How AB Moving Company Saves $583K Annually with Mobile Forms

How a Texas Moving Company Saves $583K Annually with Mobile Forms

AB Moving Saves Thousands of Dollars

Overview

Savings of $175,000 in processing and labor costs
Savings of $125,000 in credit card processing
Improved information collection
Stronger management oversight

Apps Used

Bill of Lading
Damage Report

The Background

Founded in 1996 by owner Kenny Baker, AB Moving has a fleet of 72 trucks, serving customers in Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. The company is headquartered in Allen, a Dallas suburb, with 15 office employees, and all moving is done by subcontractors. The moving services company and its 72 teams complete as many as 700 jobs each week.

AB Moving does both commercial moving and residential moving: apartments, homes, businesses and more. For over fifteen years, AB Moving has offered highly quality work, understanding that they not only move customers’ possessions but also their lives.

The Problem

While AB Moving was trying to provide the highest quality service, paper wasn’t serving the company well. Since 2009, AB Moving was using a sophisticated software application to record customer, job booking, and moves data. But, drivers were still using bills of lading and damage reports on paper.

The end result? All movers had to come into the office at 5 am to pick up that day’s assignments. Though AB Moving had sophisticated technology, it struggled to get information from the field integrated back into their system. Brent Davis, the general manager, knew they could do better. “I was an auto adjuster for 17 years,” Brent says, “and was also the guy who test-piloted all the new technology. I’m just blessed with the ability to see how things can be done in the most efficient way.”

So Brent began looking for a technology fix that would eliminate as much of the paper as possible.

The Solution

In January 2014, AB Moving switched to GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. Thousands of organizations leverage GoCanvas’s cloud-based, “Software-as-a-Service” mobile app platform to replace cumbersome paper forms with highly customizable mobile business apps.

Businesses can search from over 20,000+ ready-made apps in the GoCanvas Application Store that can be customized to an individual business user’s needs. In addition, GoCanvas offers a do-it-yourself app builder that enables non-technical users to build apps in minutes.

The Outcomes

Over the past year, AB Moving drivers have stopped using paper and started to use Samsung Galaxy tablets and GoCanvas mobile apps. The company has discovered measurable results, including:

Substantial Financial Savings

Previously, AB Moving took payment with a manual credit card machine or over the phone. But, this process was slow, cumbersome, and had high fees. By going digital, AB Moving has lower fees and estimates that they’ve saved $125,000 in fees alone. The moving company’s previous process was also time-consuming for office employees. They would spend hours matching contracts and credit card receipts, taking credit card information over the phone, and printing bills of lading. By streamlining this process, AB has saved another $50,000 in employee time.

In total? AB Moving saved $175,000 in 2014, and since has increased savings to over $500K in 2016.

Measurable Time Savings

AB Moving’s drivers work through many parts of Texas, often far from the office. Previously, all drivers would have to come into the office at 5 am to pick up their jobs for the day. Davis recalls with a cringe, “If it was raining outside, they would come in and get the papers all wet. It was awful.”

With GoCanvas the office can set up all moves the day before hand. The light dispatch feature allows AB Moving to pre-populate bill of lading forms so movers know where they need to go and what to do. The matching and scheduling process that once took hours or days is now available in minutes. Light dispatch reduces the number of unproductive miles for drivers. AB Moving saves gas and time.

Improved Data Collection

AB Moving also receives stronger and more accurate information from GoCanvas. Previously, it would have to compensate customers up to 90 days after the move, since it didn’t have proof that items were already damaged beforehand.

Today, movers can easily take photos of items damaged before moving. With all information in the cloud, the photos are easy to find and always accessible. Those photos have reduced the number and costs of post-move damage claims.

In addition, bills of lading are required by state law to be signed. Davis explains, “There are fines for incomplete forms. With the GoCanvas application, the movers can’t upload the form until everything is complete and it is signed. It’s bulletproof now, and that is saving us a lot of money in fines.”GoCanvas does this by easily making fields required. With paper, nothing stopped a form coming back only half-finished. A driver can skip a field in the GoCanvas mobile app, but if a field is required, they won’t be able to submit the app until the required fields are completed. So AB Moving no longer struggles with missing information in their forms.

Real-Time Oversight

Previously with a dispersed workforce, AB Moving struggled to get information about their workforce in an easy manner. Who booked the move? How did the customer hear about AB Moving? Were any packaging supplies sold? With all reports immediately available in the cloud, AB Moving can understand this information in real-time. The company is even taking this data further: the data from each job is integrated with a home-grown application that AB Moving developed.

Through that application, Davis says, “Now I can see exactly what every mover did, who booked the move, the referral source, any boxes and other packaging supplies we sold. We can track anything we need to.”What once were disparate files are now seamlessly connected and available for understanding not a week or two later, but the very same day.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Business Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides the licensed mover with the flexibility to add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas makes editing apps a frictionless process.

For instance, as prices change, it’s easy for AB Moving to upload a new price list into their GoCanvas apps. They don’t need to rely on IT support or have any knowledge of coding. With GoCanvas, it’s a simple drag-and-drop interface that anyone can use. Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost.

