Before implementing GoFormz, Freedom Industries used carbon copy forms for their work orders, which led to issues such as illegible handwriting, missing or damaged documentation, and manual record-keeping. In order to address these problems, they sought a mobile forms solution that could prevent the loss or damage of forms, collect signatures, automatically send copies to multiple parties, and centralize record-keeping.
By using GoFormz, Freedom Industries is able to enter all their work order details on their tablets, which eliminates the possibility of missing or damaged documentation and illegible handwriting. The use of automated emails enables the completed work order form to be automatically sent to their back office and the client, resulting in a streamlined record-keeping process.
Work Order Form
Operating since 2012 in Southern California, Freedom Industries is a facilities maintenance company that provides installation, repair, and maintenance on all types of doors, loading docks, and more.
Before seeking a digital solution, Freedom Industries heavily relied on carbon copy forms to fill out and complete Work Orders for jobs carried out by their field teams. This process required the manual completion of forms by the field personnel, providing a copy to the customer, and an extensive process for filing and storing the completed documentation. “Before GoFormz, we had the exact same form as today except it was a carbon copy form,” Donovan Block, CFO of Freedom Industries said. “The customer would get the copy, sign it, and we would keep the original,” Block continued to explain, “back in the office, I would have to scan that form in and attach it to my invoice and then we had all this paperwork to file.”
However, that wasn’t the only challenge at hand. “We had to write all the work out,” Block continued on to say, “and my penmanship is the worst!” Recognizing how much time was being wasted, Block reached out to a friend at another company for advice to improve their outdated processes. “My buddy recommended GoFormz and two other form solutions at the time,” he continued on to say, “when I reached out to GoFormz with my submitted form, you guys got back to me right away, and it was the exact form but in a digital version.” Preserving the original formatting was a crucial factor in the decision-making process, and as a result, Freedom Industries opted to choose GoFormz as their digital solution.
“Nobody is excited to do paperwork but GoFormz makes it a lot easier…”
– Donovan Block, CFO, Freedom Industries Commercial Doors and Docks
Although adopting new technological advancements can be challenging, Freedom Industries didn’t see this as a daunting task since GoFormz preserves the look and feel of existing forms. “Nobody is excited to do paperwork,” Block continued on to say, “but GoFormz makes it a lot easier because when your hands are dirty or greasy, we don’t have to worry about crumpled or dirty papers.” The use of digital forms has resulted in clean paperwork and efficient real-time transfer and accessibility of work information. “It’s all clean! I rarely ever have to print out a piece of paper because everything is just emailed.”
With digital data collection comes the power of automation and real-time access to information. “As soon as a customer gets done signing the paperwork, it’s emailed to them right then and there,” Block added. While the customer receives their copy of the Work Order in real-time, Freedom Industries also has their copy saved within the GoFormz platform. “We sign into GoFormz, download the form from there, and then use Quickbooks.”
Digital forms provide immense value to not only internal operations but also client-facing interactions. “It really set us apart from the rest of our competition because now we use an iPad and our customers love it!” Eliminating the need for paper brings a new level of professionalism to business operations. “Signing an iPad is so much better than reading a paper Work Order. The penmanship is all typed up or you can even speak into the iPad so you don’t actually have to type anything out,” Block explained. This enables users to streamline data capture in the field, taking away the hassle of physically documenting information.
While Freedom Industries kept their existing form, they made a minor adjustment to it in order to improve the comprehensiveness of their Work Orders. They added an Image field to the bottom of the form to not only provide proof of work but also to enhance the clarity of the scope of the project. “The explanation is there on every Work Order,” Block continued to explain, “so customers may not understand your paperwork but they will understand the photos.”
“GoFormz helped eliminate 80% of our physical paperwork.”
– Donovan Block, CFO, Freedom Industries Commercial Doors and Docks
In addition to a straightforward implementation, Freedom Industries has experienced significant space and time savings. Thanks to digital forms, the shift from paper has eliminated the requirement for filing cabinets and manual record-keeping. “If you think about how scanning paperwork works, if I have to do that five times, document it, and then put it in a file, that’s about 5-10 minutes of my time,” Block continued on to explain, “doing that five different times, that’s almost an hour of my day just scanning and documenting.” Since eliminating the hassle of a paper trail, Freedom Industries has almost gone entirely paperless. “GoFormz helped eliminate 80% of our physical paperwork.”
Freedom Industries has had a successful partnership with GoFormz for the past six years, and they believe that they are already maximizing the potential of the platform for their use case. “I am happy with what we have,” Block continued to explain, “the only thing we would continue to do is add another iPad.”