The ethical and sustainable business practice has become increasingly important in recent years. Embracing values such as diversity, well-being, transparency, and environmental responsibility are just a few things that businesses are doing to grow a loyal customer base and to give staff a workplace they can get behind.
According to a study by Unilever, a third of all global consumers are now choosing to buy from brands they believe are doing social and environmental good. But where do we start? An obvious and very tangible place is in the digital transformation of your office environment by transferring paper forms into digital forms.
Not only does a paperless business have better environmental credentials, but it also contributes to more efficient business operations too. Approximately 1 billion trees’ worth of paper is thrown away every year in the US according to St. Charles County of Missouri. Add to this that paper manufacturing is a major contributor to environmental pollution producing sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide, and you can see why introducing digital forms might make sense!
With COVID-19 pushing workforces into their homes with no physical work location, it is no surprise that almost 70% of GDPs will have undergone digitisation by the end of 2022. So, what are the benefits of using digital forms in the workplace?
Benefits of digital forms
Save time
Collecting data digitally and emailing reports in real-time straight from a mobile or tablet avoids re-transcribing time.
- Improve workforce productivity
With increased time comes the ability to get more work done, and with more accuracy by completing and storing forms in one centralised location.
- Save money
An increase in productivity increases output and gives more time to work on other activities, and by transferring data digitally you’ll save on printing and paper costs.
- Increase and strengthen brand value
Join other forward-thinking businesses by being more environmentally responsible, including digitalisation in your CSR strategy, and gaining a competitive advantage with your staff and customers.
- Information flows
Using digital forms improves the information flow within a business, you can gather and track information and monitor how this data flows through your business processes.
“With Kizeo Forms, the supervisors increased their productivity by about 30%. Thanks to the data collection from mobile devices with Kizeo Forms, the time spent on writing reports was significantly reduced.”
Régis Vilmus -Railway Engineer at SNCF
Features to look for in a digital forms solution
There are a number of solutions on the market for collecting data in digital forms. Digital form creators come in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on your budget and your ability to use or code digital platforms. To retire manual data entry altogether in favour of paperless forms we recommend looking out for the following features.
- Security
- Security should be a top priority for any solution you choose. All aspects of security should be considered from design to implementation. This includes encrypted forms, GDPR compliance, form privacy, and spam protection.
Smart form fields
- An easy drag-and-drop form builder means you’ll be able to create forms even if you don’t have any IT or programming knowledge. Smart form fields increase the accuracy of data and make form completion much easier. Some useful smart fields to look out for are:
- Digital signatures
- Attachments
- Audio recording
- Slider
- Data imports
- Barcode scanning
- Photos
- Customisation
- Allowing for custom forms, templates, and emails with your own company’s branding increases adoption and brand awareness.
- Data Analytics
- Your chosen digital form creator should offer information on form completions, time to complete, and other analytics to allow you to monitor your team and to improve the adoption of forms throughout the business.
- Integration to other tools
- To really see the benefits of digital forms, your solution should be able to integrate with multiple business platforms such as your CRM, timesheet platform, or HR systems.
Kizeo Forms allows you to collect data and create workflows to optimise and digitise your work processes. Unlike other digital form creators, Kizeo Forms gives you the autonomy and flexibility to create your own forms using the drag-and-drop form builder.
Incorporating lots of smart form fields and giving you the ability to complete the forms in the mobile app means your team can collect and send data in real-time. It’s time to transform your business, protect the environment and retire your paper forms by using Kizeo Forms. Learn more about going paperless by reading our blog 10 reasons to go paperless.