Author posts Steven Rovito

Custom Taxi Apps For Your Business

 

Taxi apps have been taking inner-cities by storm since the release of Uber in March 2009. While the ride-sharing tycoon has been on the rise since its inception, it recently started to see a decline early last year with billions of dollars in loses. Lyft, another popular taxi service, is also on the decline with a reported $50 million lost this year already. For apps that have become almost essential to getting around when you’re in the city, this may come as a shock to a lot of people.

The good thing is that the exclusivity of apps is no longer an issue for small-time taxi companies that may have been phased out due to the accessibility of Uber and Lyft’s apps. With app creators beginning to pop-up on every end of the virtual market, and with the gross success of the preview taxi apps, we’ve seen a lot of interest in Taxi apps.

Snappii sets itself apart from the crowd by doing more than just making an app that shows you pretty pictures and opportunities. Snappii’s platform is build on a robust, custom engine that allows you to implement any function you would like to see in the app. From custom login screens to geo-tracking, Snappii enables the user unlike any other app in the market. You have the option of building the app yourself, or reaching out to us to create it for you – either way, you’re going to be impressed by how fast we can deliver, and how much you’ll pay for the improved efficiency. Try it out today!

Our taxi app templates are divided into two categories: Finding and Dispatching. The function of the app will depend on which of these templates you start the job with.

 

Finding a Cab

Back in the days before Uber, you could find a taxi in any major city by just holding your hand up high enough and waiting. Sooner or later, someone was bound to stop and pick you up and take you to your destination. Taxi’s started to savvy up to this, and when cellphones came down the pipeline cab companies started to offer call-a-cab services to meet with the demands. Fast forward another 10 years, and you have a dozen or so ways to get a cab to your area, with GPS tracking and an estimated arrival time to boot. And while the taxi-killing juggernauts are still on the loose (Uber and Lyft) we still see some small times businesses in the city making a name for themselves in the iconic yellow car.

Aside from the obvious advantage from being able to call a cab from an app, there’s a few businesses that may do well by implementing this into their own app. For example, we’ve had multiple occurrences where nightlife will approach us to integrate a “Call a Cab” feature to their mobile apps. For bars that close late and stop serving drinks late into the morning, a feature like this can often save a person’s life, and ensure that there’s no imminent danger on the road. If the person can’t remember where they left their car, they can just check the app for the bar they were in when they called the cab. While I was at first reluctant to go along with the idea, it’s refreshing seeing so many nightclubs and bars integrate this into their systems.

 

Dispatch a Cab

This side of the app is used by the headquarters of the company, allowing dispatchers to see exactly where their vehicles and drivers are, and where they’re going. The app can even go so far as to tell you how much money a driver made on a given day. This is not a new feature to apps, but being able to take a cellphone for a task that normally needed a computer is a big improvement to the days of tying an operator to a desk for hours. Combined with the Find a Cab feature, you can make a robust taxi app without the need for the expensive bells and whistles provided by Uber and Lyft.

 

Aside from dispatching and calling a cab, Snappii’s platform allows you to customize the look and feel of your app. On the platform, you can change almost every visual feature on the app. From colors to navigation, the Snappii platform gives you full flexibility to stretch your creative muscles and make the perfect app for your business. With the use of our templates, Snappii can have you up and running in as little as a few days.

That’s right, an entire app in just a few days. Try it out for yourself today and get started on the market’s leading option for business apps. Don’t let this cab get away!

How To Publish Your App

You finally put your form together. You sent it out to all of your personnel, and they’re all happy with the results and the increase in efficiency. Paperwork is beginning to be filed automatically, and the indexed reports are making things infinitely easier to find. In a sense, the mobile form has already started to become part of your business because of how effective it was right off the bat.

But, you might still be using the Snappii Preview app, a prototype mechanism that allows you to test your app (or mobile form) as much as you want. You took advantage of it by making sure there were no superfluous fields, and not a single widget is out of place. You even went so far as to add your logo and change the colors of the app to match your business.

But what now?

Publishing an app is the final step of the app creation process. Normally, a user would have to go through the Snappii Preview app if they wanted to use an app made on our platform. By publishing, though, the app gets pushed out as its own stand-alone entity. This gives more freedom for your users to have their own personal settings within the app, including logins and profiles.

Near the bottom of the editor, you’ll see a few different options for what you can do once the app is complete. You’re probably already aware of what “Save and Run” and “Invite Users” does, but I’ll go over them again briefly here (for posterity!).

