your employees complete them. With paper forms, someone has to key in information by hand, transferring that info from paper into the computer, costing money and time, and increasing the chance of errors.

Using mobile apps reduces printing, storage, and distribution costs.

Mobile-based forms are faster to complete and are almost always more accurate. And using mobile apps reduces printing, storage, and distribution costs.

Likewise, mobile forms can accompany your employees on the go, whether they’re straying from checkout to help customers on the floor or attending a local, national, or international market or fair. Showing up at these events with paper-based systems will come across as outdated and put you at risk of losing key information. It will also slow down your processing time for orders and deliveries.

As retailers venture beyond their brick-and-mortar stores, and as they need employees who can fulfill multiple roles at once, mobile payments are becoming another must-have in the industry. Just be sure to choose a payment option that integrates fully with your mobile purchase order app. At Canvas, for instance, our retail apps sync with PayPal, which means you can use them on the go to take orders and collect payments — all in a series of fast, simple steps.

Chapter 3: Manage And Motivate Employees

Your employees are a top asset and represent your business to your customers. They’re also the source of a lot of work for managers and operators. From training and scheduling to managing workflow, ensuring competence, and conducting performance evaluations, there’s a lot to stay on top of and track.

Your biggest challenge might be keeping your employees engaged. According to a 2012 study by Dale Carnegie Training, 45 percent of American employees are only partially engaged — and a full 26 percent consider themselves disengaged. The cost of this disengagement? The Dale Carnegie researchers say that the employee turnover rate is approaching 65 percent — and that businesses in the United States lose $11 billion every year due to all of this turnover.

In the retail industry, turnover rates are notoriously high, especially for part-time employees. In 2014, for instance, 66 percent of part-time, hourly retail workers left their positions, compared with 27 percent of full-time workers, a study from the Hay Group found (as discussed in The Wall Street Journal). What’s more, according to a CNBC report, the majority left for voluntary reasons, such as being unsatisfied with their jobs.

What can lower the retail churn? Higher pay rates won’t hurt, but experts say motivation and engagement efforts are key, too.

There are a few tried-and-true methods to motivate employees and make them more productive, including economic incentives, providing meaningful feedback frequently, and training managers properly. 

Motivation and engagement efforts are key to helping lower retail churn.

Technology as a Solution

The right tools and technologies can help you manage and improve things like employee productivity, motivation, and engagement. For example, mobile POS devices serve as mobile catalogs and cash registers that retailers can use to sell products right off the floor. These small devices come with credit card sliders and merchandise scanners. And they allow individual employees to play the combined roles of sales associate, help desk, and cashier — and store owners to get by with fewer employees.

With mobile POS devices, mobile applications used on smartphones or tablets can help with employee management and engagement in a number of ways:

  • Mobile recruiting apps allow you to screen potential employees for numerous factors, including engagement and personal fit.
  • Management apps give store managers easy access to tips and strategies to improve their skills, helping you avoid one of the biggest drags on employee engagement: bad management.
  • Collaboration apps facilitate communication and teamwork among staff members. Employees can use these apps to create, edit, and share files — and to produce and discuss their own ideas for improving productivity.
  • GPS mobile apps allow you (or your managers or employees) to track where your employees are in the store and what they’re doing, so you don’t waste time searching aisle after aisle when you need them.

In addition to motivating employees, it can be difficult to know which employees are carrying their weight and which ones aren’t. Apps can help you track labor costs and eliminate paperwork in a few important ways, including: 

  • Time cards/sheet tracking 
  • Tracking sales and other meetings 
  • Producing and hosting training guides and checklists
  • Ensuring quality, safety, security, and merchandise inspections

Perhaps the biggest benefits of equipping your team with mobile devices and apps are that your employees will feel armed and empowered with information — and your customers will view your employees as knowledgeable, valuable team members who can answer questions and produce results.

The biggest benefits of equipping your team with mobile devices and apps are that your employees will feel armed and empowered with information — and your customers will view your employees as knowledgeable, valuable team members who can answer questions and produce results.

