Field inspection apps are becoming more and more prevalent as organizations across the public and private sectors come to the conclusion that analog, paper-based inspections are too inefficient and potentially vulnerable to human error.
Because of that emerging prevalence, the market is starting to see a lot of apps pop up. With emerging technology, it can be easy to get saddled with a license for an app that doesn’t actually fit your organization. It pays to know what you’re looking for so that you get the right app for you the first time.
The best field inspection apps will give you a combination of functionalities that makes your inspection processes run smoothly both in the field and back in your home office where the inspection information is processed.
So what do you need to look for when selecting enterprise-level inspection tools? Are there hidden pitfalls you need to avoid? How do the best inspection apps differ from each other? These are all great questions and we will dive into each and every one of them.
Let’s break down the top inspection management software out there so that you can decide what works best for you and your organization’s needs.
One of the newest field inspection apps on the market, Inspection Management from TEAM IM has been developed for the express purposes of making inspections easier and more thorough in the field while streamlining the processes involved with organizing and utilizing the data those inspections provide.
TEAM IM specializes in finding solutions that perfectly fit a partner’s needs while providing room for scalability to match growth. But what does that look like when applied to inspection apps for businesses?
When looking at inspection tools, it is very important to remember that all the data your team collects in the field needs to be easily accessible to your organization’s decision makers. You want your key data to be easily discoverable by those that need it to decide on next steps.
M-Files is a metadata powered content management platform that organizes data based on what it is as opposed to where it is stored. That means that your team members can pull up inspection data alongside contracts and other documents to give a full picture of a project with one search instead of going from application to application trying to find everything you need.
M-Files also provides a platform by which tools such as e-signatures via DropBox Sign can be integrated with your field inspection apps. Through M-Files and M-Connect, TEAM IM is able to provide an inspection management tool that operates across platforms and integrates into your technology stack smoothly.
One of the biggest challenges that mobile inspections offer is connectivity. The biggest benefit of pen-and-paper inspection surveys is that they don’t need an internet or mobile connection to be completed.
Inspection Management allows you to conduct offline inspections using your mobile device of choice. The information your team collects will be stored in a secure cache that will automatically sync up with your content management system as soon as you regain a signal.
A huge benefit of digital field inspection solutions is the ability to create and deploy customized templates for different projects or different kinds of inspections. Since you don’t need to worry about the cost of printing up a bunch of different templates, you can customize your surveys as much as you want for each individual project.
If one kind of project has stricter regulations and safety requirements, you can make a template that includes every regulation for that kind of project while using a totally different template for a project that does not have the same legal and regulatory requirements. You can essentially streamline every inspection by ensuring that your field teams know exactly what to look for as soon as they know what kind of inspection they are performing.
Some inspections have to cover wide areas. Utilizing field inspection apps on mobile devices allows your team to add GPS pins to each issue their inspection uncovers. That way, when you send in your team to resolve the issue, they know exactly where to look.
GPS-enabled inspection software speeds up your response time to issues turned up by your inspectors which improves the efficiency of your resolutions which ensures that you are getting the most out of your teams’ time out in the field.
The efficiency offered by paperless inspections would fall apart without e-signature enabled functions. E-signatures allow your field agents to get approvals to take action on problems that their inspections have found in a matter of seconds.
Without e-signatures, you need to physically bring your inspection paperwork in or find a fax machine that actually works near you. Then you have to wait for the inspection to get into the hands of a decision maker, then you have to wait to receive signed approval to take action. E-signatures allow that process to be shortened to, at times, a matter of minutes.
TEAM IM’s Inspection Management works very well with M-Files and M-Connect. But it can also be integrated with other important parts of your technology infrastructure. This is another major benefit to moving to a paperless inspection model.
Your CRM, your SCM, your ERP — these are all hugely important programs for tracking your interactions with clients and so on and so forth. With just a little adjustment here and there, TEAM IM can ensure that your Inspection Management syncs up with those systems flawlessly.
GoAudits has a well-earned reputation for ease of use. It has several strong functionalities that make it a popular choice for inspection management.
MyFieldAudits has a quality-assurance focused approach to inspections. Compliance, performance tracking, and generating actionable insights for larger organizations are MyFieldAudits’ primary specialties.
Fulcrum’s geospatial capabilities help keep track of your field operations while its data collection functions are very strong — ensuring a high standard of accuracy.
Formerly known as iAuditor, SafetyCulture is an industry-agnostic app with a design that prioritizes ease of use paired with robust analytics.
You may have noticed that many of these apps have overlapping functions. Some utilize GPS, others focus on easy-to-use user interfaces, and so on. They are almost all customizable inspection apps to one degree or another.
When you are making your choice, think about the kinds of inspections you need to do, think about where your inspections may take place, think about the other apps you may need to integrate, think about how quickly you want to be able to respond to an inspection, and so on.
It is also important to consider how smoothly you will be able to transition to your new field inspection apps. Are you working with people that know how to make your move to a top-of-the-line inspection app as painless as possible?
This is where leveraging the expertise available through TEAM IM can be invaluable. TEAM IM has a long history facilitating massive improvements in content management for public and private organizations — including integrating field services applications into enterprise content management systems.
TEAM IM’s experience in this area is one of the reasons that Inspection Management has such comprehensive functionalities. From the ability to work offline to the integration of e-signatures to all the other capabilities Inspection Management offers, TEAM IM knows what works in the field and how to make what works work better.
That said, no one organization has the same needs and requirements of another. The enterprise-level scale of MyFieldAudits might be right for you. The ease of SafetyCulture or GoAudits may speak to your needs. In the end, the choice is yours.
The first thing you need to remember is that you do not need to continue operating in one specific way just because that’s what you’ve always done. Look at your field inspection processes and workflows, break them down into each individual part, and see where opportunities for improvement lie.
Where are your pain points? What is slowing you down? Where do most errors occur? When you have a good idea about the answers to these questions, you can look at field inspection apps that offer quality solutions to your obstacles.
When you start digging into inspection apps, it’s very likely that you will find that Inspection Management addresses your needs. By reaching out to TEAM IM, you can learn even more specific information about how your inspections can be improved and how you can best incorporate your inspection information into your content management system as a whole.
The right tool for your field inspections is out there for you. All you have to do is find it — and when it comes to that, TEAM IM can be your most valuable resource.
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