Sierra National Asphalt Increases Productivity by 50% with GoCanvas

Sierra National Asphalt Increases Productivity by 50% with GoCanvas Mobile Forms

Overview

Industry: Construction, General Engineering
Location: California, U.S.A.
Website: Visit Here

Quick Facts

Saving 845 hours annually in productivity
Eliminated $4,160 in annual paper costs
Seeing a $50,000 Return on Investment

The Background

There is a popular saying that goes “time is money”, and nothing is truer when it comes to the Construction industry. For Sierra National Asphalt(SNA), and their asphalt and engineering experts, they realized they were losing hundreds of hours on a monthly basis due to inefficient data collection processes. This was turning into longer projects, which resulted into more expensive projects, and resulted in a loss on their bottom line. With GoCanvas mobile forms, the SNA work crews are now able to collect and transfer their daily reports right from the work site. Resulting in fewer lost forms, quicker processing of reports, and virtually zero data re-entry by office staff. More time, more money.

The Problem

When the GoCanvas team first met with Sandee Pierce, Administrative Director at Sierra National Asphalt, the goal was not to sell a solution but to understand what parts in the process were breaking down and how they could be made more efficient. The Senior Mobile Application Consultants worked with Sandee and her team to map out a success plan that included fixing the areas in which they were losing valuable time, increasing the speed of billing and invoicing, and increasing the visibility of data across all departments.

The Solution

The GoCanvas mobile platform that was customized for SNA included a dual Timesheet and Daily Report application. This allowed the field users to record both their time and the activities completed on their specific job site.

Sierra National Asphalt took advantage of Canvas’ Reference Data feature by connecting their internal Project, Material, and Employee lists directly to the mobile application. This allows their users to simply select values from a drop-down instead of manually typing data into each individual field. This has significantly cut down on inaccurate, misspelled reports being sent back to the office.

And now, when a report is completed on the field user’s mobile device, all the information is automatically submitted to the office and stored in Sierra National Asphalt’s secure Canvas cloud database for immediate review by the office staff.

“The Supervisors do not have to go to job sites to track down and collect time sheets [anymore]. The reference data and validation tables have reduced the errors that previously caused corrections by the supervisors and office staff,” remarked Sandee Pierce. “Output reports have reduced the time it takes to enter time data into payroll.”

The Outcomes

At the end of the day, it all comes back to the old saying. With the automation of their frontend data collecting and backend reporting, Sierra National Asphalt has recouped over 845 hours in productivity annually since implementing GoCanvas. They’ve cut out over $4,000 in paper costs and saw a full return on their investment in GoCanvas within the first 6 months of deployment.

With the right platform and support, SNA was able to implement a system that is now managing their data, increasing their productivity by 50%, and making them money.

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Karl Storz Saves $115k by Switching to GoCanvas

How Karl Storz Saved $115k by Switching to GoCanvas

The Background

Karl Storz – Endosk o pe, founded in 1945 and headquartered in Germany, is a global manufacturer and distributor of endoscopes, medical instruments, and devices. For the past 70+ years, Karl Storz has been servicing the healthcare industry across the globe with their top-of-the-line medical equipment.

The Problem

But like any company that has been around for almost 8 decades, Karl Storz found themselves holding onto some of the processes of the past. The most problematic of these processes was the act of collecting data with paper. Paper was causing them to run into issues including hours being spent on data re-entry, slow invoicing times, lost or unreadable forms, and the inability to retrieve reports in real-time.

When working with the team at Karl Storz, it was important to fully scope out the process and departments that were being most affected by the slow data collection methods. It was recognized and decided that the Project Management team was being the most affected in their daily work lives and needed a better way to manage/complete their inspections, checklists, and customer-facing documents.

Overall, we identified that the biggest challenges that Karl Storz was facing included the ability to properly manage projects, processing client invoices in a timely manner, and having the ability to review/share reports in real-time. To address these issues, it was important to develop a platform that would encompass all the processes and functionality that were currently missing from their paper-based process. This would include the implementation of features like Dispatch, App Folders, Reference data, and more.

The Solution

A little over a year ago, Karl Storz went live with GoCanvas in order to replace the out-dated data collection processes that were stunting the growth of their business. Karl Storz chose GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for businesses, because of the platform’s ease of use, superior features, and excellent account support. This has led to a mass adoption of mobile technology throughout the business and a full deployment of GoCanvas to their facilities.

“We are getting documents completed faster and more accurately (with GoCanvas)”, remarked Ericka Flores, Karl Storz.

The Outcomes

Since implementing GoCanvas, Karl Storz has seen a huge impact on their organization. With their process now digitized, Karl Storz is now saving 3 hours per workday by using GoCanvas. With those extra three hours per day, operators can now spend time focusing on things that will make the company more money! And since all the information is collected on their mobile device and automatically transferred to their secured GoCanvas cloud database, there are no longer lost or incomplete forms. Managers now retrieve and review forms in real-time, and invoicing can begin right away.