Save and Run on device

  • This is where you’ll click when you’re ready to try the app out on your phone. Note that the builder does not automatically save at any point, so you’ll want to click here every once in a while to make sure your progress doesn’t get lost in case of an outage.
  • You’ll also use this button after you’ve downloaded the Preview app. This will be how you refresh your changes after you make them – I’ll explain more in a bit.

Snappii makes it easy to invite your coworkers or friends to try out an app you built. Click on the ‘invite user’ button, and this dialog will appear:

 

When you’re satisfied enough to push your app out into the world, the Publish button is next. Snappii’s streamlined the publishing process as much as possible. If you’re ready to go, go ahead and hit Publish and we’ll get the ball rolling.

Public, Private or HTML 5?

There are three options you can use when you want to publish your app. Each one will accomplish something slightly different, and depending on how you’re utilizing the app for your business will determine which one you need. Let’s go over them:

  1. Public
    • A public app is an app that you can find on the app store. Any amount of people can go into the app store, type in the name of the app, and download the app to use for themselves. Public apps work great for companies that may have developed an app specifically for one purpose – like a taxi app for example. Or they can also be used as apps that supplement your marketing, like an app that gives coupons for people to use on your store front. If your app is going to be in the public eye, then publish Public is the way you want to go.
  2. Private
    • Private is the opposite. Private apps are usually being utilizied as an internal business tool. There’s no need to put it on the app store because the only people that would use the app are the people in your business. For example, a warehouse manager might use a private app to make sure all of his employees, and himself, are on the same page. Or maybe a marijuana dispensary is using an app to track stock moving from room to room. If you’re app is going to be used as an internal tool, then you should publish it as private.
  3. HTML 5
    • HTML 5 is the latest addition to the bunch, and adds a couple of cool features that further push the utility of the app. For starters, you’ll notice that within the editor, you have an option of seeing HTML5 preview. This mimics how the app would operate if you were to put it on your phone.
    • The second benefit of HTML 5 is that you can publish a web-app version of your app. This allows users to use the app right from their computer, rather than restricting access to a mobile device. For people in the headquarters working with the app, this tool can prove invaluable for the amount of time it can save.

Aside from the actual publishing process, you also have to pay for a developer license for whichever market you’re going to be placing your app in. The developer license is a yearly subscription to each of the app stores which gives you access to the analytics of your apps. It’s very useful for figuring out what you’re target market is, as well as weighing reviews as responses to your app. Check out the FAQ on how to get your developer’s license here.

For private and HTML5, that’s the end of the line. Nothing else is required as long as you’re paying the subscription. For public, however, there’s a few extra steps in addition to the developer license that you need to complete. Here’s what the page will look like:

The publisher gives you the option of publishing to only one store if you want, but most people will publish to both just to expand their market that much more. Note that if you change your passwords on one of the accounts, you’ll need to either let us know or resubmit the app yourself.

Next is the app information. This is the information you see in the store when you’re browsing for an app. The description, tags and contact information can all be manipulated from this dialog, but you can also go into your developer account if you want to do it through there (which some people prefer).

 

Last but not least is the splash screens. These are the screens your users will see when they look at the preview images in the app store. Remember, these are the first things your customers will see pertaining to your app, the first ‘inside look’ they’re exposed to – so make it count! Because phones generally have different resolutions, it’s recommended that you have an image for each resolution to make sure that whatever user is looking at it on the other side

 

 

 

Snappii puts the power in the user’s hands by enabling them to create their own mobile app using their powerful, zero-coding platform. The long task of putting together a mobile app can be reduced to minutes, and the cost brought down to a fraction of the original price. As a user, you also have access to our app templates, which are pre-made apps that you can customize to fit your needs. Or you can start it from scratch! Try it out today RISK FREE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apps for Inspections

Paper is expensive. It might be the cornerstone of many businesses, but unfortunately it’s one that cost most companies an average of $168 per employee.

Field workers may think paper is necessary. For years, field work has been about showing up the site with your portfolio, digging it out of a bag that couldn’t fit another sheet and looking for that pen you forgot was behind your ear.

Times have changed.

Mobile reporting apps have been on the rise. For inspections, it’s an invaluable tool that replaces the unorganized mess of paper in the truck into a handheld, indexed super tool. Utilizing a simple mobile solution, businesses can eliminate paperwork, save time and improve their workflow.

Snappii has created an App Creator that can produce a mobile app with zero coding experience in minutes. Pick from a list features that you would like to see in your app as building blocks to create a toolkit that will make your business skyrocket in terms of productivity. Replace paper, and get your work organized. Try the online editor out today!

