Electronic Forms: What They Are, How They Benefit Your Business And How To Build One

Last Updated: February 19, 2020
How-to-Build-Your-First-Form

Office workers spend 552 hours a year completing administrative or repetitive tasks, creating a productivity loss of over $5 trillion annually. 

Contributing to this major financial loss are data collection and processing jobs, as they remain largely paper-based. 

Electronic forms are a simple and cost-effective solution that accelerates the processes and minimizes or eliminates room for error while reducing costs.

Read on to learn more about the business benefits of eForms!

Click HERE to find out how doForm’s electronic forms help businesses of all sizes and profiles!

What Are Electronic Forms?

Electronic forms, also known as eForms, are web or mobile applications used to gather and process data.

Much like paper-forms, these electronic equivalents are customized for your business or research needs, with the added benefit(s) of:

  • Real-time updates
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Instant data processing
  • Instant report building
  • Added features like GPS device tracking, in-form image capture, in-form calculations, data validation and more

eForms and its varieties serve businesses in healthcare, construction and the related industries. They usually provide a  set of functionalities such as:

  • Data collection via customized forms
  • Task management – real-time task assignment and update communication
  • Real-time, secure and accurate data processing
  • Automated report generation
  • Back-end systems integration
  • Consolidated reports

eForms are designed to optimize efficiency. They can be hosted on the cloud which gives multiple users access to the same form and enables collaboration in real-time. 

Electronic forms save a LOT of work hours – something that is evidenced in numerous testimonials by doForms’ clients. 

Check out our JLL case study to learn how eForms helped them catalog over 11,500 retail network stores and reduce an average 80-page survey form to 17 pages! 

eform quick data collection customer service

With all their powers and capabilities, eForms will boost data processing whilst simplifying and accelerating data collection.

What Are Electronic Forms Used For?

eForms have a wide array of potential uses that include, but are not limited to:

  • Customer service (satisfaction surveys, incident reports, warranty requests)
  • Dispatching
  • Site inspection
  • Accounting (expenditure requests, reimbursements, expense reports)
  • Purchase orders
  • Human resources (vacation requests, reviews, timesheets)
  • Product enhancement requests
  • QA Variances
  • Safety inspections

Electronic forms can be used for virtually any form of data collection and processing, and they are particularly advisable in cases that require agility, accuracy and increased data protection.  

What Are Mobile Electronic Forms And How Do They Work?

Mobile eForms work just the same as “regular” electronic forms – except these are repurposed for use on smartphones and tablets. That is to say, they are optimized for small screens and designed to work responsively.

Electronic forms are making workflows more efficient by dividing functions into sub-functionalities, depending on the level of transaction or form submission complexity.

Mobile forms, in general, can encompass a range of different functionalities, such as:

  • Android and iOS compatibility
  • Portals for viewing data and building forms
  • Editable forms in a browser
  • Real-time form retrieval
  • Supported MFA and encryption
  • Third-party integrations such as connection to Oracle, SQL servers and Salesforce 
    • Dropbox and Google Drive connectivity

Check out doForm’s mobile form solutions on THIS page!

Electronic Forms’ Data Entry Software: Why It Matters?

Data entry software substitutes all the paperwork with apps and programs that automate the process of data capture.

It also eliminates the need for manual data processing, replacing it with auto-generated reports.

This lowers the costs of manual document handling, automates and, therefore, accelerates business processes and lets your staff work with accurate, up-to-date info.

eForms’ data entry software saves time by swiftly identifying documents, retrieving the most important data, validating and delivering it into the information management systems.

Electronic Forms: 10 Ways They Benefit Your Business (And How To Build Them)

Here are some of the most obvious and some less obvious advantages of using electronic forms:

eForms Are Convenient 

For the user that submits the electronic form, eForms are the essence of simplicity and convenience.

Not only do eForms save time and money on data gathering and processing, but they will also flag and even correct errors by identifying wrong formats, omitted fields or inconsistent data.

Also, electronic forms usually come with the features like drop-down fields and menus, checkboxes, spell check, password savers…everything, pretty much, designed to make quick work of any eForm submission.

Electronic Forms Processes Provide Confidentiality

Electronic forms cut out the middle-man. The data goes straight from the on-site staff to the central office system, and vice versa, increasing transparency, accountability and security.