Increasing Organization – Karl Storz has created over 15+ different mobile processes since fully deploying GoCanvas. To help their employees complete the right forms, Karl Storz has utilized the “App Folders” functionality of GoCanvas to help organize everything. They can name these folders by process or project, and place specific mobile forms in these folders to access when they are on their mobile devices or the website. And on the backend, they can now search and export data based on each folder.
Increasing Productivity – Since implementing GoCanvas, Karl Storz is now able to track everything within their business. Everything from inspections, checklists, industry compliance forms, and even customer acknowledgment reports have been turned into mobile forms that can be filled out and shared right from their mobile device. In turn, this has decreased the time it takes to capture, share and analyze all this data on a daily basis. Overall, it has increased their productivity by up to 34%.

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Llewellyn Smith Increases Productivity by 50% with GoCanvas

How Llewellyn Smith Uses GoCanvas to Increase Productivity by 50%

The Background

Llewellyn Smith, founded in 2002 and based in England, has provided on-site technical monitoring of energy efficiency measures in households throughout the UK for almost 15 years. With their dedication to sustainability and productivity, they began looking for a way to solve issues they were running into caused by paper.

The Problem

Prior to finding GoCanvas, all of their day-to-day data collection was being done on paper. Everything from home inspections, site surveys, technical monitoring reports, and even health & safety inspections were all done with pen and paper. This was causing issues not only with the field technicians who were wasting countless hours manually filling out these paper-based forms but also frustrating the office personnel who would have to wait hours(if not days) to receive the final paperwork and re-enter the data into their databases. Llewellyn Smith needed a complete solution that would make the lives of both their office and field crews streamlined and more productive on a daily basis.

The Solution

The Outcomes

Even though Llewellyn Smith was located in the United Kingdom, GoCanvas worked with Dafydd and his team’s schedule to develop an implementation plan to guarantee success no matter the time zone. The goal was to deploy the GoCanvas platform across both the IT and Safety departments in order to upgrade the outdated paper processes within these key areas of operation. Challenges included the slow collection times of invoices, the inability to quickly track/search customer documents, and the inability to generate reports in real-time. In order to address these challenges, GoCanvas went about creating a platform of mobile forms that encompassed Llewellyn Smith’s current data collection processes of surveys, inspections, checklists, and audits into one single database.

Llewellyn Smith has seen a complete transformation in the way they collected, share, and analyze data. Not only does the office receive and analyze reports as soon as the field techs complete them, but they now have a searchable cloud database for all their documents. This new streamlined way of collecting, sharing, and storing data is saving them close to 3+ hours per day. They are now able to reinvest that time into scheduling more appointments that make them more money.

Since implementing GoCanvas 3 years ago, Llewellyn Smith has seen massive benefits across their entire organization:

Real-time Data – Today, Llewellyn Smith captures almost 400+ paperless reports weekly with GoCanvas. Every report is automatically filed in their online cloud database, and a PDF copy is sent to each field technician’s assigned supervisor for review. This has reduced the total number of hours spent on travel, manual data re-entry, and reporting by over 1,000+ hours yearly.
Increasing Productivity – With over 60+ mobile forms created in their lifetime with GoCanvas, Llewellyn Smith has definitely recognized the benefits of going paperless. Since going paperless over 3 years ago, Llewellyn Smith has seen a 50%+ increase in productivity and a net savings of over $400,000.
1,105 Hours in productivity saved annually.
$7,098 saved in paper costs per year.
$139,828 yearly return on investment.

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How a Fortune 100 Retailer Saves Over $1.7M Annually with GoCanvas

Major Retailer Takes the Step to Eliminate Paperwork One Store at a Time

Overview

GoCanvas Apps Used

Facility Walkthrough Checklist
Auto Door Safety Check
Daily PM Checklist
Time Tracking Log
Fire Sprinkler Checklist
Pressure Washing / Sidewalk Inspection

Highlights

2,000+ users across North America
Over 100 custom mobile apps created without IT
Manual data entry eliminated
Average of 3,400 hours saved weekly across all stores
Zero IT involvement

The Background

This retailer, which we will keep anonymous due to competitive advantage concerns, consistently ranks in the top 50 on the Fortune 500 and holds a market cap that exceeds $40 billion. This is a company that is consistently competing against some of the largest companies in the world and constantly looking for an edge in the market. They approached GoCanvas about developing a mobile-based tool that their store supervisors could use to inspect all aspects of their stores including merchandise displays, loading docks, HVAC units, and parking lots.

The Problem

Previously each store used paper-based checklists and inspection reports that staff were required to manually complete 5 times daily. This paper-based process was not only slow, in terms of actually filling out the data, but it was also not conducive for quickly collecting, sharing, or analyzing the data. The store managers would have to collect all these paper forms, hundreds of them by the end of the week, and re-key all this information into their database management systems. Conservatively, this was taking each store manager 2 hours per week to do this redundant work.

