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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Background

The Co-operative Group, based in the UK, is one of the world’s largest community-focused food retailers. It is also the largest organization of its type in the UK with over eight million members. They even have a store in every single UK postal area (2,800 food stores and Petrol stations total nationwide).

The Problem

The Co-operative Group sought a solution to allow their field management team – responsible for conducting on-site store audits – to ditch pen and paper-based audits in favor of a mobile solution to enable them to spend less time in the office on paperwork and more time on the shop floor, improving their document management practices in the process.

The Solution

The Co-operative Group led an initiative to address this challenge and turned to GoCanvas. Thousands of organizations all over the world leverage our cloud-based, software-as-a-service mobile app platform to replace cumbersome paper forms with highly customizable mobile business apps. These forms can be filled out on any mobile device, and the data can be shared in real time so there are no delays or additional manual data entry required.

To help subscribers get started, the GoCanvas application store has over 20,000 ready-made apps that can be easily customized to an individual business user’s needs, with no limits on how many apps can be used. GoCanvas also offers a do-it-yourself app builder that enables non-technical users to build apps in minutes, with no programming or coding needed.

GoCanvas enables organizations such as The Co-operative Group to convert paper-based processes to electronic forms rapidly and cost-effectively. The Co-operative Group launched multiple apps for this project, including:

• In-store internal audits and checks – Mobile apps are used to conduct day-to-day checks that ensure stores are up to standard, operating legally and complying with health and safety standards. As part of the audit process, the data captured is transmitted in real-time to Head Office. This ensures that any issues can be dealt with immediately and without delay.
• Toolkits – GoCanvas mobile apps are used for stores facing a specific issue such as cash loss or workforce management problems. Unlike the audits, these apps are permanently assigned to users. The apps ensure the user asks the right questions of their teams. When the user indicates a policy or procedure is not being followed, the app advises them on how to remedy the situation.

The Outcomes

The ease of the GoCanvas service for both back-end IT administrators and front-end users, along with strategy and leadership provided by the core Co-operative Group Food team driving the project allowed the organization to get 230 Field Managers using the system for these business processes almost overnight. This followed an initial two-month development and trial phase that exceeded expectations. From the initial launch of 230 Field Manager users, an additional 400+ users have been added to GoCanvas. New users include health & safety teams and the quality assurance team. The Co-operative Group’s use of GoCanvas has expanded to include conducting risk assessments and monitoring the quality and freshness of their products.

The shift from paper-based forms and manual processes for auditing and sales to GoCanvas mobile apps has delivered significant productivity and cost benefits to UK Co-operative Group Food, including:

Transformative Change in Work Culture

GoCanvas users access the apps via a combination of devices including iPads, iPhones, Android devices, and Windows PCs. Using GoCanvas has sparked a change in work culture and the way that hundreds of field workers operate. They are more efficient, spend less time at the office inputting data from paper forms and can focus more time on their jobs.

Real Time Access to Data

With almost 700 users, The Co-operative Group leverages GoCanvas for detailed data analysis that can be collected and shared in real-time throughout the organization. Canvas’s cloud-based platform has allowed The Co-operative Group to leave behind paper forms in favor of real-time, actionable intelligence.

The data captured via GoCanvas is transmitted in real-time to corporate offices. Therefore, store issues can be dealt with immediately and without delays. Compliance rates for their stores are often close to 100%. At the corporate office, decision-makers now receive reliable, standardized data delivered in real-time, eliminating the need to collate and organize thousands of datasets.

Improved Information Flow

As a cloud-based mobile service, GoCanvas has provided The Co-operative Group with the flexibility to easily add or edit each app, as user and business needs evolve. With other mobile app alternatives, making even minor changes within each app was cumbersome. At the same time, The Co-operative Group can now create fully customizable forms depending on particular business requirements. This flexibility allows the synchronous flow of information seamlessly between the corporate office and the field teams.

Rapid App Deployment 

Canvas’s intuitive mobile app platform has enabled The Co-operative Group to create and deploy apps for key business processes in a matter of days, by non-technical users within the organization.

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.

The Background

Cascade Integration, Inc. has over 20 years of experience in Residential and Commercial low voltage and electrical systems. The team understands every aspect of electrical and low voltage wiring, including automation, audio and video systems, lighting control, networking, security, camera surveillance, and advanced structured wiring.

More than experience, Cascade Integration brings exceptional service to its customers. Whether a commercial or residential project, distributed audio, or a home theatre, this business strives for great quality work finished in a timely fashion.