Chapter 4: Engage Customers

This is Where You “Fight Fire with Fire”

“Customer service” and “customer experience” are no longer enough. Competitive price points aren’t even enough.

In today’s retail world, customer engagement trumps all and is a key to success. According to a 2014 poll by Gallup, in consumer electronics retail, “fully engaged shoppers make 44 percent more visits per year to their preferred retailer than do actively disengaged shoppers.”

While discounts and deals continue to rank highly with shoppers, what most customers want are innovations that make the retail experience more convenient, efficient, and engaging. Ultimately, they want an experience that guides them through and streamlines the process and delivers value at the end.

Customer engagement extends well beyond customer loyalty cards and other discount and refund programs.

How Can You Engage Customers?

Real engagement starts once shoppers enter your establishment. Once there, have an in-store app and your customers will be there waiting. According to a recent survey by Cisco, up to 73 percent of correspondents said they would use a retailer’s app while shopping. These apps serve as a guide to your merchandise, alert shoppers to deals, and help shoppers locate items and pass along online reviews or ingredient lists.

Customers want innovations that make the retail experience more convenient, efficient, and engaging.

The most advanced retail apps function like question-answering robots — but you don’t have to spend that much to start engaging your customers. Here are a few ideas:

  • QR codes: Get your customers to scan these codes with their smartphones and send them a product video, image gallery, or special offer.
  • Mobile payments: Sixty percent of today’s customers are interested in mobile payments, the Cisco survey found. And you’re already federally mandated to update your POS systems to handle pin-and-chip-based credit cards by October 2015 — and do away with swipe-and-sign credit cards for good. Stay ahead of the curve by taking steps now to equip your POS systems with a mobile payment solution, especially one that integrates with your orders (such as the Canvas mobile apps we discussed earlier, which sync with PayPal).
  • Digital receipts: Your customers no longer store receipts in boxes underneath their beds, so why give them something they’re just going to lose or trash? Instead, digital receipts allow you to cut your paper bill, while giving customers a more convenient way to track their purchases. Digital receipts also let you send discounts or rewards right to your customers’ smartphones, where they can immediately post about their purchases on Facebook.
  • Beacons: These transmitters, located around your store, can interact with your customers’ smartphones if they’ve installed your in-store app. They alert customers to discounts and awards.
  • In-store digital signs: Using beacons and in-store apps, these signs can alert customers to deals tailored to their interests, and then guide them through your store. They also can be used to show estimated wait times at your now “smart” checkout lines. This is an expensive proposition, but 77 percent of shoppers would love to see it happen.

In many ways, the scramble of retailers to implement the right tools and technologies is an “arms race” of sorts, with customers using their phones to find better deals — and you using tech to keep them in your store.

The end goal of these tools is to generate engagement and loyalty by being more responsive to your customer’s needs than ever before.

The Time Is Now

No matter the size or type of store you operate, you’re looking to improve employee productivity, cut costs, and bolster your operations and efficiencies. And technology, especially mobile apps that can help you manage inventory, fulfill sales, and engage customers and employees, is mandatory in reaching those goals.

The most important thing to realize is that technology does not stand still and will continue to evolve as customer preferences, shopping habits, and even employee work habits change.

Use technology to interact with and get to know your customers — and to streamline many other parts of your operations, from the way you meet safety compliance to how you track inventory and fulfill orders and deliveries.

Moving these systems from paper to digital will give you data that you can use to make smarter decisions, run your day-to-day operations more effectively, and even build your store’s brand and increase your profits.

At GoCanvas, we offer hundreds of mobile apps created by and especially for modern retailers. Browse our selection of existing apps, let us convert your paper forms into apps, or create your own apps with our easy-to-use technology.

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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eBook Content: State of Construction 2021: 7 Reasons to Prioritize Digital Investments

State of Construction 2021: 7 Reasons to Prioritize Digital Investments

Part 1: Innovate with Technology

Savvy construction firms recognize the need to invest in technology to modernize their business processes. Research from McKinsey suggests that these digital investments “can result in productivity gains of 14 to 15 percent and cost reductions of 4 to 6 percent.”

Despite the compelling business case for innovation, many firms are still hesitant to change.