Today, AB Moving has ditched paper for mobile apps. Having taken back time in their workday, the professional movers can focus on helping people move easily throughout Texas.

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

GoCanvas has helped a variety of businesses across multiple industries transform their safety processes and rethink their efficiency, ultimately saving them money. Why not do the same? Reach out to one of our experts today to kickstart your process revolution.

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WEINIG Increases Sales with GoCanvas

How WEINIG Australia Saved Time and Increased Sales with GoCanvas

Overview

Highlights

Faster invoicing and sales cycle
Improved tracking of labor and parts cost
More accurate and comprehensive information

Apps Used

Weinig & Holzher Parts Distribution Form
Weinig – Service Call Details
Weinig – Service Call Details (SLA)

The Background

WEINIG Australia is part of the WEINIG Group. Around the world, they are known for providing solutions to solid timber processes. With a variety of innovative wood process machinery, and round-the-clock service, WEINIG Australia puts their customers first.

The Problem

As WEINIG focused on customer service, they kept struggling with their back-end paper processes. For each service call, technicians were taking down notes on a carbonized engineer report pad. Taking multiple calls a day, these reports could take hours or days to return to the office.

Once a form arrived, the process wasn’t done yet! An employee would have to enter this information into the database as well. Often these forms would come back missing important information, requiring further time trying to find the technician to get answers. Only then could WEINIG respond to the customer issue.

Customer service response time matters: American Express found that 55% of customers will abandon a purchase because of subpar customer service. As WEINIG strived to provide even more for their customers, they realized paper processes were holding them back.

The Solution

In October 2013, WEINIG Australia decided to go with GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. Thousands of organizations leverage Canvas’s cloud-based, “Software-as-a-Service” mobile app platform to replace cumbersome paper forms with highly customizable mobile business apps.

Businesses can search from over 14,000 ready-made apps in the GoCanvas Application Store that can be customized to an individual business user’s needs. In addition, GoCanvas offers a do-it-yourself app builder that enables non-technical users to build apps in minutes.

The Outcomes

WEINIG Australia has found a remarkable difference in multiple ways. These include:

Measurable Time Savings

Switching to GoCanvas has dramatically streamlined WEINIG’s back-end processes. With GoCanvas, all finished forms are sent directly to the cloud. Instead of taking hours or days for a form to return to the home office, WEINIG can access the information in real-time.

GoCanvas also removes the need for redundant data entry as well. With bulk export options, WEINIG can also easily take this information from the GoCanvas cloud and import the information into their own databases. What once required hours of extra work now happens in minutes.

The result? WEINIG Australia can respond more quickly to customer needs and issues. Invoicing and sale cycles have also improved with faster invoicing and processing in the home office. Employees are now freed for more critical and creative roles.

Easily Track Labor and Parts Cost

Previously, tracking technicians’ movement and parts ordered was difficult. With the time lag in receiving forms, it was hard to know in real time where people were, or what they needed.

With GoCanvas, WEINIG Australia gets all this information in real-time. With GPS location capture, they can see where technicians are. They can also use time stamps on their jobs. These functionalities allow WEINIG to understand the technicians’ work quickly and quantify their labor costs in minutes.

If WEINIG had wanted to understand these issues previously, they would have had to plot locations on a map as well as enter the times and calculate it manually. Not only does GoCanvas gather information more quickly, but also our mobile app makes it far easier for WEINIG Australia to analyze and understand what’s happening on the ground.

More Accurate and Comprehensive Information

Beyond faster information, WEINIG Australia also gets more and more accurate information with mobile apps. In their service reports, they can now add:

Images of the work done
Location via GPS
Computer powered calculations

By drawing on the information from their own systems, technicians are able to have more accurate reports. Using mobile apps has also reduced ambiguity and inaccuracies by replacing handwritten notes with clearly typed text. Required fields in the mobile app ensure that WEINIG Australia receives all the information they need for proper invoicing or further customer support.

WEINIG’s information becomes stronger as well due to removing data entry. With paper forms, it’s easy to misread a 7 for a 1, or to see someone’s handwriting and not understand a word they wrote! Mobile apps remove the need for data entry and the opportunity for possible misunderstandings. Thus, WEINIG Australia receives the best possible information, straight from the source.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Business Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides WEINIG the flexibility to add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas makes editing apps a frictionless process.

For instance, as parts change, it’s easy for WEINIG to upload a new list of materials and new prices into their GoCanvas apps. They don’t need to rely on IT support or have any knowledge of coding. With GoCanvas, it’s a simple drag-and-drop interface that anyone can use.

Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost.

Today WEINIG Australia technicians enjoy faster reports with iPads. With the day-to-day pressures of their work, they haven’t gone completely paperless yet. As they move forward, they hope to convert more forms into apps and discover more time savings for their business.

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PVFC Saves Hundreds of Hours with Digital Inspections

Pikesville Volunteer Fire Company Saves Hundreds of Hours with Digital Inspections

working firefighters. male fire fighters. fire. fire department record management. Fighting fire and fighting paperwork. Saving time and saving people. Pikesville Volunteer Fire Company saves hundreds of hours. Paperless fire company.