The Solution

The major retailer chose GoCanvas in order to streamline their many weekly and daily task lists. Thousands of organizations leverage Canvas’s cloud-based, Android/IOS/Windows-based platform to replace cumbersome paper forms with highly customizable mobile business apps.

The retailer chose the GoCanvas platform based on how dynamic and customizable it was. There was no large upfront investment, and the retailer was able to build their own apps and have them deployed within a couple of weeks. With GoCanvas, subscribers have the ability to design their own apps using the no-code, drag-and-drop builder. For those who prefer not to build their own, GoCanvas provides over 20,000 pre-built business App templates to choose from in their Application Store.

A GoCanvas Senior Consultant worked personally with the retailer to make sure they were familiar with and comfortable with implementing the platform. The best part about the GoCanvas platform is that there is no complex coding or IT knowledge needed. Many companies, including retailers, are turning to internal “citizen developers” to create their GoCanvas apps without the need for the IT department! This helps to speed up deployment and not have to bog down internal resources with unnecessary projects.

The retailer conducted a six-month pilot program of GoCanvas with a small pool of their facility technicians. The pilot was a success, showing boosts of 25% – 45% in both productivity and data capture accuracy. Based on these results, they proceeded to expand the program across North America and to more than 1,700 stores.

The Outcomes

Today, with over 2,000 technicians using GoCanvas throughout the United States and Canada, GoCanvas is used exclusively for all retail store inspections. Each month, the retailer captures and stores over 70,000 digital records using GoCanvas and has saved just over $72,000 by eliminating write-offs. This does not even take into account the elimination of costs such as ordering paper forms, printer ink, filing and storage fees, and wages for data entry staff.

Now with GoCanvas, all the data collected from their 1,700+ stores seamlessly integrates with the retailer’s business intelligence software, Tableau. And since there is no need to re-type everything into the system anymore, they save an average of 3,400 hours per week globally. Since implementing GoCanvas just under two years ago, the retailer has seen gross productivity savings of just over $ 755,000.

Impact

Real-Time Access to Data – The retailer takes all the data collected across their 1,700+ stores and has it pushed into their Tableau business intelligence database instantly via the GoCanvas API so that there is no wasted time. This saves them on average 3,400 hours per week in lost productivity globally.
Rapid App Development & Deployment – With Canvas’ easy-to-use drag-and-drop app builder, the retailer was able to customize their platform and get their pilot group started in a couple of weeks! From there they have built over 100+ different apps to serve the needs of their thousands of locations. This has led to the retailer completing just over 270,000 digital records in just under 4 months.
Technological Flexibility – Previously, the retailer had to work through the IT department in order to make any major changes that involved technology. Now, with GoCanvas, they don’t have to! GoCanvas gives them a platform where they can empower “citizen developers” within the company to develop the platform to fit the needs of the various departments. No coding or IT department time is required.

[Update 5/5/2016] Based on further reporting and analysis of the data, it was found that the retailer is saving on average 2 -3 hours of productivity in each store weekly. Across 1,700 stores, paying their facility technicians an average of $10 – $15, this breaks down to savings of $36,000 a week. Across 52 weeks, this equals savings of just over $1.76M annually!

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Trucking Company Saves $750k Automating Field Operations with GoCanvas

How This Trucking Company Saved Over $750,000 by Automating Field Operations

The Background

This trucking company, which chose to remain anonymous for competitive reasons, has a deep history of providing transportation services for the Oil & Gas industry in the United States. They began the search for a mobile solution due to their overall lack of real-time reporting and inability to track the 24-hour activity of their trucks on the road.

The Problem

Prior to GoCanvas, the trucking company suffered from many of the same issues that plague others in this industry. Slow, lost, untraceable paper forms were making their day-to-day operations a nightmare. Paper forms were not reaching the office 2,3, or 4+ days after the driver had filled them out. Sometimes drivers would neglect to fill out certain forms because they were so time-consuming to complete and turn-in. This resulted in the managers at the trucking company having very little visibility into the status and condition of their trucks, as well as the inability to make proactive decisions within their business because the information was being transferred so slowly with paper.

The Solution

When the trucking company approached GoCanvas almost three years ago, they were looking for a solution to their data collection and sharing needs. A Senior Mobile App Consultant worked with the trucking company to identify the holes in their current process and create a success plan to address those issues.

“We are able to constantly adjust to our environment with GoCanvas”

Trucking companies, big and small, that operate in almost every industry can search from over 20,000 pre-built mobile form templates in the GoCanvas Application store, or drill down further and look specifically at mobile form te mplates for Transportation and Warehousing. These can be completely customized with the online, drag-and-drop App Builder tool to fit an organization’s specific processes. Using that same tool many businesses, like the trucking company, elect to build their own mobile forms from scratch. They decided to incorporate features like checkboxes, digital signature capture, integrated truck/parts lists(via Excel), and auto-calculations. Other features include GPS capture, image capture, barcode scanning, and more. The trucking company ultimately chose GoCanvas because of the platform’s design flexibility and quick deployment. “We are able to constantly adjust to our environment with Canvas” commented an office manager at the trucking company.

