This article was originally written for and published in the GVCA Journal (Mar-Apr 2023 – Issue 2).
Like all companies, construction companies rely on large volumes of data and technology to operate. The systems and processes in place to take all that data and make it into useable financial results, customer follow ups and staff schedules are what determines a company’s efficiency and capacity to grow their top and bottom line with their limited people resources. One way to better control the structure of the data you are collecting and automate some of your processes is through the use of web forms.
What is a web form?
Web forms are online forms that you can create (or have created) to collect the information you need quickly and easily. You create a form that has fields for all the information you require and then embed it onto your website or send a link to that form to your suppliers, customers or staff to fill out. The finished form gets sent back to the staff responsible for that data to incorporate into your system. The forms can also be used to receive files including pictures and videos.
Some examples of how web forms can be used are:
- An accounting firm, like RLB, sending clients a form to submit their personal tax information including relevant questions needed for the firm to prepare the returns.
- A company sending performance review forms to employees for self-assessments and to collect 360-degree feedback.
- Subcontractor pre-qualification forms.
- A form on your website for potential customers to request a quote.
- A form for staff to report their time by job including any material used and the job status if you do not have a fully integrated time and inventory system.
Why they help?
Using a web form to collect information allows you to control what information is being collected. This allows you to collect full and complete data to complete your processes. For example, do you want to collect <name> or <firstname> <lastname>? Getting all the correct data upfront, saves valuable time and resources. Once a form is complete, it triggers a notification to someone on your team or routes the data to another software to begin the next step of the process. You can also take the automation further and have the data pushed into your system on its own. The possibilities after a web form is complete are endless.
Using a web form automated to push information into your system can save countless hours for office staff to take on other duties. Overtime you will also be able to analyze trends within your data such as where most of your customer quote requests are coming from and when they are received. Doing such analysis can help you tailor your internal processes, your marketing efforts, or your follow up on the submission creating further efficiencies.
Our favourite tools
There are a number of options on the market that can be used to build web forms. Our current favourite is https://www.cognitoforms.com/. But for basic forms Google forms and Microsoft forms are also an option. Your forms can be embedded on your website or a stand alone link that you send out when needed. All these options provide a more secure way to upload documents and provide information than doing so through traditional email.
For more complex forms and automating that form within your internal system, you likely need external help. But the cost of automating a process is likely much lower than the savings in staff time and frustration from collecting accurate, streamlined data. A discussion with a technology consultant can help you determine where you have bottlenecks in your processes that could be removed with an automated process.
Companies use technology to maintain their financial information, their customer and supplier data, their staff time and much more. By using a web form and automation to tie some of these processes together, you can gain efficiencies allowing your team to spend more time doing the work that will grow your top line revenue. Good data in leads to good data coming out and web forms can ensure the data being input is complete and accurate.
To find out more about the wide variety of services RLB Digital can provide you with contact the team at [email protected] or visit their website at digital.rlb.ca.
Written by Kimberly Aitken, CPA, CA, Co-Leader of RLB LLP’s Construction Team and Kyle Turiff, Senior Technology Consultant for RLB Digital.