The Background

Pikesville Volunteer Fire Company (PVFC) has been protecting Pikesville, Maryland since 1897. As the second oldest volunteer fire department in Baltimore County, it is the only station in Baltimore County that operates an engine, tower, heavy rescue squad, and medic, offering a full range of fire suppression, rescue, and EMS services for the community.

The Problem

Though much has changed since 1897, record keeping has continued on paper. Yet, with a full volunteer force, paper record management has become a heavier and heavier burden for the department.

This burden was affecting the PVFC in various ways. When members would go out and buy supplies for the station, it could take weeks for reimbursement (if the treasurer could even read the crumpled receipt).

When a truck or piece of equipment would break, the process to verify/repair it was especially slow. If a fire truck malfunctioned, the lieutenant/engineer would have to come into the station to verify the issue and order the correct part. If a lieutenant was out on the road for business, it could be days or over a week before that truck would be serviceable again.

Justin, both 1st Rescue Lieutenant at PVFC and Director of Channel Sales at GoCanvas, saw GoCanvas as a solution to these slow and cumbersome processes.

The Solution

In April 2014, they decided to go with GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. PVFC found the transition easy and full supported. “I received a report from a volunteer I hadn’t even trained.” Justin said, “that shows you how accessible the platform is.”

PVFC found itself in the same position thousands of GoCanvas customers have; the GoCanvas platform—with 20,000+ customizable mobile apps, the app builder, and real-time app management—was revolutionizing their internal processes.

The Outcomes

By eliminating paper forms, PVFC has dramatically sped up their repair cycle. What once took over a week to order now happens in a day or less.

More Accurate Data

In addition to improving their equipment repair process, PVFC now captures more accurate information with GoCanvas. The Department of Transportation requires inspections of fire company vehicles twice a month. PVFC often struggled with incomplete forms, information filled out that didn’t pertain to the vehicle, and uncertainty on who inspected the vehicles.

With GoCanvas, these issues have been largely eliminated. By utilizing required fields, PVFC forms come back with all the necessary information. If a form is missing fields, then the volunteer won’t be able to submit the form. This forces completion of inspections with all necessary documentation.In addition, conditional screens ensure that inspections occur quickly and cover the appropriate parts of the truck. For instance, their Heavy Rescue doesn’t have a pump, so that section of the inspection can be skipped.On mobile devices, information is now safe from coffee spills and dirty cars. By no longer having to do manual data re-entry or chase down missing information, PVFC estimates that they’ll save hundreds of hours this year.

Easier Volunteer Tracking

In PVFC, there’s a credit system. Volunteers get credits for showing up to training, or fundraisers. With paper forms, employees had to sign in by hand at these events. Afterward, someone else would have to enter this information a second time, and try to decipher messy handwriting or illegible ID numbers. Not only did this take away time from other projects, but also allowed room for human error.Today with GoCanvas, PVFC can track volunteer credits more easily with almost no admin work. Volunteers can pick their name from a drop down list, and their ID number automatically populates. Hours automatically calculate eliminating mathematical errors. This means less time trying to find information, reduced mistakes, more accurate systems, and more time to focus on keeping Pikesville safe.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Organizational Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides PVFC the flexibility to quickly add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas apps can be updated easily, with no programming required.For instance, as they have new volunteers, PVFC can go into their GoCanvas account and simply update the volunteer list they use in their check in app. Within seconds, the list changes will be updated for all their future events. This allows for an easy transition, with limited possibility for errors.Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost.

With GoCanvas, PVFC continues to get rid of their paper forms. They’ve cut down administrative work, and improved information accuracy. Though much has changed since 1897, PVFC’s commitment to Pikesville safety remains the same.

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Grower Direct Farms Saves $600 Monthly Going Mobile

Grower Direct Farms Saves $600 per Month by Going Mobile

The Background

Grower Direct Farms was started by Leonard Van Wingerden in 1981. Bypassing the opportunity to buy flat fertile farmland in Somers, he acquired a 160 acre sand and gravel pit operation on its decline in the foothills of North Somers. The place looked like a moonscape with craters, rock piles, sand, stumps, some pasture fields, and wooded area. But Leonard saw potential in this land, and worked hard to cultivate it once more. Today Grower Direct Farms comprises 1,300,000 sq. ft. of crop protection structures, 43,000 sq. ft. of support buildings and 20 acres of outdoor growing area.

The key to their success? Grower Direct Farms excels at the fine balance of art and science with a highly trained work force, experienced management, and modern efficient facilities with rigorous conservation and sustainability practices as an integral part of the flower and plant growing regimens.

The Problem

Working with major retailers like Home Depot, Grower Direct Farms needed to go and remove plants from the display. Whether it was because there were overstocked or had died, this information was crucial in figuring out stocking.

Gathering this information was easier said than done. Grower Direct Farms would fax the information back to their office. However, this system came with multiple pain points: not all forms returned to the office, employees struggled to decipher handwriting, and the hours spent re-entering that information back in their database to reflect inventories. This process wasn’t just slow, but also created opportunity for errors in their information.