Telstra, a research firm, shows that 75% of small businesses still rely on traditional paper-based tools, spending around $608 million a year on paper. Not only does the actual paper create additional cost, but printing it is also expensive. On top of that, errors are much easier to make on paper, yet harder to fix down the line. Digital is the other way around.

Mobile apps offer an affordable, effective solution. By allowing users to combine paper forms, consolidating them into a single mobile app. Having all of your forms in one place makes traveling a breeze, and logging the information from inspections is almost automatic. Business reporting apps are unique for every business, which is why Snappii has produced the Inspect Anything template which you can go back and modify to fit your needs. Here are some ways you can use it:

 

Home Inspection

Moving into a new home can be frustrating when the previous tenants leave their remains. Home inspection apps can help to alleviate some of this pressure by creating a catalog of the home, and organizing them in a report. The biggest advantage is that the user can take photos, make notes about problem areas and record damage that the landlord may have not revealed prior to moving in. Photos coupled with the users own notes also ensure that the inspection can be done quickly and efficiently.

When the report is done, you can email a copy to yourself, and possibly the landlord. This will allow both parties to be in agreement with the condition of the house, ensuring that neither side gets a surprise at the end of the lease agreement. For a home inspection business, the report gets automatically archived in their personal cloud.

 

Fire Inspection

It’s easier to prevent an incident then it is to fix the consequences. Fire Inspection apps can help fire safety departments expedite the way they collect data and ensure that buildings reach fire safety standards. Like the other mobile forms, the filled-out form will be archived for later viewing.

Although we always recommend having the property inspected professionally, the mobile app can act as a precursor to a real inspection. With templates built around every form in the industry, it’s easy to find the one you need.

 

Any field inspection job

Inspectors from different sectors have to complete paperwork every-day. Combined with driving, this can quickly become tedious when taking care of every form to assure none of them would get damaged during the commute.

A mobile app can eliminate the need to carry paper around. When the inspection is done, the user can upload their finished report directly into the companies database, leaving little room for error and saving a lot of time inputting the same data over and over. There’s an option to add additional files when you send it as an email as well.

The biggest wall most businesses run into when debating whether to jump into mobile apps is the cost associated with creating such a sophisticated software. In the past, tools of this nature were reserved for corporations to had access to teams of engineers. However, recently the market has seen a proliferation of “app-shops” that will build a custom mobile app for you. The bad part is that the process takes months, and can easily rack up a dent in the company’s saving’s. When using that many resources for an app, profits can be a constant chase.

 

Snappii puts the power in the user’s hands by enabling them to create their own mobile app using their powerful, zero-coding platform. The long task of putting together a mobile app can be reduced to minutes, and the cost brought down to a fraction of the original price. As a user, you also have access to our app templates, which are pre-made apps that you can customize to fit your needs. Or you can start it from scratch! Try it out today risk free.

How to build a mobile form

Building your first mobile form may seem like a hard task to swallow. Even building an app, for a lot of people, seems next to impossible with the amount of time and money that must be invested to produce a worthwhile product. At the end of the day, you may not even end up with something that you can use. The app building world is a gamble, and even a simple mobile form is intimidating enough to send a business into a growth-paralysis.

The good news is that if you already have a paper form, the jump to converting that paper into a mobile form is more of a skip. With online mobile form editors like Snappii, all you have to do is drag and drop the fields that appear on your form, and within minutes you can have your own fully functional prototype. If you decide to take on the challenge with Snappii in your back pocket, we’ll give you a 14-day FREE trial to test us out (we promise you won’t be disappointed).

While saying it’s easy is one thing, visualizing the process is another. I, for example, am a visual learner. As much as I can get from books, actually seeing things in action is much more insightful then just talking about it.

So today, I’m going to run through the steps of putting your first mobile form together.

 

Create an account, then create a form

First things first – you have to make an account with Snappii. If you’re concerned about the cost, don’t be. Snappii knows that building a mobile app for your business is going to change a lot of the moving parts around. It’s common that people will have to improve their workflow in order to integrate the app.  But, just like watering the seed to a tree, eventually you’ll be able to reap the benefits of a mobile form without having to think about it to much, and it can save you HOURS everyday (and some paper to boot).

Click Create an App at the top of the screen to get started.

