15 ways to Transform your Business with Mobile Forms

Quixy Editorial Team

August 9, 2023

Technology – our lives currently revolve around it.

According to a recent study by MarketsandMarkets, the global mobile forms automation market is expected to grow from $259.98 million in 2021 to 469.63 million by 2031, at a CAGR of 10.63%. This growth is being driven by a number of factors, including the increasing need for businesses to collect data efficiently and accurately, the growing popularity of remote work, and the need to comply with increasingly complex regulations. Every business across the globe is forced to embrace technology. The adoption of mobile forms is one of the most important digital transformation trends of recent years. Mobile forms are helping businesses to improve their efficiency, productivity, accuracy, compliance, and customer experience.

What are Mobile Forms?

A digital version of a paper form is termed a mobile form. You can open it and fill it in using any device, including your smartphone.

An app with multiple forms (each defining a specific purpose) is called a mobile forms app.

This single change can spell the demise of paper forms because, hey, who has the flexibility to use paper now? It not only increases overheads, but it also poses a health risk in today’s times. Digitizing forms, thus, makes so much more sense and brings numerous benefits to organizations. This is why there’s a significant demand in the market for mobile form apps at the moment. What’s more, many mobile form apps also allow organizations to automate complete workflows to make the whole process seamless and quick.

Also read: RIP paper-based forms – It’s time to go paperless with forms automation

Key Benefits of Mobile Forms

Is convenience the only benefit mobile forms offer? Absolutely not. The benefits are manifold, and a few are baffling! Let’s skim through them –

• They boost productivity: Mobile forms are easy and quick and ensure no wasted time. The time that was once spent doing the paperwork can now be spent much more efficiently on other important tasks.
• They remove the need for users to have physical access to the forms: Mobile forms can be used using any device from anywhere. So if you cannot visit the office, as in times of a pandemic, work doesn’t have to stop.
• They reduce overheads: Paper is expensive. Along with paper, you have to invest in related stationery. The time spent doing paperwork also translates to a loss of money. Moreover, because the risk of errors is high, there is a great chance of repeated work. All this adds to the company’s overhead. Mobile forms simply take this pain away.
• They put an end to errors in manual processes: Automation and digital transformation together dole out one huge benefit – accuracy. Mobile form apps will not make mistakes. If someone fills in the wrong information, correcting it online is much faster than the regular means.
• They help employees refocus: All the time saved by using mobile forms is put to great use. Employees can start participating in strategic decision-making and working towards company growth. This approach also boosts employee morale and raises everyone’s spirit.
• They enable real-time information sharing: In the world of paper forms, information sharing is slow. One individual fills the form, then it goes for approvals (and came back for changes), after which it is posted/sent for signatures, etc. This easily takes a couple of days. A simple form, therefore, needs around a week to be completed and returned to the organization. Mobile forms enable real-time information sharing because they can be sent through the Internet in a matter of seconds. A week’s worth of work can be done in a couple of minutes! Besides being uber cool, this translates to quicker decisions, faster evaluations, and instant feedback.
• They encourage transparency: Online, pretty much everything is tracked. Plus, mobile forms allow sending reminder notifications, including timestamps, etc. This increases accountability and ensures that everything is happening according to compliance. There’s no room for hidden games online.
• They care for data security and storage: Security is a major concern for all organizations. Paper can be stolen with ease. But since data on the mobile forms is stored on the server, it is much better protected. The security risk is minimal, and data doesn’t get lost or misplaced.
• They have offline capability: Most mobile form apps also allow offline registrations. This removes the hassle of connectivity if you are in areas where the network is weak.
• They allow better management: Thanks to mobile forms; managers know who fills a form, when, and from where. Managers have the power to create form permissions as well so that access to certain details is restricted. Group forms, individual forms, specific permissions, etc., can easily be segregated and given out, making management more streamlined without hassle.

Top 15 ways to use mobile forms

There is no doubt that Mobile forms are the need of the hour, but the question is, “How can a mobile form data collection help my business?”

There are so many different ways in which mobile forms can help! You can use them for various purposes, all from a single app on your phone. To help you understand better, we have penned down a few top ways to use them –

1. Job reports

Working from home is the new normal. This has increased the importance of daily job reports. But, at the end of the day, if a few team members send incomplete reports, a few others prefer calling their managers, and the rest forget, it is difficult to sketch out the progress. Managers will waste a lot of time following up, waiting, and trying to collate all the data.

Mobile forms make this easy by allowing employees to upload all data through their phones within minutes. They don’t need to write an email or get to their computers. This enables accurate data collection, quick assessment, and proper tracking of the job lists.

This can also be used to submit job reports for field activities in various industries. This data, once submitted, becomes available to other users who have permission to access that data. All in real-time

2. Invoices and Billing

Invoices are a crucial part of any business and quite tedious too. Manual invoicing is a huge process that takes a lot of energy. Wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to automate this? Mobile forms do just that! They give real-time data and give managers an instant report on all the purchase orders received, products/services sold, etc. Managers can then use this information to create invoices on the fly. There’s no back and forth at all!