Grower Direct Farms needed a faster and more accurate system.

The Solution

In December 2013, Verizon introduced Grower Direct Farms to GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. With their free trial, they received full support from GoCanvas as they moved from paper to mobile apps.

Each and every account gets a dedicated senior mobile app consultant. With their consultant, Grower Direct Farms was able to explain what they wanted and to create a mobile experience for their unique needs.

Grower Direct Farms found itself in the same position thousands of GoCanvas customers have; the GoCanvas platform—with 14,000+ customizable mobile apps, the app builder and real-time app management—strengthened their internal processes.

Their consultant created Grower Direct Farms’ first app as well as had a short training with their users. Then, their users were ready to go.

The Outcomes

Today, Grower Direct Farms has 23 users, some on Android and other on iOS devices. They have experienced real, measurable benefits from implementing GoCanvas, including: significant efficiency, cost and environmental. Key results include:

Real-time access to data

Grower Direct Farms has leveraged Canvas’ cloud-based, “as-a-Service” mobile app to enjoy real-time, actionable intelligence. Employees visiting various retail sites can transmit in-store data from their devices via the GoCanvas cloud. This switch has allowed Grower Direct Farms to shift from ad hoc reporting to a systematic process for data collection that can be converted into actionable intelligence. What once took hours to become part of Growers Direct Farms database can now be accessed in seconds. Saving time has a real monetary benefit as well: they estimate that they save $150 a week in peak season processing time. In one month alone, GoCanvas will save them $600.

Improved data accuracy

More than faster data, Grower Direct Farms also enjoys more accurate data. Previously, employees had to enter in all information by hand, including type of plant and certain details about it. With GoCanvas, Grower Direct Farms harnesses reference historical data, allowing them to pre-populate forms with data on plant type and details on it. This feature not only makes reporting quicker, but also improves report accuracy. The improved data has created real visible changes for Grower Direct Farms. Today, they struggle less with demands for plants that are out of stock as well as making fewer emergency deliveries.

Flexibility to meet evolving business needs

As a cloud-based mobile app platform, GoCanvas provided Grower Direct Farms with the flexibility to easily add features and functionality to each app as user and business needs evolve. With other mobile app alternatives, making even minor changes within each app proved cumbersome and diluted the effectiveness of the tool. For instance, as they decided to use GoCanvas for their spring cull, Grower Direct Farms was able to copy their first app and edit it to reflect the plants and data they needed to collect.

GoCanvas allows Grower Direct Farms to do this quickly and easily. This flexibility allows them to be nimble and nuanced in understanding the needs of their retail partners, and ultimately, their customers. Started on a seemingly unfertile land, Grower Direct Farm discovered opportunity and began to thrive. Today, they have over 20 acres of outdoor growing area, and 1,300,000 square feet of protective and support structures. In 2014, the GoCanvas mobile app platform allows Grower Direct Farms to have complete, accurate information in real time, helping them achieve even more success.

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Paper is on the way out: ebook sales have overtaken printed book sales. Consumers aren’t the only ones ditching paper: businesses of all kinds are leaving paper in the 20th century.

But why are they going paperless? And what are they doing to replace the forms such as inspections, time cards, and delivery confirmations that businesses can’t avoid? We asked our customers and here’s what they said in three major industries:

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The problem with paper

$2182.62 – the annual cost of owning & operating a standard five-drawer filing cabinet.

$80 – the annual cost of paper per employee.

Construction uses

Working on various sites, mobile apps allow their offices to get information in real-time, and make decisions on actionable intelligence (Work orders 37.6%; Inspections 63.5%; Checklist 35.1%).

Top features: GPS capture; signature capture; photo capture.

General office uses

Mobile apps aren’t just for those in the field, they also help your office workers get more done and share it in real-time (Invoices 33.7%; Auditing 24.3%; Timesheets 65.2%). 11% of documents are misfiled or lost.

Top Features: Time/Date Stamp; Calculations; Signature Capture.

Transportation and logistic uses

Ensuring that the right product makes it to the right location isn’t easy, but going mobile is making it faster and ensuring accuracy each and every time (Tracking Forms 78.41%; Checklist 33.2%; Inspection 54.7%).

Top Features: Dispatch; GPS Capture; Time/Date Stamp

Sabi Sands Fights Rhino Poaching with GoCanvas

Sabi Sands Fights Rhino Poaching With GoCanvas

The Background

Sabi Sands Game Reserve is a group of game reserves located adjacent to the Kruger National Park. Named for the Sabie and Sand Rivers that border it, the Sabi Sands Reserve is the home to many wild animals including the Big Five. The Big Five are the five big game animals people travel from around the world to see. They include the African elephant, Cape buffalo, African leopard, and the White/Black rhino.

The Problem

The game reserve was struggling though with a problem seen throughout South Africa: rhino poaching. Rhino horns have become a symbol of status. Others believe rhino horn can cure cancer and other illnesses.While these myths have been dispelled, rhino horns remain sought out. A single rhino horn can be sold for $10,000. This demand has given rise to a well organized crime syndicate around poaching rhino horn.

