Flooring solutions firm collects real-time data in the field

The Matworks, which installs and manages flooring solutions for commercial clients, has implemented a mobile platform that allows field data to be collected and submitted in real time.

The Maryland-based company has a large subcontractor network and operates janitorial services in more than 500 locations in 17 states. In the past, field staff had to manually fill out inspection forms or create schedules on paper that were later scanned and manually entered into a spreadsheet or text document and stored in e-mail.

Jared Agan, VP of operations, says, "We kept track of everything via spreadsheets and e-mails and followed up with the customers individually, but there was not really any consistency from customer to customer. It was not very efficient, and it led to service woes.”

To improve efficiency and establish a consistent data collection process, The Matworks management team turned to the mobile platform ProntoForms. A few weeks later, the field service teams started using digital forms on iPhones and iPad Airs to complete on-site inspections of the services provided.

According to ProntoForms, its mobile forms have made it easy for The Matworks to monitor the performance of individuals and teams and to track in real time the number of completed tasks as well as to identify opportunities for improvement of services. The company set a target for its quality assurance managers to perform on-site inspections every week, and using ProntoForms Analytics, the company has been able to summarize the collected field data as a series of visually rich dashboards.

Agan explains, “These dashboards provide the information and analysis we need to make credible, data-driven recommendations for operational process improvements, which are recognizable by our clients and our clients' customers.”

He continues, "The business intelligence we now review daily helps us identify potential issues before they become real problems … The Analytics tool helps us build a schedule so the teams are visiting the right locations at the right time and addressing opportunities that have been identified."