One possible explanation is that construction firms have a high level of business complexity, making it seemingly difficult to implement operational changes across a distributed workforce. Not every firm has a large budget or dedicated technical resources to take on this type of enterprise-scale initiative. 

An alternative approach is emerging though for contractors that want to innovate and prefer to focus on quick wins that align directly with specific business challenges. Easy-to-adopt software as a service (SaaS) products are helping companies to digitize their operations and create a competitive advantage. 

In the current market, companies will need to innovate to maximize their profitability. Continue reading for an analysis on the state of construction and an overview of the business impact of moving away from paper-based processes.

McKinsey suggests that these digital investments “can result in productivity gains of 14 to 15 percent and cost reductions of 4 to 6 percent.”

Part 2: Improving Work Zone Safety

The ongoing pandemic is affecting the economy and creating uncertainty for construction firms. There’s no shortage of new challenges arising — from rising material costs, decreased demand in certain sectors, and increased competition in the market to name a few.

It’s clear that there’s a great deal at stake and organizations will need to limit unnecessary setbacks going forward. Even without a pandemic, there are several consistent challenges present in the construction industry that affect profitability.

Here are four key findings from industry research that summarize these challenges:

Challenges related to productivity The ecosystem represents 13 percent of global GDP, but construction has seen a meager productivity growth of 1 percent annually for the past two decades. (McKinsey) 

Challenges related to safety While the industry makes up 5% of the workforce, 20% of worker deaths each year occur in construction. (OSHA)

Challenges finding and retaining employees 81% of construction firms report that they are having a hard time filling some or all positions.

Challenges related to quality and rework 9% of the total project cost is closer to the actual total cost of rework—considering both direct and indirect factors combined.

Companies should look to leverage technologies that address these specific pain points, balancing the need to increase productivity, keep workers safe, and deliver quality projects on time to clients. By aligning technology investments with these business objectives, firms can make incremental improvements that help them stay competitive and profitable.

Construction executives continue to have a positive outlook despite these challenges. According to research from Deloitte, “68% of executives characterized the business outlook for the industry as somewhat or very positive” from a survey conducted in 2021.

PART 3: The need for digitization

Contractors have historically relied on paper forms for collecting and storing project data across a distributed workforce. Firms are starting to move away from paper and are instead digitizing as much of their core business processes as possible. Bringing the information online helps organizations in several ways:

  • Reduction of manual work 
  • Elimination of human error 
  • Decreased risk 
  • Greater business insights

Using mobile apps and software, contractors are now able to streamline their workflows and improve the quality of their data. These applications are simple by design but when implemented they can have a powerful impact on transforming how a business operates.

Research from GoCanvas shows that companies who moved away from paper-based processes to digital mobile apps reported:

  • Increased their productivity by 20% 
  • Reduced their risk and liability by 18%
  • Saved 50+ hours per week manually creating critical reports for analytics

Part 4: 7 Reasons to Go Digital and Eliminate Paper

#1. Increase employee productivity

Paperwork is a leading cause of frustration for employees and this turns into lower productivity levels. Mobile apps for contractors aim to digitize all aspects of paperwork on the job, resulting in streamlined workflows and a reduction in manual tasks.

The most common paper-based processes in construction include inspections, incident reports, work orders, and change orders, estimates and logs, reports, and other types of field data collection on job sites.

Anywhere paper is used to collect and share information can be an opportunity to digitize information using an online form instead. Mobile apps simplify the process for staff, bring information online for reporting, and enable automation for completing other tasks and workflows.

Considering the direct costs associated with paper usage and the indirect costs that stem from lost productivity, there is a clear advantage for firms that can digitize.

#2. Standardize how data is collected

Data collection is a challenge for construction companies with distributed teams. Without clear processes and standardization, the result is siloed data that is not consistent and hard to analyze.

With paper forms, there is no reliable way to enforce how data is collected. Apps and software for contractors are designed to simplify field data collection, giving employees a better way to submit data.

Advanced features can require standard inputs so the information for reporting is consistent and complete. This creates an environment where data is an asset and can be used to inform business decisions.