While rhinos don’t have to be killed to get their horns, they often are. In 2012 668 rhinos were killed and that number rose to over 1,000 in 2013. Unfortunately, the Sabi Sands Game Reserve saw a rise in poaching like the rest of South Africa. They tried to track the rhino poaching. But with only a clipboard, this process was slow, and difficult to gather. The Sabi Sands Reserve couldn’t keep up with the well-funded crime groups. Mike Grover, a conservation officer, decided that the reserve needed a solution that was faster to help protect their rhinos.

The Solution

In July 2012, Sabi Sands Game Reserve decided to go with GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. As part of our Ante Up program, GoCanvas provided our service as well as equipment to get started. As part of the program, GoCanvas also sent a Senior Mobile App Consultant to South Africa to help the Game Reserve get started with GoCanvas.

The Outcomes

Sabi Sands found itself in the same position thousands of GoCanvas customers have; the GoCanvas platform—with 14,000+ customizable mobile apps, the app builder and real-time app management—strengthened their internal processes.

Over the past two years, the Sabi Sands Game Reserve has experienced real, measurable benefits from implementing GoCanvas. Some of these include:

Real-Time Tracking of Rhino Poaching

Previously, all tracking had been done with pen and paper. With conservation officers all over the reserve, it could be hours or days before a report of a poached rhino returned to the office.With GoCanvas, all tracking reports are sent immediately to the cloud. Not only is the documentation safe and secure, but also saves the conservation team hundreds of hours. They can respond to rhino poaching more quickly with better safeguards. GoCanvas provides Sabi Sands a streamlined system, saving them hundreds of hours.With time freed from paper processes, the game reserve can respond quickly and thoroughly to save Rhinos.

Expanded Information Collection

Paper reports limited the Sabi Sands Reserve’s ability to gather information. They could take notes, do an approximate location, but capturing images and other information was cumbersome and time-consuming. Going with a mobile app allowed Sabi Sands to expand their information in important and exciting ways. Now they can take photos of rhinos injured or killed, as well as tracks the poachers left. With GPS, they can capture an accurate location where the poaching occurred as well.If a poacher is caught, he can be prosecuted for the crime he was caught committing as well as any other crime that has been documented in the past.

Improved Monitoring of Animal Health

Like many GoCanvas customers, the Sabi Sands Game Reserve has found more ways to use GoCanvas as they became comfortable with the technology. Tracking animal health used to have some of the same problems that tracking rhino poaching: slow, cumbersome, and difficult to gather complete information. Today, Sabi Sands uses GoCanvas to track animal health. When a lioness, for instance, had been in contact with a rabid dog, conservation officers were able to document her health and keep an eye on her pride’s health in real-time. GoCanvas mobile apps improve the conservation officers’ ability to protect animals and respond quickly to health issues.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Business Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides Sabi Sands the flexibility to quickly add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas apps can be updated easily, with no programming required. For instance, as Sabi Sands found the rabid dogs were affecting animal health, they went into their GoCanvas account and simply created a new tracking app. Within seconds, these changes will be updated for all their users. Now they can monitor where and when the rabid dogs cross over into the reserve. Then, they can easily find and inoculate these dogs, ensuring that diseases aren’t spread to the big game animals in the reserve. Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost. With GoCanvas, the Sabi Sands Game Reserve Sabi Sands can easily gather information on animal and human activity on the Game Reserve. With real-time information, Sabi Sands can focus their time and energy on protecting rhinos and all the animals in their reserve.

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Sonoma Valley Pool and Spa Goes Paperless with GoCanvas

The Background

Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa offers premium pool service and repairs to the heart of America’s Wine Country: Sonoma, California.

Husband and wife team, Saul and Jolie Rozema aren’t just focused on a pool’s chlorine level, total alkalinity, and cyanuric acid level, but equally important, on the clients they serve. Each weekly visit requires pool cleaning, chemical testing, and maintenance of the pool.

The Problem

In the past, all of their pool maintenance notifications were filled out by hand. However, these paper forms caused additional work. The tags that were left could easily get lost. In addition, clients would often inquire about the services provided. If the wind had blown leaves into a pool shortly after a service call, they couldn’t be sure if a cleaning had actually occurred. Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa needed a process more reliable than paper forms.

The Solution:

In January 2013, Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa addressed this business challenge by turning to GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for businesses. Thousands of organizations leverage Canvas’s cloud-based, “Software-as-a-Service” mobile app platform to replace cumbersome paper forms with highly customizable mobile business apps that improve their data collection and productivity. Businesses can search from over 21,000+ ready-made apps in the GoCanvas Application store that can be customized to an individual business user’s needs. Many of these apps are designed specifically for pool service and pool repair companys. In addition, GoCanvas offers a do-it-yourself app builder that enables non-technical users to build apps in minutes.

They started with apps from the GoCanvas Application Store, including the ‘Weekly Pool Service Report’ from Canvas’s partnership with Deluxe. Deluxe has decades of experience with business forms and GoCanvas was a perfect match to help Deluxe create mobile versions of their forms. While Saul and Jolie hadn’t been customers of Deluxe previously, they love using their mobile forms.