After signing up for a free trial of GoCanvas, a Senior Mobile App Consultant got to work tailoring the GoCanvas platform to fit the trucking company’s needs. Without the help of any IT resources, the trucking company was able to develop a new safety program based around the GoCanvas platform. This included the implementation of:

Safety & equipment based audit forms for specific departments
Pre-populated dropdowns for projects and employees to prevent reporting errors
Integration of their GoCanvas database to Quickbase

The best part is that this implementation took weeks, not months. With the use of Canvas’ powerful App Builder tool, which allows “citizen developers” to create their own apps to meet their specifications without any coding or techy language, the trucking company was able to create, deploy, and field test in just a couple weeks.

“Before GoCanvas, we relied on managers and mechanics to tell us how the trucks were performing. Today, we can report 24/7 on the conditions of the trucks.”

The Outcomes

Since fully implementing GoCanvas over three years ago, the trucking company has been able to totally change the way they do business. “Before GoCanvas, we relied on managers and mechanics to tell us how the truck was performing. Today, we can report 24/7 on the conditions of the trucks.”

With their new mobile forms, the company supervisors no longer have to chase down trucks to retrieve vehicle inspection reports. Every crew is now able to submit their daily field and truck audits from wherever they are, and their supervisor gets alerted in real-time. Their integration with QuickBase then pulls the information that was submitted from the field and quickly analyzes it to start identifying trends within the safety data. This ability to see and create reports in real-time has allowed the company to become more “proactive” when it comes to safety, instead of waiting for a major accident to happen and reacting to it.

Overall, the trucking company has seen an amazing return on its investment in GoCanvas. Their returns have not only shown up on the balance sheet but also in their daily productivity as a business.

“No longer are we waiting for the drivers to come in to report an issue. We now know ahead of time and have a solution ready to go. We went from being reactive to proactive.”

Major benefits include:

Improved Job Performance – Since implementing the GoCanvas platform, the managers at the trucking company have seen a 100% increase in the number of daily audits completed and received. This has resulted in the company being able to have full insight into how their drivers are performing, the real-time condition of their trucks, and the ability to make proactive decisions regarding maintenance and safety.
Improved Accuracy of Data – By implementing mobile forms that pre-populate with driver names and locations, no longer are the days of receiving paper forms that are misspelled, missing information, or are illegible. By eliminating paper from these specific processes, the trucking company is saving upwards of $36,000 annually.
Rapid Reporting & Integration – With the GoCanvas platform, the trucking company now receives all their daily audits on time, when they need them. They schedule automatically. CSV reports allow them to easily view what is happening on a daily, weekly, and quarterly basis. They have even integrated their GoCanvas database into their existing QuickBase system to further analyze their data in real-time. A manager at the trucking company commented that “No longer are we waiting for the drivers to come in to report an issue. We now know ahead of time and have a solution ready to go. We went from being reactive to proactive.”

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How Plymouth Electric Saved $121k in One Year with GoCanvas

How Plymouth Electric Saved $121,700 in One Year with GoCanvas

The Background

Since 1979, Plymouth Electric Inc. has been providing fast and reliable completion of all types of electrical jobs. Their professional team in Plymouth, NE is just as comfortable taking care of your home’s electric heaters as they are installing alarm systems in large commercial facilities. Plymouth Electric works across all industries to provide complete, premium quality electrical services. When it comes to perfectly completed electrical jobs, Plymouth Electric Inc. is an industry leader.

The Problem

Prior to GoCanvas, Plymouth Electric was similar to many other electrical contractors in the world today in that they did everything on paper. The use of paper was causing multiple issues in their business including inventory control issues, mistakes in recording accurate data on job sites, and hours of back-office data re-entry into their pre-existing database systems. These errors caused by paper forms were adding up serval hours per week of wasted time and productivity, which equaled thousands of dollars in lost revenues

The Solution

Last March, Plymouth Electric went live with the GoCanvas App in order to start taking back the hours they were losing due to their inefficient paper process. Plymouth chose GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business, because of the flexibility of the platform and its quick deployment structure. Beth Weishahn of Plymouth Electric commented that she
“enjoyed that we have the ability to change and adapt our app. If something isn’t working, we can change it.”Electrical contractors like Plymouth can search from over 20,000 pre-built app templates in the GoCanvas Application store that can be completely customized with the online, drag-and-drop App Builder tool. Using that same tool many businesses, like Plymouth Electric, elect to build their own from scratch. They decided to incorporate features like interactive checkboxes, digital signature capture, integrated customer/parts lists(via Excel), and auto-calculations. Other features include GPS capture, image capture, barcode scanning, and more.

