Technology such as video conferencing has cut down on the need for some business travel. But there are still types of business that must be transacted in person, and that requires employees to hop on a plane now and then.
In the old days, not only was actual travel necessary more often, the travel itself introduced sizable inefficiencies. Someone needed to cover the person’s phone calls during their absence, and once they returned to the office, filling out travel reimbursement forms by hand could take up a significant chunk of time. Reimbursement itself often relied on physical hand-offs of forms from one party to another, and the end of the process only occurred once the traveling employee received a paper check and deposited it into their bank account.
Obviously, things are easier now due to technological advances, but travel can still introduce inefficiency to the smooth flow of business. The great news is that online forms coupled with automated workflow applications can whittle these inefficiencies down to where they make much less of an impact than they used to.
Mobile-Friendly Forms and Workflows Are the Key
Suppose an employee travels to a client in another time zone to demonstrate a new piece of equipment in person. The potential client is impressed, and decides then and there that they want to order five pieces of equipment for their production line. Mobile-friendly online forms allow clients to place their order then and there, and mobile friendly contract workflows allow clients to sign on the dotted line without waiting for papers to be drawn up. In the United States, electronic signatures are considered the signer’s bond, and when automated workflows incorporate contracts that can be signed, the pace of business proceeds faster.
Business Proceeds Faster, Benefiting All Parties
Before online forms and automated workflows, the time that elapsed between a rep impressing a potential client and getting a verbal go-ahead, and actually drawing up contract papers gave customers more time to change their minds. With electronic forms and workflows, agreements can be made more quickly, not only locking in a customer for the provider, but also ensuring the customer receives their products or services more quickly.
When customers order something via mobile form and it arrives within a few days, they remember it better, remember why they were so enthusiastic, and are still eager to put it to use. Everyone benefits from a lack of waiting around.
Accelerate Revenue Flow with Smart, Mobile-Friendly Forms
Smart, mobile-friendly online forms also accelerate processes like invoicing and processing payments. For the provider, this means that revenues flow in faster, and for the customer, it means that their payments are processed in a timely manner, so there is less confusion involved in everyday bookkeeping. The time you don’t spend chasing down unpaid paper invoices is time you can spend focusing on providing the products and services you went into business to provide in the first place.
Reduce or Eliminate Inefficiencies of Traveling Workers
Business travel will never completely go away, because there are some things that simply must take place in person. But online forms and automated workflows can greatly reduce the impact that employee travel has on business operations. When travel had to be documented on paper, it was more expensive simply because of the added time involved in taking care of things like paper receipts, time accounting, and reimbursement. Online forms and workflows have cut this extra time significantly.
PerfectApps is online form and workflow management software that allows you to create fully customized online forms and automated workflows for processing travel, and for almost any other application you can think of. With the PerfectApps drag and drop interface, you can create online forms and workflows not only for employee travel, but also for new employee onboarding, departing employee out-processing, IT service requests, and facilities maintenance, to name but a few. We invite you to watch the PerfectApps demo video. See for yourself how many inefficiencies the right forms and workflows can eliminate in your business.