Now Saul fills out his service reports on his tablet. With GoCanvas he can:

Include a time stamp and GPS location capture for his work, so clients can rest assured that the service was performed.
Add photos of his work to better explain any issues or malfunctions that need repair, reducing time spent explaining issues to customers.
Track the chemicals he uses at each job, and time spent on both repairs and cleaning.
Email a customized PDF to clients with his work, including the photos, and any repairs that their pools may require.

The Outcomes

Saul has ditched the clipboard for a tablet, having turned all his forms into mobile apps. Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa has seen dramatic results from their switch, including:

Real-Time Savings

Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa has saved hundreds of hours due to optimal communication with its customers and faster invoicing. Previously, Saul took down all service notes with pen and paper, and would leave a tag at the pool. Yet clients could easily lose their tag receipts for cleanings from wind or other weather factors. This slowed down their sale cycle as well as customer response time.

Communication was also difficult before switching to GoCanvas. Coming back to perform repairs on a swimming pool took longer as well. Customers were often confused by what service was needed. This confusion required extra time on the phone explaining issues or additional visits to clients’ homes at no cost. Today, Saul fills out the form once on his iPad. All his service tags go immediately to the cloud. Instead of retrieving carbon copies, customers enjoy clean PDFs. Instead of long technical notes, customers get easy-to-understand visuals of the problem.

GoCanvas saves Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa time in multiple ways. Saul and Jolie have less administrative work. All the service tags, including photos and any notes, go immediately to the cloud. With bulk downloads in Excel or CSV files, it’s easy to integrate this information into their own systems.In addition, customers have a better understanding of the work done from the beginning, and so have fewer questions or concerns. This means less time on the phone and more time doing billable work.

Differentiation from Competition

Additionally, GoCanvas differentiates Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa. “One of my biggest selling points,” Saul says, “is the digital service tag.” While competitors continue to leave paper, Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa’s customers get branded PDFs straight in their inboxes. They love getting his emails with visuals. “Some look forward to it every week,” Saul explained. Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa’s business has never been better. Today the company only relies on word of mouth, coupled by their web presence. “We have a wait list now” Saul notes, “and we’re not even in the Yellow Pages anymore. It’s just our reputation and our website.” Still his waiting list grows due to customer referrals.

“I can’t imagine any service-type business not profiting by using GoCanvas. From landscapers to pest control, I don’t see a single type of industry that wouldn’t benefit from optimizing productivity and presenting your clients with professional e-mail-based communication.” –Saul Rozema

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Business Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa the flexibility to add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas makes editing apps a frictionless process. For instance, as their pool supply materials change, it’s easy for them to upload a new list of materials and new prices into their GoCanvas apps. They don’t need to rely on IT support or have any knowledge of coding. With GoCanvas, it’s a simple drag-and-drop interface that anyone can use. Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost.

With one switch, Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa has saved paper, time and money that has more than paid off its investment in mobile apps. GoCanvas has given this company an easy-to-use mobile experience that allows the company to focus on doing quality work for all their customers.

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Fulmax Ditches Paper and Goes Digital With GoCanvas

The Background

Fulmax provides pest control services in Mexico, with almost 600 services performed each month. Based in Monterrey, they help families and businesses both large and small enjoy pest-free environments.

In order to provide a record of services performed for their customers, Fulmax’s employees tracked information such as the location of pests, what work was done, and when the work was performed, collecting this on paper. These forms were not only crucial for collecting information, but also to do proper billing. Fulmax sent copies of these forms to customers and to the main office for filing.

Carbon copy forms were becoming a hassle. With more copies, it became “more difficult to read and easy to lose” Gabriel Martinez, the owner of Fulmax, said. This meant that customers would struggle to understand their reports.

Worse, paper forms were slow, causing billing to take longer. Carbon copy forms weren’t just a problem for customers; they were also affecting Fulmax’s bottom line.

The Solution

In February 2013, they decided to go with GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. Fulmax found the transition almost seamless. With their free trial, they received full support from GoCanvas as they moved from paper to mobile apps.

Fulmax found itself in the same position thousands of GoCanvas customers have the GoCanvas platform—with 17,000+ customizable mobile apps, the app builder, and real-time app management—was revolutionizing their internal processes.

Now Gabriel’s workers fill out their service reports on smartphones. With GoCanvas they can:

Use Dispatch to send job information to workers in the field, saving their workforce trips back to the office.
Reduce sale cycle time, with instantaneous communication between the field and the billing office
Include the date and time stamp so the customers know exactly when the service occurred
Email a customized PDF to clients with work, including the photos, and any work that their buildings may need.

By converting to mobile apps Fulmax’s field workers can fill out their forms faster. Thus, they do more jobs in one day. Gabriel has ditched most of his paper forms, leaving only schedules and maps to paper.

Fulmax has seen real, measurable results from implementing GoCanvas.

The Outcomes

With paper forms, employees had to fill out all information by hand. Carbon copies and detailed notes left room for ambiguity and confusion. Rather than helping customers understand their work, these copies often left them with more questions.

