What Are Businesses Using Mobile Apps For?

What Are Businesses Using Mobile Apps For?

Have you ever wondered how other companies are using mobile apps to run their business processes?

We have, too. And we have some great information on this that we’re excited to share with you, based on a recent survey we did.

Rather than just hit you with a ton of data, we wanted to do something a little more visual. See below for how some key industries are using mobile apps to run their businesses.

It is amazing seeing companies revolutionize their business processes and data collection efforts with mobile apps and devices. See below if you’re interested in more details from our survey.

63 percent of businesses see value integrating core business applications – such as Dropbox, Square, Salesforce, Evernote and Quickbooks – with mobile devices and tools. Interested in integrating the data you’re collecting with GoCanvas with other office systems and software? Get in touch with us and we’d be happy to help!

Our survey was completed by more than 1,100 decision makers from a broad range of company sizes and industries that have historically relied heavily on paper forms and manual processes, most prominently construction and contracting (24.4%), retail and distribution (11.7%), healthcare (9.4%), manufacturing (8.7%), transportation & logistics (2.9%), and government (2.3%).

The survey points to an increasingly mobile workforce that is looking to extend more day-to-day business processes to their mobile devices, and the fact that structured and unstructured data collection and collaboration apps are rising to the top of the business decision maker wish list. When it comes to specific tasks businesses are using mobile apps for, respondents cited:

  • Inspections (46%)
  • Work Orders (31%)
  • Checklists (28%)
  • Surveys (19%)
  • Invoices (15%)
  • Inventories (8%)
  • Other (34%)

Additional key survey findings:

  • File storage: Well more than half (57%) of businesses are using file storage applications, and of those businesses using file storage applications Dropbox is the dominant choice (51%), followed by Google Drive (16%), Box (8%) and SkyDrive (6%).
  • Note taking software: 32% of businesses surveyed use note taking software or applications for their business. Of those businesses using this type of software/application, 45% use Evernote, 29% use Notepad, and 5% use Google Keep.
  • Credit card processing: 13% are using mobile credit card processing applications in their business, with 44% using Square; 13% using Intuit GoPayment; 12% using PayPal mobile; and 31% using other services.
  • CRM: 30% use a CRM system in their business, and of respondents using CRM tools, Salesforce commands nearly half (45%) of users.
  • Accounting: 48% of businesses surveyed use an accounting application, with nearly half (48%) of those businesses using Quickbooks, followed by 8% using Sage.

James Quigley, our CEO, is not surprised by the fact that businesses are going mobile. “What this survey demonstrates is that organizations of all shapes and sizes are looking to a broadening array of mobile services to improve their business processes. Everyone from educational institutions and hospitals to large construction companies and service organizations are shifting core business processes to mobile; drawn to the ability of mobile apps to solve challenges associated with inefficient paper-based processes.”

This survey of GoCanvas customers, conducted February 2014, included companies from a broad range of industries and sizes. Of the respondents, 29% were from businesses with 500+ employees; 21% were from businesses with 101-500 employees; 17% worked at organizations with 26-100 employees; and 33% hailed from small businesses with 25 employees or less.

We’d love to help your organization go mobile and save time and money while eliminating slow and inefficient paperwork. Try us free today!

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Businesses Shift from paper forms to Mobile Apps

The GoCanvas survey of more than 1,100 businesses points to an increasingly mobile workforce shifting day-to-day business processes from paper forms to mobile apps.

Construction businesses are using mobile apps for: 35.1% of Checklists; 63.5% of Inspections; 37.6% of Work orders.

$80 – The annual cost of paper per employee.

Retail Businesses are using mobile apps for 31% of Surveys; 34,9% of Checklist; 46.2% of Inspections.

$2,182.62 – Annual cost of owning and operating a standard five-drawer file cabinet.

Manufacturing Businesses are using mobile apps for: 36% Work orders; 23% Surveys; 48% Inspections.

70% of businesses would fail in 3 weeks if they had a catastrophic loss of paper due to a fire or flood.

General businesses are using mobile apps for: 35.1% Checklists; 37.6% Work Orders; 63.5% Inspections.

63% of businesses see value in integrating mobility with core business applications, such as file storage, CRM, credit card processing, note-taking, and accounting.

Healthcare Businesses are using mobile apps for: 30.4% Work Orders; 20.5% Invoices; 12.5% Checklists.

The Evolution of Data Storage

The Evolution of Data Storage

Time cards, floppy disks, zip drives, and GoCanvas, we’re all a part of the evolution of data storage. Today, we’re taking a look back at the ways we’ve collected and stored information. 

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The evolution of data storage

A look back at the last 134 years of data storage.

1880s punch card – a device that helped analyze the 1890s US census data more efficiently than by hand.

1950s magnetic tape – originally made to record audio, became the new storage method of choice.