After signing up for a free trial of GoCanvas, a Senior Consultant reached out to Beth and the team at Plymouth Electric to set up a client success call and ensure the project go off on the right foot. During this call, the team at GoCanvas analyzed the various business processes at Plymouth and identified where things could become more efficient. From there, the GoCanvas App platform could be customized to fit the exact processes identified during the success call and be tested by the entire Plymouth team!This was done within days with the use of GoCanvas’ powerful App Builder tool, which allows “citizen developers” to create their own apps to meet their specifications without any coding or techy language. The GoCanvas App was able to be created, deployed, and field tested in just a couple weeks.

The Outcomes

Plymouth Electric celebrated their one year anniversary of implementing GoCanvas in March. Over that time, they have been able to eliminate over 1,300 paperwork tickets by implementing the GoCanvas App. This has allowed them to clear up the issues bogging down their inventory reporting process and avoid wasting their in-office personnel’s time have to re-enter the data from paper back into their databases.

Plymouth also commented that the overall reduction of ordering and using paper forms has helped them save on their bottom line. Beth Weishahn commented that “Cutting paper helped save an additional $1,700 for the year.”

Since Plymouth Electric fully deployed the GoCanvas App in April 2015, they have seen a dramatic reduction in overall labor costs and increase in technician productivity.

Increase in Labor Efficiency – Since deploying the GoCanvas App, Plymouth has to be able to streamline their front and back-end data capture and storage processes. Now all the information comes back to the office in real-time as a secured PDF and is always available via the cloud for the technicians whenever they need it. They no longer have to right now everything with pen and paper, then drive it back to the office at the end of the day. “In fact, it’s been so efficient that we’ve saved approximately $475 per day in labor costs”, said Beth Weishahn.
Solving Inventory Control Issues – By using the GoCanvas App, all the data is able to flow smoothly from the field crews and into their back-office systems. No longer is there paper to bog down the process. Beth Weishahn of Plymouth Electric commented that “Honestly, GoCanvas was our solution to an inventory control problem. We went from having our work tickets as PDF’s to a real money saver in terms of efficiency and inventory accuracy.”
Getting Early Returns – Plymouth recently passed the one year mark of using GoCanvas and has seen dramatic returns on their investment. The savings have come from not only labor, but also productivity and material costs.
Beth stated that “in labor cost alone our savings have been over $120k in the last year across 4 crews”.

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Why Mobile Makes Sense – 2016 Customer Survey Results

In an effort to continue developing a platform that serves the wants and needs of our current and future clients, we delivered an online survey to every one of our customers. The purpose was to not only validate that GoCanvas will dramatically increase your company’s productivity and efficiency but to also help future customers navigate the reasons why they should make the switch to mobile forms.

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Automating How Work is Done – 70% said Project Tracking was the biggest challenge GoCanvas helps solve; 78% realized a complete ROI within the first nine months of deploying GoCanvas.

96% Why GoCanvas? – 96% of Enterprise clients rated GoCanvas’ Ease of Use & Features “Better” compared to similar vendors.

Average Increase in Productivity Across These Top Industries: Healthcare 22%; Construction 20%; Retail 20%; Manufacturing 16%; Energy & Utilities 23%.

Headaches Solved By Using GoCanvas – 64% Viewing Data in Real-Time; 54% keeping track of data.

Reasons To Purchase GoCanvas – 72% simplify data collection; 71% boost workforce efficiency; 54% reduce operational costs.

Increased Productivity: 60% of companies using GoCanvas increased their efficiency by up to 35%.

Most Popular Types of Mobile Forms – 54% inspections; 43% Checklists; 34% Workd orders;

How Allied Air Conditioning Saves $32k Annually Using GoCanvas

How Allied Air Conditioning & Heating Saves $32K Annually with GoCanvas

The Background

Allied Air Conditioning & Heating Corporation started their business in 1969 servicing the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago. Today they have grown into one of the largest HVAC contractors in the Chicagoland area that ranks in the top 2% nationwide in sales volume. They specialize in new heating and air conditioner system installation, repair, replacement, and seasonal maintenance. With 24-hour emergency service available 365 days a year, the ACCA certified technicians at Allied Air are always on call when their customers need them.

The Problem

Allied Air prior to GoCanvas was knee deep in paper forms. Paper was being used for keeping inventory, customer information, and billing. With all this paper being used, Allied Air did not have a clear or accurate picture of what was being done by their HVAC technicians on a daily basis. Also, the use of paper forms led to problems with inaccurate customer data because of messy handwriting and missing information. Employees in the Allied Air office would end up spending hours per week transferring the information from their paper forms back into their computer system.

The Solution

Last year, Allied Air went live with the GoCanvas App in order to start streamlining many of the processes that were being slowed down by using paper. Allied chose GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for businesses, because of the flexibility of the platform and its quick deployment structure. The GoCanvas App has helped thousands of businesses replace cumbersome paper forms with easy-to-use mobile processes that greatly improve productivity.

Businesses can search from over 20,000+ pre-built app templates in the GoCanvas Application Store (several of which are designed specifically for commercial HVAC companies) that can be completely customized with the online, drag-and-drop App Builder tool. Using that same tool, many businesses elect to build their own from scratch. Factor in powerful features like Dispatch, Workflow, uploading your price and customer lists, and integration with other systems and the GoCanvas platform changes the way work gets done.