With GoCanvas, communication, and customer service is easier for Fulmax. After each job, reports are sent immediately to the client including date and time stamps, photos, and any notes. Clients get easy-to-understand information straight in their inboxes. At the same time, Fulmax spends less time on the phone and more time doing billable work.

This new level of service differentiates Fulmax from its competitors. “We’re different here” Gabriel notes, “nobody else uses these systems.” Clients notice immediately the difference. No longer do they have to squint at pink or yellow forms. They receive clear and concise reports immediately in their inbox.

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Schmidt Equipment Inc. Goes Digital with GoCanvas

The Background

“The absolute fundamental aim is to make money out of satisfying customers” – John Egan

For over 50 years, Schmidt Equipment Inc. has provided construction equipment to the construction, and forestry industry in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island. With five locations, they provide parts, rentals, services as well as training courses on emissions. They work not only to provide for customer’s needs, but to help their customers have the best quality equipment.

The Problem

But while their customers loved their work, Schmidt Equipment had a bad relationship with paper. When doing inspections or machine deliveries, they would take photos to go with their forms. However, employees would spend hours matching photos to forms. Schmidt Equipment wasn’t the only business with this issue: PWC found that up to 11% of business documents are misfiled or lost.

With various departments and locations, sharing information was also slow and difficult. More than the time it takes to find a form, it could take hours or days to actually arrive where it is needed. This slowed down their sales cycle and response time.

The Solution

In May 2013, Schmidt Equipment switched to GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for businesses. With reasonable pricing options, they were able to start using GoCanvas on a small scale without a significant investment. GoCanvas ensured they had limited risks as they began to make the switch to mobile apps.

The Outcomes

Thousands of organizations leverage Canvas’s cloud-based, “Software-as-a-Service” mobile app platform to replace cumbersome paper forms with highly-customizable mobile business apps that improve their data collection and productivity.

Businesses can search from over 14,000 ready-made apps in the GoCanvas Application store that can be customized to an individual business user’s needs. In addition, GoCanvas offers a do-it-yourself app builder that enables non-technical users to build apps in minutes.

Results

Schmidt Equipment still has many paper forms. However, they are slowly moving towards a paperless office. “People that have done their job for 20 plus years” Mark explained, “love their paper.”Instead, he works to teach the more tech savvy employees how to use GoCanvas and find a champion in each department. Then their coworkers start to see that mobile apps are faster and easier to use than the old paper forms. Nevertheless, Schmidt Equipment has found measurable results. The benefits include:

Real Time Access to Data

The past year has shown a dramatic rise in Schmidt Equipment’s efficiency and ability to share information. Previously, these forms could take hours or days to return the office. Then, they would need additional time to enter this information into their databases and share forms with the right departments. Today their machine evaluations and inspections are all done on Samsung Galaxy phones. All evaluations and inspections going straight to the cloud, so they can easily share information across various departments and locations in real-time. What once took days now happens in minutes.

“The more important savings are not dollars – but rather efficiency gained by allowing all employees easy access to the data” – Mark Drelinger

In addition, it’s far easier for the entire to company to access this information. Previously, an employee would have to find a paper form or search through old emails for the appropriate document. Today, all these forms can be found with a quick search. GoCanvas also provides custom file naming. Thus, they can name a file on an entry in their forms such as customer name, date, or location, making searches even easier. What once took hours or days to find now happens in seconds.

Improved User Experience

Previously, filling out these inspections on paper was cumbersome. Employees would have to carry long paper forms, clipboards, as well as cameras to get photos. It was slow having to go between paper and the camera, while filling it all out by hand. Today, employees enjoy an easier and faster experience with GoCanvas. Our mobile apps provide a rich feature set to make inspections, deliveries, and other forms go faster and return with fewer errors. Some functionality Schmidt Equipment has benefitted from include:

Drop down value lists
Images captured inside the form
Required fields

With these features, forms return to the office with fewer errors and complete information. Before forms could return with whole sections missing, now any time a required field is left blank, the inspection can’t be submitted. Thus employees spend less time on forms and the office enjoys a more robust information set.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Business Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides Schmidt Equipment the flexibility to add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas makes editing apps a frictionless process. For instance, Mark initially made their mobile apps. Today, he has an administrative employee creating new apps for their company. From the beginning, they never needed to rely on IT support or have any knowledge of coding.

With GoCanvas, it’s a simple drag-and-drop interface that anyone can use. Once the edits are made, they can b shared with all of their users in real-time. What once used to take days or weeks to fully implement now happens within minutes. Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost.

Today, Schmidt Equipment is looking for more ways to turn their once slow and cumbersome processes into faster, real-time experiences with the GoCanvas mobile app. With more and more of their workforce eager and excited by the mobile experience, they are only seeing the beginning of what mobile apps can do for their growing business.

