31 Jan 2020

Mobile working apps: an end to paper-based processes?

Mobile working apps, or platforms that enable them, can help field workers by improving accuracy and speeding up processes – but which one is right for you? Vaughan O’Grady examines some of the procurement issues you should consider

If you have yet to consider procuring mobile working apps, there is one obvious justification for such an investment.

Colin Yates, chief support officer at WorkMobile, a leading name in the mobile form field that offers what it calls ‘an award-winning mobile data capture app’, says: “Paper-based processes are inefficient, time-consuming and costly. They can also result in inaccuracies and inconsistencies when collecting data, and greatly increase the risk of important documents being damaged or misplaced.”

Simon Hall is CEO of Coeus Software, which offers mobile working platforms for frontline workers, in particular for the police and compliance-based regulated industries. He says: “For the police, about 30 per cent of tickets for traffic offences get rejected because they’ve got indecipherable information, or they haven’t filled in all the details.” Not only does an app not rely on handwriting, but you can design it so that you are required to complete everything – “and”, he says, “it will check it as you go along”.