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While much attention has been paid to mobile apps and their impact on business-to-consumer engagement (a recent Nielsen report found that consumers are spending more than 43 hours per month engaging with mobile apps and websites), there are also significant possibilities for internal business apps to transform business processes. Data from business users demonstrates the return on investment potential for enterprise apps: According to a 2013 study commissioned by mobile platform FeedHenry, 100 IT decision-makers cited less paperwork as the biggest benefit of mobile apps. This was followed by more timely access to information, ease-of-use, speed of data input and improved data accuracy.
Most business processes require some method of data capture – whether electronic- or paper-based – with forms being used to facilitate specific tasks, such as inspections, work orders, delivery orders, surveys, finance and human resource items, inventory, asset management, and more. But the findings of the 2013 survey speak directly to sentiments around workflows and processes currently in place: Businesses interviewed indicated a hunger for additional user-friendly automation tools to replace cumbersome paper processes.
Traditionally, any kind of automation solution required significant changes in worker behavior – workers had to gather data via paper-based forms and then enter information onto a computer at a different location (or worse, were tasked with carrying around a laptop that was both cumbersome and often lacked a network connection). Today, mobile apps offer a game-changing alternative to paper. By mimicking the way people have always worked with the technology they are familiar with, apps enable businesses to capture and update data on the go via smartphones or tablets with integration to back-end systems. In some cases enterprise apps are re-engineering entire business processes. Let’s explore the transition businesses are taking as they consider going paperless and harnessing the power of mobile for the enterprise.
The limitations of paper
Practically, paper-based processes are problematic for businesses. Sixty-eight percent of respondents in a recent AIIM research survey claimed that business-at-the-speed-of-paper will be “unacceptable in just a few years’ time.” Forty-six percent of respondents indicated that removing paper from their business processes would be the single biggest productivity improvement. Moreover, paper-based processes move slowly, taking hours or days to get from the point of capture to the point of entry and are also prone to damage and loss. Paper can also compromise accuracy – without drop-down menus or auto fill to guide and verify inputs, human error and inconsistencies can creep in. Compliance is another consideration. Moving away from paper-based record-keeping to mobile apps improves auditing and compliance tracking, especially when it can be centralized in the cloud.
The promise of going paperless: Why switch to mobile?
Leveraging the capabilities of mobile can increase efficiency and usability, streamline processes and provide benefits that outweigh the drawbacks of paper. For example, 2013 survey data indicated that “driving paper out of the (business) process would improve the speed of response to customers, citizens, or staff by a factor of 4x.” This suggests swift payback, especially when supporting activities that rely on form-based workflows in dynamic environments.
High-caliber and well-designed mobile forms can elevate the value of paper-based workflows, enriching the user experience. Drop-down menus, pre-population and look-ups ease the process of completing fields, and built-in device capabilities, such as voice memos, camera, GPS and barcode scanning, enhance accuracy. Furthermore, data sync and caching capabilities enable mobile workers to work with local information in offline mode and then sync when back online (i.e. once the device is connected, data is synced automatically with the most up-to-date information).
Cloud-based integration of mobile apps is another benefit of going paperless, as the cloud allows users to securely connect forms with databases, catalogues, customer relationship management software and other internal business systems. This allows for transfer of data between devices and back-ends. Further, cloud-based back-end services make connections available across forms companywide, making them available for re-use by other departments aiming to connect their own apps.
Ultimately, the cloud enables agility. App forms and workflows can easily be updated, which means businesses can more readily respond to change while eliminating the hassle of recalling paper forms.
Moving toward a paperless era
Mobile apps hold promise for forms and data entry. Overall, they enhance data accuracy and consistency while reducing much of the rework associated with paper. When harnessing the power of the cloud, mobile apps support ease and timeliness of data capture, access to back-end data and storage that paper-based forms simply do not provide. They give developers and IT teams the opportunity to innovate and reinvent business processes. In a survey of IT business professionals sponsored by Canon USA, four out of five IT business professionals anticipate paper-driven workflows to remain in place for at least another decade. In order to realize the promise of the paperless, enterprise organizations must take active steps toward initiating a mobile-first strategy to compete and survive in this digital era.