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How DC Central Kitchen Improved Their Grant Reporting

How DC Central Kitchen Saved Time and Improved Their Grant Reporting

The Background

DC Central Kitchen is a major non-profit in the DC area. They’re a leader in reducing hunger with recycled food, training unemployed adults for culinary careers, serving healthy school meals, and rebuilding urban food systems through social enterprise. They serve 10,000 meals a day. Through their Culinary Job Training program (CJT) they estimate that for every dollar spent on CJT, they reinvest $3.50 into DC in saved taxed dollars and new tax revenue.

The Problem

In their efforts to reach out and aid the DC community, DC Central Kitchen also battles the problem of food deserts. Their program, Healthy Corners, seeks to provide access to affordable produce to low-income areas. With only local corner stores, these consumers don’t have the opportunity to buy fruits and vegetables. These stores can’t buy from wholesale distributors who ask for large quantity sales.

Thus, DC Central Kitchen has set up a program to provide corner stores with wholesale priced produce in limited volumes. This partnership provides consumers more access to fresh produce at limited risk for the small corner stores.

Like most non-profits, DC Central Kitchen started with paper processes. When working with these corner stores, determining their orders, drop-offs, and other details was done with paper forms, emails, and phone calls. Not only was this disparate information hard to organize, but also created opportunities for miscommunication.

At times these errors caused delays in-store orders and slowed down their work with corner stores. With a grant from the DC government, miscommunication and missing information made their weekly grant reporting difficult as well.

DC Central Kitchen needed a system that was easier to use, faster, and better organized.

The Solution

In January 2014 DC Central Kitchen switched to GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. DC Central Kitchen found the transition almost seamless. With their free trial, they received full support from GoCanvas as they moved from paper to mobile apps. Each and every account gets a dedicated senior mobile app consultant. Together with their consultant, DC Central Kitchen was able to explain what they wanted and to create a mobile experience for their unique needs.

DC Central Kitchen found itself in the same position thousands of GoCanvas customers have; the GoCanvas platform—with 14,000+ customizable mobile apps, the app builder, and real-time app management—was revolutionizing their internal processes.

The Outcomes

With eight users on tablets, DC Central Kitchen has found real, measurable results by implementing GoCanvas. These include:

Streamlined Processes

Previously, DC Central Kitchen struggled to gather the necessary information. At the beginning of the week, store owners would call in their orders. An employee would take it down and then have to send it to the procurement manager. With various steps, it slowed down the procurement manager’s work.

In addition, drivers would take down delivery confirmations on paper. It could be hours before the drivers returned to the office with these confirmations. Then, employees had to spend additional time entering these forms into their system. With GoCanvas, both of these processes have been dramatically streamlined. Delivery confirmation, as well as order information, are collected on-site. Every finished form goes straight to the cloud. No longer do employees need to spend additional time on data entry.DC Central Kitchen has customized its apps for even faster processes. The store orders are emailed directly to the procurement manager. Bills go to the accounting department in real time. This automation reduces the opportunity for human error as well as makes orders easier and faster. What once required hours of additional work can now be accessed by the DC Central Kitchen team in seconds.

Faster Grant Reporting

Previously, DC Central Kitchen had a time-consuming process to gather information for grant reporting. They’d have to set up phone calls, or meetings to learn about inventory levels, and what consumers were buying. This process required additional time and work from an already busy non-profit staff and small business owners. Today, much of this information can be gathered on-site during product deliveries. At the local businesses, DC Central Kitchen asks the necessary grant reporting questions. Not only does using GoCanvas reduce the number of meetings, but also gives DC Central Kitchen real-time information via the cloud.

In addition, DC Central Kitchen needs demographic information on the customers of these local stores. With GoCanvas, DC Central Kitchen easily interviews customers and local residents at Healthy Corners kick-off events. At these events, DC Central Kitchen demonstrates ways to cook with fresh produce and provides customers with more information about the program and how to utilize it fully. Employees attend with tablets, so they can take down information quickly at events and have it stored in the cloud immediately. No filing or data entry, no messy handwritten notes, just demographic information was quickly taken down in the field and useable at the office.

Time for Creative Problem Solving

Nonprofits, often having fewer resources than businesses, can struggle to get everything done. For DC Central Kitchen, switching to GoCanvas has created an amazing new resource for their staff: time. Streamlined processes free up hours once spent on administrative processes.Now the Healthy Corners team can spend that time expanding their program in new and exciting ways. For Janell Walker, Director of Nutrition and Community Outreach, this is important. She says, “People can be more creative when they have more time. Time crunches keep you from being creative and finding solutions to problems. Turning to a digital application allows people to be more responsive and more efficient in their work.”

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides DC Central Kitchen the flexibility to quickly add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas apps can be updated easily, with no programming required. For instance, as DC Central Kitchen’s grant requirements change, they can easily go into their GoCanvas account and simply update their report app to reflect new questions. Within seconds, these changes will be updated for all their users. This allows for an easy transition and can be done by anyone in the office. Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost.

Today, DC Central Kitchen’s Healthy Corners program continues to go strong. With more than 50 stores participating, they have enjoyed $40,000 in annual sales of healthy food options. DC Central Kitchen plans on helping even more low-income residents enjoy access to great food options. Because of efficient and streamlined information gathering, they can continue to focus on creative solutions for DC and beyond.

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