Kevin Budinger, Vice President of Allied Air, commented on the reason and benefits of implementing the GoCanvas App. He remarked that “Having all that accurate information quickly and electronically is so valuable to our business and to our customers because we can send them live, near-real-time information.”

Like many customers, Kevin and his team at Allied Air began speaking with a Senior Consultant at GoCanvas to analyze their process and identify where the issues were located. After that discussion, the team at GoCanvas got to work customizing the platform to fit Allied’s specific business process needs. This was quickly done with the use of GoCanvas’ powerful App Builder tool, which allows “citizen developers” to create their own apps to meet their specifications without any coding or techy language. Kevin was also able to quickly add his 19 service techs to begin testing out the new paperless process and start centralizing all their data within a couple weeks.

The Outcomes

Allied Air will celebrate its one-year anniversary of implementing GoCanvas in April and is set to exceed over 14,000 digital data submissions across their 19 HVAC technicians. Allied Air has used GoCanvas primarily to overhaul their entire invoice process and is averaging over 1,160 paperless invoices per month using the GoCanvas App. Kevin Budinger commented that “with this solution, I can see exactly what happens each day and manage our business more effectively.” This has all culminated in financial success for the company.

Since Allied Air started using the GoCanvas App last April, they have seen a huge reduction in administrative costs and increase in technician efficiency.

Increase in Operation Efficiency – Allied Air uses the Dispatch feature of GoCanvas to schedule, assign, and track the completion status of jobs in real-time. This allows them to know if anything needs to be rescheduled, quickly assign an emergency job, or see if jobs are being completed on time throughout the day. This totaled to $31,200 in annual administrative cost savings.
Accurate Inventory – With the GoCanvas App, Allied Air was able to upload their complete parts list including category listing, name, detail, and price per part. Now when a technician fills out an invoice for a customer, they can easily choose the correct parts they want to add to the bill instead of having to look it up in a catalog book or guess what the price of the part is. All this data ties back in their Inventory Management system to ensure trucks are always stocked with the right parts to complete the job.
Increased Customer Satisfaction – By implementing GoCanvas, Allied Air has been able to reduce the number of service call-backs and increase the number a daily jobs completed.

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VIP Lighting Gains Business Efficiencies with GoCanvas

VIP Lighting is a retail lighting and electrical maintenance company that services retail chains across Australia and New Zealand. The business has been operating for 25 years and now services 10,000 retail sites across both countries. Prior to joining GoCanvas in 2018, the business had multiple systems running different aspects of their technician and contractor network.

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How Orbit Medical Switched to GoCanvas and Saved $250k

How Orbit Medical Switched Went Paperless and Saved $250k with GoCanvas

The Background

Orbit Medical, headquartered in Utah with regional sales offices throughout the Midwest, is one of the top medical equipment distributors in the country. They provide their customers with medically essential products like wheelchairs, mobility aids, and in-home oxygen. The problems arose from the stacks of paperwork that accompany working in the medical industry.

The Problem

Prior to finding GoCanvas, Orbit Medical was swimming in a sea of paperwork that was putting a stranglehold on their daily productivity. Paperwork was being used to complete everything including service tickets, delivery paperwork, billing, and more. It was limiting their daily production across different departments. The internal office staff needed a better way to collect, share, and file the documents that were being captured in the field. They also needed a way to gain greater insight into the day-to-day operations of the business.

The Solution

Four years ago, Orbit Medical went live with the GoCanvas App in order to start streamlining many of the processes that were being slowed down by using paper. Orbit chose GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for businesses, because of the flexibility of the platform and its quick deployment structure. The GoCanvas platform has helped thousands of businesses replace cumbersome paper forms with easy-to-use mobile processes that greatly improve productivity.

Like many customers, Justin and his team at Orbit Medical began speaking with a Senior Consultant at GoCanvas to analyze their process and identify where the issues were located. After that discussion, the team at GoCanvas got to work customizing the platform to fit Orbit’s specific business process needs. This was quickly done with the use of Canvas’ powerful App Builder tool, which allows “citizen developers” to create their own apps to meet their specifications without any coding or usage of an IT team.

Justin made sure that he tested the apps with his field teams and collected feedback so that the proper changes could be incorporated. This type of feedback and testing phase allowed for the successful rollout of over 20+ GoCanvas mobile forms(apps) to over 50+ field technicians.

The Outcomes

Orbit Medical has set the gold standard on how to transition from paper to paperless in the very form-based medical industry. They are set to exceed over 30,000 digital data submissions, which is a savings of over $13,000 annually by reducing their reliance on paper. Orbit Medical has used GoCanvas primarily to overhaul its entire delivery and service process. This has dramatically increased their rate of service, and billing, and reduced the amount of time spent managing paperwork in the office by 75%.

Since Orbit Medical has gone paperless, a lot of benefits have been felt throughout the entire organization.