The Problem

Yet, as Cascade Integration was growing, back-end processes were undermining its work. Getting work orders back from the field was time-consuming. “Our guys would have to remember to fill it out right, track it to the calendar, and turn it in on Mondays,” explained Jay Divine.

As the company grew, teams would start to have turn their paperwork in every other week. “It was slowing down everything,” Jay said, “including our billing.” All of the paperwork, data entry, and additional work would require an entire day of work.

On top of slow turnaround for work orders, the language wasn’t standardized on bid forms. Each of the project managers had a different way of saying the same thing. This made creating bids more complicated. In addition, the estimating software with prices was back at the office. Without important information in the field, errors would occur in some bids. Confusion around these forms slowed down Cascade’s process in getting new business.

Cascade Integration realized that paper forms were holding it back from even more growth. It began looking for a solution that would improve processes and allow employees to focus on providing great work.

The Solution

In October 2014, Cascade Integration switched to 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 16,000 ready-made information-gathering app templates 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 their own custom apps in minutes.

The Outcomes

Cascade Integration’s 25 employees in both Hawaii and Washington State have ditched paper and now use GoCanvas mobile apps. The transition was easy: Cascade uses a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, reducing hardware costs. To begin, the team gathered for 10 minutes to go over how to use GoCanvas. A month later, the team came back together and discussed any outstanding issues or problems and fixed them quickly.

Over the past six months, the company has discovered measurable results.

Improved Data Accuracy

Handwritten forms have always had information issues, missing fields, unclear handwriting, and incorrect information. Cascade Integration struggled with these issues as well.

By using GoCanvas, this organization has gotten rid of many common types of errors. Required fields ensure that all work orders submitted to the office return completely filled out. Reference data allows them to prepopulate apps with pricing and product information. Speech-to-text options have made it easy for all employees to fill out the information as well. In addition, all submissions (completed forms) are automatically emailed to the office. Once an employee has filled out a work order, it’s stored in their GoCanvas account in the cloud. Work orders no longer get lost between jobs, or forgotten in the truck. By going mobile, Cascade Integration has more accurate data and made capturing it easier than ever before.

Standardized Language

Previously, bids for projects were different from manager to manager. With different word choices and different focuses, it made it difficult for estimators to properly assess a project. Often, project managers would go through and fill out parts that weren’t pertinent to the project or omitted things that were necessary. This slowed down potential bids and chances to get new projects.

By switching to GoCanvas, all bids are now filled out in a standardized format. Drop-down lists, required fields, and other GoCanvas functionalities allow Cascade Integration to have a streamlined and standard bid form. Another powerful feature, conditional logic, has also improved the experience. With conditional logic, project managers can skip parts of the bid form depending on how they answer certain questions. So, this feature saves project managers’ time, helping them to focus on the parts that matter. Going mobile has reduced confusion and error as well as making it faster to fill out information for bids.

Streamlined Administrative Processes

When working with paperwork orders, the process for billing was painful and time-consuming. “The challenge,” Jay explained, “was getting all the paperwork back in time. Everyone waited until the last minute. It led to a stressful scramble.”Today, all work orders return in real-time to the cloud. When Jay goes to do billing, all information is available, accurate, and ready for processing. With an integration to Google Drive, it’s become even faster.

This streamlined administrative process has saved a significant amount of time: Though Jay has 50% more work for billing, he is able to complete it in the same amount of time. Faster billing processes has allowed them to grow and maintain a short sales cycle.

Improved Oversight

Before, jobs were scheduled using Google Calendar. This allowed management and employees to easily see and understand what was happening, especially as the number of employees grew. However, tracking jobs and understanding the work in real time was lacking. Today, Cascade Integration uses GoCanvas in tandem with Google Calendar. With our light dispatch functionality, jobs are sent to employees as pre-populated forms with information including customer name, address, and the work wanted by the customer, allowing employees to get started working quickly.

Not only do employees spend less time filling out forms but management also gets more oversight. With dispatch, management can see when a dispatched job has been opened and when it is sent back to the office. With both Google and GoCanvas, management can understand the big picture schedule and the details of each job in real time.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Business Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides 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 pricing for tools or products changes, it’s easy for management to add or update information into its GoCanvas apps. Cascade Integration doesn’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, Cascade Integration receives better information and enjoys faster processes. As a growing business, it can focus on continuing to provide the best electrical systems service to customers. 

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

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