Go Paperless in Your Field Service Business with Software Tools

Did you know American businesses spend more than $8 billion per year on paper? Paper is sucking the life out of your field service business, but the true cost is hidden.

As a line item paper is relatively inexpensive, but the time it takes you and your employees to deal with administrative paperwork adds up quickly. Create a paperless office will save you time and money. Eliminate paper from your service business workflow with these five steps and some choice software tools, and watch the savings grow.

1. E-Signatures

Electronic signatures allow you and your employees to approve important documents without signing a physical copy. Ever. Create an electronic signature once and you can use it whenever it’s need.

And in case you were wondering, electronic signatures are legally binding and have been since 2000, when Congress approved the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (E-SIGN) ACT.

2. Digital Invoices

Invoices are essential to business record-keeping, but transaction records don’t have to slow you down. Digital invoicing is a simple and powerful way to free yourself from getting paper-jammed.

Electronic sales receipts can be sent to customers via email, and stored on your company’s servers instantly. If your company accepts online payments, digital invoicing can speed up payment, too (and who doesn’t love that?). After you’ve made the switch to digital invoicing you can always send customers paper receipts, but only if they ask.

3. Online Estimates

Job estimates are one of the costliest parts of doing business, and paperwork only adds to the expense. Send your customers digital copies of work estimates instead.

Further increase your efficiency by allowing customers to enter information about their job before sending someone to your team. Use tablets or mobile devices collect important details from the job site. Digital documents can be viewed by multiple people at once, and they eliminate human errors such as unreadable handwriting that can easily slow you down.

4. Save and Share Important Documents Online

It’s smart to equip all employees with company training manuals, policy documents and instructions for operating specialized machinery. But important documents don’t have to be in paper form. Create a cloud-based knowledge hub team members and others can access from their phone or mobile device at any time.

A digital library with company policies, customer records and other essential documents can be updated and shared in seconds. Never reprint new manuals to reflect small changes again!

5. Make Double-Sided Printing Standard

If you absolutely must print, set your default printer settings to double-sided pages. Get people in the habit of double-sided printing, and reduce by half the amount of paper that is used overnight.

American companies print more than 1.5 trillion pages each year. At Vonigo we’re against all forms of waste, both in terms of trees and the time that paper sucks up at your business.

Learn more about how you can put Vonigo to work in your field service business.