5 Questions - Are You Ready to Mobilize Your Forms?

Have you been thinking about how a mobile app might help your business? If you have staff in the field servicing customers, doing inspections, delivering product or completing service tickets, it might be the right time to abandon your aging paper based system. But is now the right time?

Like any business investment, careful consideration about the different possibilities, options and costs must be thought out.  Every business is different.  So how do you know if mobile technology is right for you?  Here are 5 questions to consider. If you answer YES to most of them, you should be thinking about replacing your paper-based forms with mobile forms!

1. Do You Have More Than Five (5) Mobile Workers?
Our 10+ years in the mobile industry show the benefits of a mobile solution is best realized with 5 or more users in the field.  So, even a small businesses can reap the rewards just like companies such as UPS, FedEx or Schwan's.

2. Do Your Forms Come Back Incomplete, Improperly Filled Out or Difficult to Read?
This is the biggest headache associated with paper forms.  They often come back incomplete, with data in the wrong place or with handwriting that is simply unreadable. This takes time to resolve, often by placing a phone call to ask the employee to explain their scribblings.  With mobile forms, built-in rules can make sure the data is complete, is in the right place and handwriting is not a factor. What's the benefit:  Time Savings and better data!

3. Do You Manually Enter Form Data into A Database or System?
Data entry is never fun!  What's worse is when it's based on incoming data that may not be accurate or read properly. As the saying goes, "Garbage In, Garbage Out". Using mobile forms, data entry is history because the incoming data is automatically fed into your system where it can be immediately used for analysis, reporting, billing, etc.  What's the benefit:  HUGE time savings, and admin staff can focus on other tasks!

4. Are You Struggling to Respond to Situations Fast Enough?
Mobile forms allow workers to transmit the information they collect immediately! This means when things go a little off-track, you have actionable information within minutes, not 8, 15, 24 or ? hours later when the data gets entered.  Communication gaps are closed, customers get better service and hi-priority situations are resolved faster with less negative impact.  What's the benefit:  Better customer service, fewer high-impact emergencies.

5. Would You Like to Shorten Billing Cycles or Other Processes that Cause Delays Due to Data Entry?
In a best case scenario, hand-written forms are entered the day after they are completed. However, we've seen businesses wait weeks to get that data entered. This lengthens business processes, billing cycles and can put management out of touch with what's happening outside the office. Again, mobile forms bring data in faster and are not effected by other high-priority tasks or employees who are sick or on vacation.  What's the benefit:  Process business actions faster, shorten billing cycles, stay in tune with what's happening in the field.

Well, how did you do?  If you answered YES to 3 or more, it's time to rethink those paper forms.  Mobile forms have many benefits that we would like to talk with you about.  If you'd like to explore mobilizing your paper-based forms, we have a simple form on our web page where you can tell us about your needs.  Here is the URL: http://www.mobiledataforce.com/project_form.php

Thanks for reading!

Tim Cerami
Information Architect @ MobileDataforce, Inc.
www.mobiledataforce.com - 208-384-1200

The Importance of Dashboards in Mobile Solutions

Dashboards have been around for years. We've grown to expect them in cars, planes and other forms for transportation. Did you ever think that almost everything we operate has some form of dashboard?  Things like kitchen ovens, washing machines, televisions and many other household items have some form of screen-based or physical (knobs, levers & buttons) dashboard.

Dashboards, regardless of how simple, are generally designed for two purposes. One, to help you operate the item, and two, alert you when something important has occurred. So why does a mobile software company find the topic of dashboards important enough to write about? Here's why:

Mobile workers are often face-to-face with critical events and activities. They see empty store shelves, interact directly with patients, take orders on the fly and otherwise react to their environment. In many cases, what they witness in the field requires swift action from another person in the office. That's where the dashboard comes in. When the field person takes certain actions, like creating an incident report or generating an urgent order on their device, that information can appear on the dashboard where it can be responded to quickly.  For more vital situations, an email or TXT message could also be sent.

We live in a time where people expect instant communication, especially when something happens that needs quick and careful attention. Try as we may to avoid them, unexpected situations happen. To mitigate the risks associated with the "unexpected", FieldSync solutions like Rx, Supported Living, Structural Data, and Automotive all include a dashboard interface. We also consult clients on including a dashboard into their custom mobile solutions.

Our dashboard design is a great example of how we're integrating new design concepts that help our mobile solutions deliver better customer service, increase productivity and improve communications.

by Tim Cerami
Information Architect @ MobileDataForce/FieldSync Mobile Solutions