1962s cassette tape – the Philips company of the Netherlands invented and released the first compact audio-cassette

1963s removable hard drive – IBM brought out the first removable hard drive, which had six 14-inch platters and held 2.6MB.

1971s floppy disk – IBM introduces the first floppy disk which greatly increased the convenience of data handling.

1982s CD-ROM – Sony and Phillips were the first to bring CDs to the market.

1990s CD-Recordable – Sony comes out with a compact disc that can record and erase as well as playback.

1994s Zip Drive – Introduced by Lomega, it was never popular enough to replace the floppy disk nor cloud ever match the storage size on CDs.

1995’s DVD-R – Digital optical disc storage format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic.

1999 SD Card – by Panasonic, Toshiba, and SanDisk, had the ability to store and encrypted data from music to use in phones and cameras.

2000 USB Flashdrive – A rewritable plug-and-play storage device first sold by IBM and Trek Technology.

2013 The Cloud – More than half of the business use could be storage. As of 2013, 1 Exabyte of data is stored in the cloud (that’s 1,073,741,824 GB).

The Surprising Cost of Paper

The Surprising Cost of Paper

What’s the cost of paper to the environment and your office? It’s larger than you think.

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Visualizing paper usage

10,000 Sheets of paper are used a year by the average office worker.

344 pounds of paper is recovered for recycling from each person living in the United States.

How much paper is actively being produced?

The United States and Canada are the world’s largest producers of paper and paper products. Finland, Japan, and Sweden are the next largest producers.

In 1997, the total weight of world paper and paperboard production was equivalent to 200,000 VW Beetles.

126% increase in paper production over the last 20 years.

Computer usage is not decreasing the amount of paper we use.

How much would 120,000 pounds of paper save?

  • 1,000 Trees
  • 22,800 Gallons of oil
  • 2,400,000 Kilowatts of energy
  • 420,000 Gallons of Water

Paper: The price you pay

Each filing cabinet costs 1,500$ per year. Every 12 cabinets require an additional employee to maintain and operate.

40% percentage of time lost searching for files by a typical employee.

70% of today’s businesses would fail within 3 weeks due to a fire or flash flood.

18 mins the average time it takes to find a document.

Every 12 seconds a document is lost by a large organization in the U.S. Soon there will be 4 trillion documents stored by government and business agencies.

Brofort Deploys GoCanvas Mobile Business Apps on Samsung Tabs

Brofort Deploys GoCanvas Mobile Business Apps on Samsung Tabs

Overview 

Deployment of mobile apps helps automate retail roll-outs, installations, and merchandising for this Canadian business leader.

The Background

Reston, VA, 2011: GoCanvas announced today that Brofort Inc., a leader in services for the retail industry across Canada has deployed its mobile Business App solution to their field workers nationwide.  Brofort specializes in retail rollouts, fixture installation, merchandising, and interior remodeling across multiple stores typically in very condensed time frames. Some of Brofort’s premier clients include Best Buy, Safeway, and Staples

The Problem

Prior to GoCanvas, sign-off sheets were filled out by installers and then faxed to a central location. Once received, the forms were downloaded from a fax server, sorted, and then uploaded to a separate internal site. In parallel, photos of completed work would come in via separate e-mails and again be downloaded, reviewed, sorted, and uploaded to the site. There were many challenges with this approach beyond the obvious time delays and resource requirements. Often times installers would inadvertently forget to complete important sections of the paper forms, handwriting in some cases was illegible, and the quality of the fax image frequently was less than optimal and difficult to read.

The Solution

With the implementation of GoCanvas, data is now being collected in real-time on-field workers’ Samsung Galaxy Android Tablets. The end result is an auto-generated electronic form (PDF) complete with critical store-by-store installation status as well as photos of completed work embedded within the same electronic document. Because the GoCanvas service enables users to mark data collection fields as mandatory, the key pieces of information that once could be missing are now being consistently captured from the field

The Outcomes

Brofort has adopted GoCanvas as its primary mechanism for site work verification and store-level sign-off. The implementation of GoCanvas has resulted in a significant increase in the speed at which this vital information is being retrieved from the field and is providing a dramatic improvement in the accuracy of this data.

“We looked at a number of solutions but settled on GoCanvas.  Their solution supported a large number of mobile platforms, which allowed us to place the technology in our field’s hands without bearing the expense of upgrading all of our devices.  With Canvas’s flexible pricing options, we were able to custom fit the right plan to the right mobile worker profile based on their frequency of use.”

– Rick Whitley, Vice President, Brofort

“Brofort’s deployment of GoCanvas has not only improved their own internal processes but continues to differentiate them from competitors in their space.  With GoCanvas they can also self-serve their own needs, building more applications that continue to keep them ahead of the game,”  added James Quigley CEO, GoCanvas.

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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