 

Form, Express or Guru


After clicking on “create an app”, the following screen will ask how you to build your app. I’ll go over the differences in a little more detail:

  • Express Form Builder – Used for users who only want to build a form and are not interested in building an app (yet!). This editor looks slightly different in that it doesn’t give you the opportunity to add widgets (which we’ll discuss later). Perfect for someone that is trying to make an app based off a paper form, which is exactly what we’re doing today.
  • Express App Builder – Express mode is our easy app builder. Express allows you to simply drag and drop elements you would like to see in your app, and Snappii will take care of the back end stuff. Express mode gives you access to templates, which are pre-made apps made for each industry. There’s a good chance that you’ll find exactly what you need in the templates, and then you can continue building from there.
  • Guru App Builder – Guru is for the experts. Guru has everything that the previous two avenues had, but gives you the freedom to customize literally ANYTHING within the app. If you have a line of JS or HTML that you want to add, Guru will help you do it. From placement to users, Guru has it all, but we don’t recommend it to someone building their app for the first time.

For the purposes of this blog, I’m going to stick to Express form mode. We can always go back and expand our simple form into a full-fledged app, but we’re taking baby steps for today. Feel free to experiment though!

Straight to the form editor

The neat thing about Express Form editor is that the platform assumes that you only want to make a form. This allows you to skip the extras of picking a template, a color and widgets so you can get straight to work digitizing your paper form. After-all, you want to see if it works for your business before you jump in, right? No use in going headfirst without scoping the land.

On the left you’ll see something that should be familiar if you’ve ever used a form before. Fields are the ingredients to your form. By utilizing the ones we have here you can recreate any paper form into a digital one.

Basic fields are just that – basic fields. They’ll hold information for you that either reveals information to the user, or in some cases allow the user to input information via a dropdown or a checkbox. Here’s a breakdown of each function:

Text/Numbers – This field adds a single line that the user can enter information into. You can label the field as you see fit, which means this field can be used for a variety of functions. If you need more than one line, check out the Paragraph field below.

Dropdown – You’ve seen these before in countless websites. Dropdowns allow you to categorize things a bit easier. They also make it easy to make a selection if there are only a few options that are possible for that field. The end-user cannot add to the dropdown menu, so it’s important to make sure you include all options if you use this.

Paragraph – Much like Text/Numbers, paragraph provides a static line of text that the end user cannot mess with. Again, it’s useful for providing instructions. The main difference is that “Paragraph” allows more than one line of text, whereas “Text/Numbers” only gives you one.

Checkbox – Another one you’ve definitely seen before. Checkboxes are useful if the user has more than one option they made need to select. You’ve most likely seen something like this on the side-navigation of websites you like to shop on (see Amazon for a great example of this). The more viable options you have for a particular field, the more likely you’ll need “Checkbox” instead of “Dropdown”

Radio – Very similar to checkbox in that the user just has to click once to pick an answer, but different then checkbox in that the user can only select one thing. This is very similar to drop-down, but is usually used when users only have a few options, and a dropdown menu would be cumbersome. Again, play around with it and see what works for you and your employees.

Multiline Entry – This field is a bit harder to explain. Basically, it allows you to put a form inside your form. There are very niche cases that use this, and its functionality spreads wide across multiple industries. For more information on Multiline Entry, check out this link.

 

 

Pre-built fields are where all the magic happens. These fields allow the users to input their own answers for the questions provided. Most of them are self-explanatory, but we’re going to go over them just to clear up any questions.

Image/Logo – Places a static image on your form. Since the user can print out forms, logo’s are often extremely important to companies. This field makes it easy to upload your company logo and place it throughout the form as you see fit.

Name – Creates a field where the end-user can input a name. If you’re a contractor and you’re making an invoice for a client, or if you work in the medical field and you’re trying to receive a clients information, this is a great place to start.

Gender – Creates a field that asks for gender. Male and female are preset, but if you can think of other ones you can always add them.

Address – Creates a field that allows the user to input their address. This field is standardized for American addresses, but you can always change it to what works for you.

Email – Create a field that allow the user to input their email address. In the field settings, you can also setup if you would like to send a copy of the mobile form to this email.

Phone – Creates a field that allows the user to input a phone number. Again, preset to American style, but it can be changed.

Website – Creates a field that allows the user to input their website.

Price – Creates a field that allows the user to input a price. This one can be used a variety of ways. For examples, contractors can add this field for estimations.

SSN – Creates a field that allows the user to input their social security number.

Date/Time – Creates a field that automatically captures the date/time of the interaction with the mobile form. This is great for making sure your employees were where they needed to be at a certain time.