#3. Enable staff with insights and analytics

Contractors can use data to their advantage if they implement data collection best practices. On an operational level, staff can see trends in real-time to understand any potential issues, delays, incidents, or problems that are happening on job sites. At the same time, construction executives are empowered with a complete view of their business and they can make any appropriate adjustments. 

Mobile apps and software enable that collection and empower the analytics and insights needed for greater business intelligence. For construction companies, this means finding opportunities to improve quality and avoid rework, spot lags in productivity, manage safety programs, and much more.

#4. Promote a culture of workplace safety

Safety programs managed on paper are difficult to track. Digitizing these programs allows organizations to have more visibility into safety programs and ensures compliance. Going digital makes it easier for employees to complete training or toolbox talks, and a record of their completion is clearly documented. 

Apps for contractors act as a comprehensive safety management solution. With robust reporting that’s visible in real-time, organizations can address potential hazards and limit OSHA violations and fines.

#5 Ensure data is never lost

There is a greater level of risk when information is stored on paper in filing cabinets. Sheets are hard to find and they can be lost, damaged, or stolen. Digitizing this information will ensure that firms are complying with best practices for record-keeping.

Digital information is securely stored in the cloud and can always be accessed. This helps contractors in case of an audit, insurance claims, legal disputes, and similar instances where sensitive information needs to be accessible.

#6 Increase employee  retention

With a labor shortage and difficulty finding skilled workers, firms need to do everything in their power to retain current employees.

An investment in digital apps and software shows workers that brands are committed to investment in worker productivity and safety, with modern business processes that make their jobs more efficient.

All of this leads to a better employee experience and a positive impact on a firm’s brand and reputation. Firms can’t control the labor market, but investing in tools to improve the job is one opportunity to improve employee satisfaction.

#7 Ensure client satisfaction

An investment in digital technology will bring improvements to productivity, minimizing delays and cost overruns. Streamlined operations ensure smooth processes, a high level of quality in work, and on-time delivery.

In an increasingly competitive environment for work, firms need to do everything in their power to create an advantage. Having modern business processes in place is one opportunity to ensure that projects run efficiently.

Part 5: Key Considerations When Implementing Technology

With the right technology in place, contractors can expect to see a significant return on their investment. But navigating the software and apps marketplace can be difficult with hundreds of solutions available to buyers today.

When starting out, firms should consider starting small by piloting a program that is centered around a single area for improvement. They should focus on making incremental changes and solutions with a fast time to value.

Complex software purchases may be overly complicated for some business types. It may be ideal to find solutions that don’t require a large investment upfront or dedicated technical expertise. No-code or low-code solutions are available that enable non-technical business users to digitize their operations, while also offering a high level of customization to fit unique business requirements.

The final consideration when purchasing technology is to focus on adoption. Different stakeholders in the organization should be included during the pilot program to gain their feedback early on. Once a business case is clearly established and the value proposition is clear to staff, companies can begin to roll out these programs on a larger scale. Some employees will be hesitant to adopt, but communicating how this initiative will impact their job can put into perspective the tangible benefits.

By starting small, focusing on simplicity, and working to gain buy-in from staff, organizations can quickly move from paper-based operations to digital. This approach is easier than an enterprise-level implementation and will prioritize the quick wins that bring immediate benefits to an organization and create a competitive advantage in the market.

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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eBook Content: Construction Technology Trends: 2021

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Construction Technology Trends: 2021

Introduction:

The construction industry experienced an enormous amount of change in 2020 and the disruption will continue in 2021. The industry faced adversity in the form of economic challenges and a public health emergency that continues to put pressure on businesses and the health of workers. This will impact the decisions construction companies need to make to drive growth. 

Research from Deloitte shows the construction industry was better positioned to endure the COVID-19 pandemic due to lessons learned from the 2008 recession. It had better control over its leverage and credit, which provided a buffer against unforeseen economic shocks. However, construction companies continue to face cost pressures for building materials and equipment procurement. Many projects were also delayed and required permits often take longer to make it through the approval process.