Additionally, all data stored in the cloud is highly protected and accessible only to authorized personnel.

Since it’s all “load the form – fill the form – submit it – go do something else”, the interaction with the much unloved administrative apparatus is reduced to the bare minimum. There are no technical and administrative overheads whatsoever.

eForms Provide Real-Time Feedback

The immediate feedback on the successfully submitted electronic form is a two-way benefit street: a user gets a reassuring and friendly confirmation of a job well-done, while the business (ie. you) collects data efficiently and stores it safely.

Intelligent eForms Provide Automated Assistance And Reduce Costs

Pace Productivity research shows that sales professionals spend the same amount of time on data entry and similar administrative jobs as they do on sales-related tasks. In other words: manual processes hamper productivity, waste time and resources.

By automating workflows, electronic forms allow professionals to spend more time on the tasks that generate revenue, rather than the menial ones such as transcription, manual processing, filing, revisions and more.

Building Electronic Forms Is Easy

eForms can be tailored according to business requirements. Their business workflow functionalities can provide a seamless form creation experience that is as quick as it is easy.

Building eForms can be as easy as dragging and dropping the template elements. Users can add and combine integrated surveys and multiple questions inside unique containers.

The building blocks of electronic forms don’t end there. They can contain:

  • back-office integration, 
  • internationalization, 
  • secure data transmissions
  • automated features 

Users have full control over these front-end and back-end features and featurettes. 

eForms Have A Wide Array Of Use

Electronic forms can be applied at virtually any enterprise that gathers, manages and processes data, and become an integral part of their workflows.

eForms are most commonly found in:

  • Enterprise Business
  • Education & Government
  • Healthcare
  • International Organizations
  • Accounting
  • Human Resources

eForms can be used as:

  • purchase order forms, 
  • expense reports, 
  • capital expenditure requests,
  •  timesheets, 
  • employee reviews, 
  • product enhancement requests, 
  • safety inspection, 
  • quality assurance variances, 
  • employee training certification, etc.

Electronic Forms Are Accessible Remotely

Electronic forms are available on the go – anywhere and anytime. If you’re on the road and you still need to be in touch with your job requests, the cloud-based nature of eForms is the solution you want.

eForms can be accessed remotely – and since they’re regularly updated through automatic software checks, the users are always guaranteed state-of-the-art form filling experience. Just as importantly, the staff that forms are sent to can share the collected data in real-time with colleagues who may happen to be at some other location as well.

eForms Save Paper(work) & Cost Less

There are a lot of hidden costs associated with paper-based processes, as we have seen so far. Gathering, transcribing, processing, storing and managing paper-based data cost not only physical resources but valuable man-hours as well.

On the other hand, eForms facilitate data handling, storage and management, save hours by automating processes and increase productivity by allowing your teams to focus on revenue-generating tasks.

This is why so many global businesses are resorting to electronic forms.

Electronic Forms Control The Quality Of Data & Eliminate Errors

Since you are creating and customizing your eForm, you are in charge of the type of data your customers provide, as well as set parameters for mandatory information and acceptable formats to ensure completeness and accuracy.

Additionally, unlike paper-based forms, eForms do not require handwriting transcription and, therefore, eliminate room for transcription-related errors. A small matter, but important nonetheless.

eFormsStorage Is Safe And Secure

Electronic forms – such as those made by doForms – come equipped with encryption and security measures to protect and maintain the integrity of transferred data. Also, they are compliant with certain international requirements that demand maximum care in regards to safety by eForm makers.

Not only is users’ data safe from cyberattacks and other kinds of intrusion, but it is also visible only to users who are authorized to view and use it. Digital security has an upper hand over security of physical (paper) files in that, being stored on servers, it is immune to eventual disasters such as floods.

Electronic Forms: A Gateway To Data Collection And Workflow Automation

Simply put, electronic forms – desktop or mobile iterations – can and will benefit any business in effective and productive ways by cutting down expenses, accelerating workflow, cutting out the middle-man and processing data efficiently. 

eForms are highly versatile and adaptable to various industries and business requirements.

Besides the gains they bring to the enterprises in terms of organization, reduced expenditure and light-weight logistics, they also facilitate your staff’s work by presenting them with neatly collected and organized data needed for their daily tasks.

A routine workflow should stay just that – a routine. 

Explore doForm’s website and learn about boundless abilities our data collection eForms have!

 

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