Overview 

Highlights

• Faster invoicing and sales cycle
• Improved tracking of labor and parts cost
• More accurate and comprehensive information 

Apps Used

• Weinig & Holzher Parts Distribution Form
• Weinig – Service Call Details
• Weinig – Service Call Details (SLA)

The Background

WEINIG Australia is part of the WEINIG Group. Around the world, they are known for providing solutions to solid timber processes. With a variety of innovative wood process machinery, and round-the-clock service, WEINIG Australia puts their customers first.

The Problem

As WEINIG focused on customer service, they kept struggling with their back-end paper processes. For each service call, technicians were taking down notes on a carbonized engineer report pad. Taking multiple calls a day, these reports could take hours or days to return to the office.

Once a form arrived, the process wasn’t done yet! An employee would have to enter this information into the database as well. Often these forms would come back missing important information, requiring further time trying to find the technician to get answers. Only then could WEINIG respond to the customer issue.

Customer service response time matters: American Express found that 55% of customers will abandon a purchase because of subpar customer service. As WEINIG strived to provide even more for their customers, they realized paper processes were holding them back.

The Solution

In October 2013, WEINIG Australia decided to go with GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. Thousands of organizations leverage Canvas’s cloud-based, “Software-as-a-Service” mobile app platform to replace cumbersome paper forms with highly customizable mobile business apps.  

Businesses can search from over 14,000 ready-made apps in the GoCanvas Application Store that can be customized to an individual business user’s needs. In addition, GoCanvas offers a do-it-yourself app builder that enables non-technical users to build apps in minutes.

The Outcomes

WEINIG Australia has found a remarkable difference in multiple ways. These include:

Measurable Time Savings

Switching to GoCanvas has dramatically streamlined WEINIG’s back-end processes. With GoCanvas, all finished forms are sent directly to the cloud. Instead of taking hours or days for a form to return to the home office, WEINIG can access the information in real-time.

GoCanvas also removes the need for redundant data entry as well. With bulk export options, WEINIG can also easily take this information from the GoCanvas cloud and import the information into their own databases. What once required hours of extra work now happens in minutes.

The result? WEINIG Australia can respond more quickly to customer needs and issues. Invoicing and sale cycles have also improved with faster invoicing and processing in the home office. Employees are now freed for more critical and creative roles.

Easily Track Labor and Parts Cost 

Previously, tracking technicians’ movement and parts ordered was difficult. With the time lag in receiving forms, it was hard to know in real time where people were, or what they needed.

With GoCanvas, WEINIG Australia gets all this information in real-time. With GPS location capture, they can see where technicians are. They can also use time stamps on their jobs. These functionalities allow WEINIG to understand the technicians’ work quickly and quantify their labor costs in minutes.

If WEINIG had wanted to understand these issues previously, they would have had to plot locations on a map as well as enter the times and calculate it manually. Not only does GoCanvas gather information more quickly, but also our mobile app makes it far easier for WEINIG Australia to analyze and understand what’s happening on the ground. 

More Accurate and Comprehensive Information

Beyond faster information, WEINIG Australia also gets more and more accurate information with mobile apps. In their service reports, they can now add:

• Images of the work done
• Location via GPS
• Computer powered calculations

By drawing on the information from their own systems, technicians are able to have more accurate reports. Using mobile apps has also reduced ambiguity and inaccuracies by replacing handwritten notes with clearly typed text. Required fields in the mobile app ensure that WEINIG Australia receives all the information they need for proper invoicing or further customer support.

WEINIG’s information becomes stronger as well due to removing data entry. With paper forms, it’s easy to misread a 7 for a 1, or to see someone’s handwriting and not understand a word they wrote! Mobile apps remove the need for data entry and the opportunity for possible misunderstandings. Thus, WEINIG Australia receives the best possible information, straight from the source.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Business Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides WEINIG the flexibility to add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas makes editing apps a frictionless process.

For instance, as parts change, it’s easy for WEINIG to upload a new list of materials and new prices into their GoCanvas apps. They don’t need to rely on IT support or have any knowledge of coding. With GoCanvas, it’s a simple drag-and-drop interface that anyone can use.

Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost.

Today WEINIG Australia technicians enjoy faster reports with iPads. With the day-to-day pressures of their work, they haven’t gone completely paperless yet. As they move forward, they hope to convert more forms into apps and discover more time savings for their business. 

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

GoCanvas has helped a variety of businesses across multiple industries transform their safety processes and rethink their efficiency, ultimately saving them money. Why not do the same? Reach out to one of our experts today to kickstart your process revolution.