However, these challenges present growth opportunities for the construction industry and mid-size companies in particular. Much of this growth will come in the form of new and better technologies, which will help companies work smarter and safer. 

The construction industry added more than $900 billion to the U.S. economy in Q1 2020, which represents the highest level since the 2008 recession. COVID-19 hit hard, however, eliminating two years of GDP gains seemingly overnight. Recovery may be tough, but it’s far from impossible. Below, we explore top industry trends your firm should consider this year, along with solutions to help you utilize them to your advantage.

But all challenges present opportunities for growth. The road forward is starting to become clear, especially for mid-size firms that can’t afford a repeat of this past year’s massive workflow interruptions.

Trend 1: Remote Connectivity

The work your construction business does onsite is inherently hands-on, but that doesn’t mean all your business processes should be hands-on.

Every industry has seen some degree of digital transformation over the last decade, but 2020’s lockdowns really brought one big thing into perspective: it’s going to be the digital-first businesses that survive and thrive going forward.

How does your management team collaborate when they can’t be in the same room? Do you process digital forms remotely or manage project data in one central location when your team isn’t in one place? Inspection forms, work orders, timesheets, and daily reports can all be streamlined with a transition from paper-based forms to digital forms.

Beyond its benefits in a post-COVID world, going digital translates to incredible cost savings for your business. Digital tools can help you:

  • Streamline your sales and marketing processes. Take out rote steps in order to bring in more leads and close more contracts.
  • Cut out inefficiencies and save money on administrative processes. Shuffling paperwork from person-to-person costs your business both labor hours and lost productivity due to manual errors.
  • Hire faster and better. Free up valuable time your hiring team spends on administrative tasks and track applicants with less hassle.
  • Spend less time managing legal issues and compliance. And spend more time growing your business.

Digitization isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a legitimate means to improve the day-to-day functions of your business and grow your bottom line.

If your firm still takes the “paper” in paperwork literally, then you’re doing yourselves a huge disservice. Mobile apps and other digital platforms have taken all of the paper — and even a lot of the work — out of managing the contracts, forms, schedules, compliance documents, and other essentials that you need for your business operations.

Here are a few key areas of the construction industry where digital solutions can simplify operations and save you serious money:

Maintenance Schedules

Keep maintenance inspections accurate by editing checklists, service bulletins, and schedules from a central, digital location. Keeping accurate logs is easier too when it’s done digitally. With the right mobile app, you can take a picture, tag it, and log it for future reference from your phone.

Work Orders

Modern solutions can send job information directly to your workers in the field to reduce downtime. They can also auto-populate data like material lists and customer information, eliminating errors. The ability to collect digital signatures is another way to streamline the end-to-end work order process.

Jobsite safety is critical to positive business outcomes for construction companies. Digital solutions can reduce data loss from lost safety incident reports to improve compliance and keep your workers safe. It also enables real-time intelligence from analytics to alert management of trends that require action.

Labor Management and Timesheets

Log and track breaks, work times, and safety protocols and training from anywhere, ensuring that your labor reports are always up-to-date.

Payment Dispute Technology

The right solution can help you document when work was done, so you get more assurance you’ll get paid for every hour worked. If you use an all-in-one solution, you can go paperless with estimates, invoices, and other critical payment-related documents so you can manage the full payment dispute process digitally.

Trend 2: Employee Safety

On-the-job safety issues can be costly, with injuries and illnesses costing businesses $170 billion a year, according to OSHA. But in 2021, we’re likely to see a much broader definition of what safety looks like — encompassing not just prevention of on-the-job injuries, but enhanced cleanliness protocols and a reduction in the number of workers per job shift.

Some of these measures are easy to account for. For example, expanded cleanliness regulations will require businesses to increase access to hand sanitizer on-site and forbid workers to share protective equipment. However, some increased safety measures will require more comprehensive coordination, and that’s where digital tools and automation can help. Digital tools can help you stay compliant with safety regulations, but they can also help you spot trends or red flags that might lead to costly accidents. For instance, some technology solutions can provide project leaders with instant snapshots of need-to-know information like which pieces of equipment shouldn’t be used because they’re due for maintenance. They can also give you confidence your safety reports are accurate and updated on a consistent timeline.

