Blog | Intouch Insight

Why You Should Be Using a Mobile Audit Checklist

Written by Lindsay Sykes | November 25, 2015

Your time is valuable. As the manager of a business, you have a ton of responsibilities on your plate and appreciate tools that help create efficiencies across your enterprise.

Part of your job requires using audits to ensure procedures are being followed, employees are being compliant and that your business standards are being met - even when you're not there.

Some of the problems with standard, paper audits is that they're time consuming, they put the quality of your data at risk, and the results usually take a while to get you - meaning issues found remain unresolved for longer than you'd like.

A mobile audit checklist will help you overcome these issues, and allow you to manage your business more efficiently.

So how does a mobile audit compare to a paper audit?

Here's a brief overview of how the two compare:

Paper audit:

  • Manual, paper-based process used to collect operational feedback from business locations
  • Requires data to be collected on paper and then entered into the computer
  • Issues are addressed, and followed up on only after data entry is performed

Mobile audit:

  • Digital based process, conducted on any smart phone, tablet or mobile device to collect operational feedback from business locations
  • Data is collected by one source, and available immediately after it is submitted
  • Issue resolution can begin immediately after results are submitted

It's evident there are benefits to using mobile audits over paper audits, with efficiency and data accuracy being recurring themes. Let's take a more in-depth look at three reasons you should use a mobile audit checklist:

  1. Complete audits on any mobile device, anywhere
  2. Real-time results
  3. Identify and fix issues quickly

1. Complete audits on any mobile device, anywhere

This is by far one of the most beneficial features. Your teams have the ability to complete audits on any mobile device, even if they're offline. This means no matter where they are in the field, they can access the checklist they need to perform, and then submit when they are online again.

This feature eliminates pen and paper checklists completely, saving you time wasted on data-entry and the risk of degraded data.

2. Real-time results

No more waiting. You should always be able to have a clear picture of what's going on at your business.

With a mobile audit checklist, results are available as soon as an audit is submitted. You can even setup automated notifications so that you know when audits have been completed, and receive a full PDF report.

This also means your reporting dashboard is always up-to-date with the latest audit results, allowing you to easily compare performance across locations, drill down into top recurring issues, and more.

3. Identity and fix issues quickly


Receive instant alerts about issues found during an audit so you kick-start issue resolution. With the ability to assign problems to specific people, set due dates and reminders you can increase accountability. Additionally, teams can access issue logs where they can collaborate, discuss and mark problems as resolved.

Auditors can even attach and annotate photos when they are completing a check, to highlight the problem. This makes it even easier for those responsible to know exactly what it is they need to fix.

Conclusion

Mobile audit checklists are the future of auditing. Not only do they make it easier for information to be shared across your business so issues can be fixed faster, they also allow you to collect richer, real-time data without having to wait on someone to compile it all.