How mobile forms improve workflows

This blog was written by Monique van Zuylen, Digital Marketing Manager at GoFormz.‍

If you’re unfamiliar with mobile forms they are digital forms that can be filled out on tablets and phones. These mobile forms, which can look identical to your existing paper documents, help teams work more efficiently.

When companies, particularly service or research companies, are reliant on paper forms for a service they execute or other type of data input outside of the office, there’s risk for data loss from forms being damaged by the elements, lost in transport, or incorrectly completed. Paper can also be costly to companies requiring printed forms and documents, binders and more. Finally, there’s an element of inefficiency that can come from paper forms. First, since most companies want information digitized, starting with paper requires double the input. Second, teams are unable to instantly access paper documents. For example, if multiple data inputs are needed from multiple customers, there will be a lag in recording the data without digital forms.

When mobile forms are paired with a content platform like Egnyte, your mobile workforce can collect highly accurate information and instantly route completed documents to your entire team – no matter their location. This means that completed forms are immediately available to the back-office for review, which helps expedite data processing and reduces administrative demands (like scanning, filing, etc.).

Here are a few more reasons companies should be using mobile forms:

‍Streamline field data capture‍

Using mobile forms in the field provides new opportunities to expedite and simplify data collection. Mobile forms can be filled out and submitted directly from a user’s phone or tablet, even offline. This means field teams no longer need to worry about manual paperwork tools (like paper forms, pens, and clipboards) or locating a cell signal to complete documents – they can be instantly submitted from mobile devices, no matter how remote the location. Any form changes and submissions you make while offline are uploaded as soon as you reach a signal. Once uploaded, forms and data are instantly available to the back-office for processing and review.

‍Improve data quality‍

Digital forms can contain conditional logic and workflow rules, both of which significantly elevate the quality of collected data and enforce document sharing procedures and rules. For example, a form can require a signature before it can be submitted, enforcing proper procedures and eliminating the submission of incomplete forms. Mobile forms can also host database fields, like drop-down menus and barcode scanning, which pull from collections of your business data to populate relevant fields with highly accurate information, instantly.

Finally, data accuracy can be further improved with automatic calculations, which eliminates the need for problematic manual math. For example, automatic calculations could instantly sum line items, expenses, research data and more.

‍Leverage new data types Mobile forms can also host a variety of data types that paper forms simply cannot handle. Visual data types like images, sketches, and maps help illustrate captured data. With increased insight into activity happening outside the office, back-office personnel and management can better oversee the productivity of their teams regardless of their location.

‍Store and organize collected data and documents in Egnyte‍

Finally, connecting your mobile forms to Egnyte will automatically and instantaneously enrich your account with timely documents and new types of visual information that would otherwise be cumbersome to collect. Mobile forms can even be routed to specific Egnyte folders based on data entered into specific form fields (e.g. a customer’s name). Leveraging Egnyte’s search capabilities, forms are easy to locate and reference whenever you need.

‍Digitizing your forms collection‍

Digitizing your forms, whether they’re forms for field or market research, sales forms, project plans, or any other form, (with platforms like GoFormz) results in more efficient data collection and richer, more accurate data. You can convert your existing paper forms to identical digital versions by using your phone or tablet to collect data on-the-go and automatically push the completed forms to your Egnyte account. To learn more about digitizing your paper data with GoFormz, check out the GoFormz – Egnyte integration.