Increased Billing & Filing Efficiency – With the implementation of GoCanvas mobile forms with all their drivers and technicians, all deliveries are now processed and invoiced within minutes, not days. Orbit Medical has even leveraged the GoCanvas cloud database to automatically integrate into their backend billing and electronic medical record (EMR) system via the GoCanvas API. This instant data collection and automatic filing has helped reduced billing time by 80% and helped to ensure that they get paid on time.
Total Paper Freedom – Orbit Medical has an initiative called “100% Canvas”. Justin Thomas, Vice President of Operations at Orbit Medical, explained that this program aims to make every field process 100% paperless, and today they have achieved that with all their drivers. “We’ve been able to tighten up so many processes that you can’t put a dollar amount on”, stated Justin Thomas, “(Canvas) opens the mind to better processes, things that were not possible with paper.”
Reduced Liability – By replacing their paper delivery forms with GoCanvas, Orbit Medical has been able to cut down on their medical liability across the board. With their “Dead Stop Report”, technicians now have the ability to record a GPS stamp, photo of the location, and timestamp to confirm that their client was not home at the scheduled time of delivery. This report can serve as evidence of attempted delivery in the case of a wrongful death lawsuit, which is all too common in the medical industry.

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How Digital Work Orders Impact Your Key Business Outcomes

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How Bahrns.com Uses Paperless Estimates, Work Orders, and More

Overview

Custom GoCanvas Mobile Apps Used to Go Paperless

Time Cards (Several of them)
Lawn & Garden Equipment Service
Forklift Service/Work Order
Forklift Pickup
Estimate/Quote
Estimate/Quote – Trade-In

Case Study Highlights

This supply chain and materials handling company is saving $117,000+ annually with paperless work processes.
GoCanvas is integrated with their back-office system, Softbase (www.softbasedev.com).
Jobs dispatched to mechanics using Softbase and GoCanvas Dispatch feature.
Used equipment inventory available to salespeople in the field via GoCanvas Reference Data feature.
Mechanics and salespeople can use GoCanvas offline when they do not have data connectivity for their devices.

The Background

Bahrns Material Handling & Equipment Company is a supply chain business (focused on materials handling) that was founded in 1966 in Effingham, IL. Customer service has been the primary focus of Bahrns since the beginning. Many of their employees have been with Bahrns for over 25 years and have helped the organization expand from a single location to multiple locations and multiple businesses under the Bahrns name. Initially, they served customers throughout Illinois and some adjoining states, but they quickly saw the opportunity the Internet provided and now provide warehouse supplies to customers throughout the world via their website. Booms, cranes, dollies, lift tables, pallet trucks and much more can all be supplied by Bahrns to get your warehouse whipped into shape. Logistics is critical to the world we live in today and operating an efficient, properly-outfitted warehouse is where the rubber meets the road for many businesses today. Bahrns has the insight, expertise, and equipment to get any warehouse optimized for maximum efficiency.

Visit Bahrns at www.bahrns.com or www.bahrnstoyotalift.com to learn more about their businesses and the services they offer.

The Problem

Like many GoCanvas subscribers, Bahrns operated their business processes with analog tools like multi-part carbonless paper forms, pens, and trucks. There were two different three-part carbonless forms for their forklift repair service where their mechanics documented the work they had done. Those mechanics also reported their time each day on a two-part carbonless form. There was also a two-part form for their used equipment inspections and a basic, one-part form for the sales department to submit quote requests.

Their mechanics traveled around with large clipboards that had compartments in them to store both blank and completed forms. The mechanics would have to drive all of their completed paper forms (except the lost ones!) back to the office at the end of each day so customers could be invoiced by the accounts payable group or quoted for additional services. Forget about being real-time; typically none of this happened until at least the next day. All paper forms (except the lost ones!) were stored in a filing cabinet. If there was ever a question from a customer then the paperwork had to be dug out of the filing cabinet. If it wasn’t there then they were out of luck (And so was the customer).

There were a number of holes in this system that pushed Bahrns to look for another way:

Lost service forms and purchase orders meant the customer just never got invoiced. Bahrns would write off that business.
Mechanics and salespeople always had to drive back to the shop to return their paperwork. Any “next steps” were delayed until the paper form made its way back.
Bahrns was not always billing customers for the time they were paying their mechanics for. Bahrns would write off this business, too.
It took a few days for customers to get quotes for trade-in equipment. Sometimes it didn’t get done at all.
Work Orders that were illegible or missing information were put in a separate pile. They would then have to sit down with the Mechanics or get them on the phone to review each one. At least 10 per week ended up in this pile requiring 5-10 minutes each to resolve (About an hour per week minimum).

The Solution

In February 2012, Bahrns addressed these challenges by turning to GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for businesses. Thousands of organizations leverage GoCanvas’s mobile app platform to replace cumbersome paper forms with highly customizable mobile forms (We call them apps!) that improve their data collection and productivity.