Automated trackers, forms, and lists help eliminate the guesswork and reduce errors in construction safety programs. Mobile technology and automation can improve safety measures that require a direct response to the pandemic. Use mobile apps to quickly and easily manage crew size and oversee orders of protective equipment. If your firm does temperature checks, you can track and log results digitally instead of manually so you always have access to the data.

45% of the behind-the-scenes work that your business does can be automated

Trend 3: Supply Chain Disruptions

The COVID-19 pandemic caused delays in resources and materials for 75% of U.S. manufacturers. Stable relationships with single suppliers — once seen as a mainstay of good business — will for many be replaced by a larger pool of alliances. This will ensure there is always a supplier ready to step in if a favored supplier falls short on supply.

Supply chain diversification could mean a big change in how your firm typically does business. However, this is a critical step to consider and can make or break your business in the event of future disruptions.

It’s no secret: adaptable firms persist during tough times. An adaptable supply chain will keep your business running through unforeseen disruptions. To start, make a deliberate effort to form new relationships with additional suppliers. This process can take a long time because it requires research, networking, and trust. However, your company will be able to pivot to additional suppliers if disruptions occur. Technology is here to help streamline this process, too. Consider a solution that can automatically populate forms with data you’re collecting about supplies, worksite inventories, logs, and schedules. That data can then be crunched into daily, weekly, or monthly reports that can help you see when a supply problem is coming. 

75% US manufacturers reported delays in resources and materials caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trend 4: Data Science for All

There are two key benefits of data capture and a strong data management program. The first is the ability to look back and understand how you can improve your business, and the other is the ability to apply predictive models to inform critical business decisions. Construction companies that undertake these efforts will realize a large competitive advantage over those who are resistant to change.

The good news is you don’t need a degree in data science to utilize data in a way that improves your business. In fact, you may only need to make a couple of small changes to leverage data in a meaningful way.

Here are the top ways construction companies and other firms are “upping” their data game:

Moving Data to a Centralized, Cloud-based Location

About 13% of a construction team’s working hours are spent seeking out project data and information. That’s a lot of time dedicated to hunting down information. It would be a better use of time if workers focused on quality work, job safety, and innovation. Instead of paper-based data capture or static spreadsheets across multiple computers, successful companies will shift to a cloud-based solution to ensure everyone has the same updated information in real time.

Auditing and Pooling the Data You Already Have

Odds are you collect data from apps or forms already, such as supplier or customer contact information. But does it get stored in one place? Does it get duplicated? Who is in charge of updating it and analyzing it?

An internal audit of your data capture procedures and an assessment of what data is captured will help you understand the scope of the opportunity to transition from paper-based processes to digital ones.

Automation for Easier Data Collection and Handling

We get it: Manual data entry isn’t fun. The good news is about 45% of the behind-the-scenes work your business does can be automated, according to McKinsey. This includes data collection and reporting. 

Once a data audit and capture assessment is complete, you can move your data to a centralized cloud-based platform. From there, you can use more advanced analytics tools to visualize historical trends and use predictive tools to anticipate changes in trends. For example, you may be able to predict when equipment will break down based on historical trends on equipment age, brand, and make. You may also be able to anticipate when you need to implement additional safety measures based on past incident reports. Data loss prevention is another advantage of digital-based solutions as opposed to paper-based forms. Workers may capture the data they need on inspections, work orders, timesheets, or daily reports, but paper forms are prone to be lost. This can cause headaches when it comes to proof of work completed and can result in lost revenue.

13% of a construction team’s working hours are spent seeking out project data and information

Final takeaways:

Digital technology had an outsized impact on the construction industry in 2020 and we expect the pace of change to continue to accelerate. Companies will need to focus efforts on technology-based solutions to cut costs and improve efficiency. It will be critical for them to accept constant change and adjust accordingly. 

Construction companies will need to:

  1. Adopt digital solutions to replace manual and paper-based processes 
  2. Ensure safety and health compliance through improved record-keeping 
  3. Diversify their supply chain 
  4. Take a data-driven approach to decision-making

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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