As society experiences this time of uncertainty and trepidation, providing customers with a reliable, consistent experience has an even greater impact on customer loyalty than ever before. And the challenge of ensuring that operational and brand standards are enforced consistently across stores is magnified for multi-location businesses.
Procedural checklists and regular audits are excellent tools, but the many businesses that still use paper or digital worksheets are faced with additional challenges. One procedural change can make all related paper forms obsolete in a split second. Common office software may better facilitate small changes, but still result in a multitude of disconnected sheets that need to be reviewed individually or manually input into a database—duplicating both effort and the opportunity for human error.
Sending managers to audit stores poses other challenges during a time of pandemic, where minimizing travel may be a requirement in certain jurisdictions.
Mobile forms software turns any smart device into a digital clipboard, equipped with any forms needed, and feeds all submitted data into a central repository without losing any of the benefits of outdated solutions. Pulled away to help a customer in the middle of an audit? No problem—save progress and complete it after. Dodgy WIFI in near the freezers? Simple—download the necessary forms and work offline.
Simplifying the distribution of forms and the collection of data is just the beginning. For instance, say a retailer has created the ideal daily morning checklist for their stores, but not every location has a fresh fish section. Instead of creating separate forms based on each locations’ features, retailers can leverage skip logic to omit irrelevant items from individual stores’ forms. Want to review the deli display every morning? Have staff submit a photo for review. This allows grocers to track over time while eliminating non-essential travel. And managers don’t need to spend valuable time reviewing submitted forms when they can implement automated follow-ups based on specific submission conditions. This means more time to resolve any issues and less time spent trying to find them.
A true solution not only fixes today’s problem but sets up businesses for success tomorrow. This is the real power of mobile forms software. Applications like IntouchCheck™ provide clean, clear dashboards that not only allow retailers to view key metrics at a glance but also dig down into the data the team has spent time collecting. Easily track top issues that have been flagged and target procedural updates to avoid them recurring in the future. Retailers can even log photos to monitor brand standards remotely. Quickly review whether all locations have completed that day or that week’s audits within the dashboard or get the required reports delivered directly via email. This also means team members only see what matters, when it matters most. Some platforms even provide template libraries to get retailers started quickly.
What are some key features retailers should look for when looking for an option that fits their business? Here are our top four features to look for:
Customizable dashboards: A well designed, out-of-the-box dashboard will account for most of what retailers need and get them up and running quickly. However, over time, grocers are likely to find specific items that matter to their unique business—it’s important to choose a software that will provide that flexibility.
Scalability: As businesses grow, user bases expand, or new applications for mobile forms are identified, retailers don’t want to outgrow their software. Look for a solution that can scale to match the needs of the business.
Built-in automation: This is a big time saver. Keep the team on schedule with alerts and flag new items for follow-up, as well as launch and track cases for quick resolution.
Data integration: Don’t let operations data be siloed. Ensure a software solution can be easily integrated with the other tools being used so the impact of operating procedures on things like NPS® score can be effectively measured.
Equipping remote teams with the tools to effectively implement brand and operational standards ensures retailers are delivering a consistent experience for customers. Aggregating those audit and inspection results across locations has the added benefit of helping identify areas where staff may require additional training thereby maximizing the ROI of training budgets.
Save team members countless hours of manually entering and aggregating data and easily replicate wins at one location across an organization with mobile forms software.