Businesses can search from over 20,000 mobile form app templates in the GoCanvas Application store that can be completely customized with the online, drag-and-drop App Builder tool. Using that same tool, many businesses elect to build their own from scratch. Factor in features like Dispatch, Workflow, the PDF Designer, uploading your price and customer lists, and integration with other systems and GoCanvas changes the way work gets done.

Tara Funneman, the office manager at Bahrns, knew there had to be a better mousetrap and she found GoCanvas while searching the Internet. This was at the end of 2011. She reached out to us and got connected with Kalliopi Vlastos at GoCanvas. Kalliopi supported Tara as she built out her initial apps on GoCanvas. “I downloaded GoCanvas and immediately began designing and found it easy to use and when I would hit a snag I would call their support team. And to be completely honest – that is what sold me on Canvas”, says Tara.

She started with one service tech and one salesperson. They started using GoCanvas out in the field as her “guinea pigs”. They provided feedback as they were using GoCanvas. “Since the online designing of the apps with the GoCanvas App Builder is so easy many times I could make the changes while they were on the phone or in my office. We had the entire service and sales staff on board in no time at all.”

Bahrns operates very differently today than it did back in 2011. Lots of processes have been smoothed out and they operate as efficiently as they advise their customers to operate their warehouses. Over 1,200 GoCanvas Submissions (forms filled out) are made each month by over 25 employees using the service. That is a lot of paper saved and a lot less confusion compared to using handwritten documents.

Service Apps/Work Order Apps (They have several)

Using Canvas’s Dispatch, API, and Reference Data features, jobs are assigned to mechanics inside their business software which then pushes out the appropriate GoCanvas App to the appropriate tech on his/her mobile device. The tech receives a notification on his/her mobile device, and is told where to go and what to do, plus the customer’s information is automatically populated (Reference Data) so the tech does not have to type it in.
Pictures are included so customers can easily make a decision about whether to move forward with the work.
These pictures also help in documenting the damage that might have been caused by abuse and is therefore not covered by a Guaranteed Maintenance program.
The data is transmitted immediately back to the office for invoicing or other additional steps that need to be taken.

Timecard Apps (They have several)

Timecards are now filled in as they do the work. Users punch in and punch out of jobs throughout the day.
A single timecard is filled out throughout the day so Bahrns and the tech know how much time should be billed to the customer for each job.
Timecards are submitted electronically each day using GoCanvas. It is easy to know who has and has not submitted one.
Timecard data and data from the corresponding Work Order must align. Customers clearly know how much time was spent on their equipment.

Estimate/Quote Apps (They have several)

Their salespeople use GoCanvas to provide quotes for used equipment Bahrns has in stock. Reference Data is updated so the salespeople know what is in stock and can add it to their estimate. It auto-populates all the pertinent information about each item so salespeople don’t have to type it out.
Now they can create an estimate on their iPad and the customer can view it on-screen and sign off on the purchase right on the spot. They pull images of the used equipment right off of their website and those can be included in the estimate document created by GoCanvas.
If a customer has a trade-in then the salesperson or tech uses another GoCanvas App to capture information about the trade-in (especially pictures!). That is transmitted to the office right away where the value of the trade-in must be figured out before a quote is provided.

The Outcomes

Bahrns has seen a tremendous impact on their business over the years.

Service jobs are rarely written off now that they are capturing and transmitting data electronically. Lost paper forms are a thing of the past. “We discovered a lot of unbilled work orders. If the tech would lose a paper or forget to turn it in it wouldn’t get invoiced unless someone went looking for the information”, according to Tara. $10,000 worth of write-offs is recouped each year that was lost to their paper process.
Huge time and cost savings since mechanics and salespeople don’t have to drive back to the office to manually transmit paper forms. There have been savings in fuel consumption costs, too. Mechanics can return home without having to make extra trips to the shop. This also has the additional benefit of reduced environmental impact.
Back office personnel gain back an hour of time due to fewer errors, blank fields, illegible handwriting, and other paper issues.
Customer service is better than ever! Quotes are delivered much faster in real-time. Service forms are found easily and can be re-emailed to customers right away. Jobs are completed sooner since data is transmitted electronically. “If the customer happens to need a copy of it all we have to do is send them the digital version of the work order.”
Timecard data is more accurate now that time is captured on the job instead of mechanics doing it from memory at the end of a pay period. No more end-of-pay period chaos to get people paid.
Jobs are billed more accurately and Bahrns is doing less work for free. Errors in time are noticed right away instead of after a customer has already been billed.
Cash flow is accelerated. Jobs can be finished sooner. Customers can sign-off on work right on the spot. There are a lot fewer disputes and billing questions. “Now that we use GoCanvas the customer can actually be invoiced before the tech is even back to the office.” Since the work was just done they remember it all and don’t question the work as much. Plus more detail is provided to customers on the Work Orders since using GoCanvas so they are less likely to dispute or question the pricing.
This has all resulted in a huge competitive advantage for the company! A paperless supply chain business can be a reality with GoCanvas!

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