3. Custom PDFs

Top mobile form apps will help you send custom PDFs of the data collected. You can create templates to be used for the same. These look like physical forms complete with logos and other company details, enabling instant printing whenever needed.

Also read: 10 Key Business Processes you can Accelerate with Document Generation Software

4. Service quotes

Did you know that businesses waste a lot of time coming up with a quote for their products and services? When a potential client asks for a quote, the sooner you send it, the better your chances of closing the deal. Any delays can cause the client to move on. The process automatically speeds up with mobile forms because a service/salesperson can use a mobile form from anywhere to select the product/service being offered, any applicable discounts and special conditions, and submit the quote. The quote, once approved, is automatically routed to the customer.

5. Remote locations

So many infrastructure projects are executed in remote locations with limited or no access to the internet. Similarly, on-field executives, when visiting customers door to door, cannot always expect internet connectivity on their devices. Mobile forms with an offline facility are a lifesaver for all these scenarios. So, if the field staff is in a remote location without Internet connectivity, they do not have to panic. They can still capture all the information they need using mobile forms. This may include simple text data, signatures, or any photographs taken. Once the mobile device gets access to the internet, all the offline data is automatically transmitted and synced with the central server.

Also read: 5 reasons going paperless reduces paper trail risk for any business

6. Logistics management

This use of mobile forms is a blessing for logistics companies. Their entire business relies on fleet management. For every haul, drivers can use mobile forms to fill in data and send it to the office. They won’t have to physically visit the office every day to log in updates. The end customers will also benefit from this because they will know the real-time status of their deliveries.

7. Maintenance reports

A lot of industries use expensive equipment in the field for which maintenance reports need to be maintained properly. These reports are crucial to predict any servicing that may be required in the future. It also gives organizations a platform to troubleshoot when the need arises. A simple maintenance report form on a mobile device will take care of all this, along with giving them a chance to meet sudden requirements. The form is on their phone. They just have to fill it whenever a job comes in!

8. Supply chain management

A mobile form can help track items being used, brought in, and dispatched from the facility. This data can be compared to the order details to ensure that everything is going smoothly. It also allows you to update the CRM and make the billing process move faster.

9. Inspection forms

Inspections are common in any industry. It may be an EHS officer capturing health and safety data, a construction manager inspecting a project site, or a driver recording the health parameters of the vehicle. Most of these inspections are done on the shop-floor, project site, or field. Mobile forms-based inspections allow users to capture the data at the source using any mobile device. All submitted data becomes available in the central server in real time.

10. Tracking status

Tracking was once a tiresome endeavor. Managers found it very difficult to keep track of the workflow because there are so many steps to examine. A mobile app can notify the manager instead, allowing him/her to track each step or provide approvals without doing much. If they want to know the status of a particular task, understand the roadblocks, or approve any activity, they can simply do it with a mobile form. Easy!

11. Dispatching

This comes in handy when employees are working out of the office or traveling for work. A single notification through the mobile forms app will tell them about a new job or requirement. It will also give them all the information needed. Teamwork is also easy despite being physically distant because employees in the team know each other’s progress.

12. Purchase order requests

How about sending a request that immediately creates a purchase order? Awesome, right? That’s what mobile forms do! They help employees send requests for purchases in a jiffy, regardless of where they are. The accounts team then has to approve, which can be done within minutes. It also ensures that no receipts are lost because employees can instantly upload photos of the receipts. No need to scan!

What’s more, the accounts team can match the bill with the purchase order later and ensure that only authorized items have been purchased.

13. Job proposals

Prospective clients can receive job proposals in an instant through modern and professional templates. The mobile form is easily capable of doing this. It also ensures secure authorization through digital signatures.

14. Employee timesheet

Mobile forms can help track timesheets during payroll processing. HR and accounting just need to go through the data at the end of the month and dispatch payments. These forms can clock in overtime, the number of hours worked, leaves, etc., and allow dynamic fields where necessary.

15. Incident reporting

Whether it is about damages or an incident in the workplace, reporting it instantly, along with the required details, is crucial. It can help the team address it immediately and ensure timely action. Paper forms delay the process because images must be printed, and everything must be filled manually. On a mobile form, things can be instant.

Also read: 20 reasons why going paperless and shifting to digital forms will be a major trend in the near future

What more can mobile forms do?

Mobile forms can replace paper forms, from employee evaluation to materials logs and everything in between. They can help in every aspect, making the whole process of running a business more seamless.

Summary

Mobile forms are here to stay. Even after everyone goes back to work, they will have a significant impact because they shower so many benefits on their users.

Quixy is a leading no-code platform that lets you build your own mobile form apps and customize them based on your company’s needs. Get started with our platform, and experience the ease of automated processes and personalized app building. Don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn and other social media handles.

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