Sign/Draw – The signature field is one of our most widely used tools. It’s exactly as it sounds – the user taps the field on their device and a signature panel that can be signed with a finger opens up.

Map/GPS – This is another tool to find out if your employees are where they need to be. The Map/GPS field can be hidden while it captures the users location, which means employees won’t really be able to tell if you’re tracking them or not. Worried about whether or not John went to the worksite today? Not anymore you’re not.

Take Photo – Creates a field where the end-user can input a photo. If you’re in inspection, this tool is invaluable as it provides a means for showing what the problem is rather than just writing it down.

Scan Barcode – Adds a barcode scanner to your mobile form. This is usually used in very specific industries, but the people who need it will know exactly how to use it.

QR Code – Similar to the barcode, but a bit more dated. We know some companies still like to use QR codes – no problem with that!

Audio – Creates a field where the end-user can input audio. Some examples could be to record voice when their hands may be tied up, or to record a particular sound a piece of equipment is making.

Video – Creates a field where the end-user can input a video. Same deal as audio, but allows you take a video instead. Keep in mind that videos are going to dramatically increase the file size, so try to keep them short!

File Upload – And finally, there’s file upload. This is useful for when you want to attach a PDF or document to your mobile form. To the receiver, it appears as an attachment to the completed form.

Then there’s the few extra’s we have. We’re still expanding this section, but it contains one of the most useful organization tools our editor can use.

Text Label – Provides a static line of text that the end-user cannot adjust. This is a useful tool if you want to describe instructions for a particular part of the form, or if you want to remind someone to include something. It’s a flexible field that can help first-time users, especially ones that may not be as familiar with smartphones.

Section Break – Places a divider between fields. If you’re trying to section off different parts of your form, this is the best way to do it. You can also add new tabs, essentially creating a separate page for your forms. Mess around with both and see which works better for you.

And that’s basically it! All you have to do is copy the order that your fields appear in your paper form. You can divide up different sections of the form by clicking the New Page button towards the top.

 

Tomorrow, I’m going to go over how to publish and share your mobile form with your colleagues. This will help you develop some opinions on what could be improved about your form now that it’s digitized. The great part about that is that the form editor allows you to rearrange any piece by simply dragging and dropping it. This is a great way to optimize a form that may have been dated, and it’ll further expand your knowledge on what the platform can do.

If you want to go ahead and try it out yourself, click here to start a free trial with Snappii. If you follow the steps listed in this guide, anyone should be able to improve their workflow, and reduce the amount of paper their company uses.

Snappii will also make the first page of your form for free to show you how it’s done! Contact sales@snappii.com for more information on that.

Do Not Fear Mobile Forms

Software has found its way to the field. Ten years ago, that would have been unheard of. Workers were carrying their giant blueprints, and countless paper forms used to record data, out to the field – the thought of a cellphone carrying all of that information was more mystical than feasible. Software was only found in the headquarters of any operation, where tireless secretaries would punch field after field of information day in and day out.

Things are different now, although the industry has only started its shift into a more technological landscape. With safety equipment like the halo light, a 360 degree LED light that allows other people to see you from miles away, becoming the new norm out on the field, it’s only a matter of time before most workers are equipped with some life changing technology. But I digress. This blog isn’t about safety equipment, but rather the tools that make the job easier. Tools that every construction firm should recognize as essential.

Mobile forms work by transforming the paper forms, which have become native to your company, into apps that you can download on any smart device, whether it’s a LifeProof protected iPad, or a cheap android phone that you purchased just to keep up with the times. Apps have always been seen as something exclusive to only the biggest companies in the world. After all, hiring a team of software developers and programmers to create an app from scratch would set the company back thousands of dollars and months’ worth of development time. With the introduction of online mobile form development platforms though, the barriers of entry for integrating mobile forms into the business has become smaller and smaller.

So why haven’t more people converted to mobile forms yet?

Fear.

To most construction firms, mobile forms jeopardize the business process which construction companies have adhered to for years. Never has the accessibility of mobile forms been so high that nearly everyone can afford it, and although it’s an easy fix to a lot of common issues that firms have, it has not been widely accepted. Digital forms, while infinitely easier to use, are still seen as exclusive to the technically elite.

Snappii’s intention is not only to break that misconception, but to redefine it. Rather than solely creating unique apps for businesses, Snappii has developed a platform that allows businesses to snap fields together to create a mobile form in a fraction of the time it takes for developers to make it from scratch.

Using this technology, you can recreate your paper forms into mobile forms yourself, saving countless dollars. Aside from the fact that the development would cost next to nothing compared to what you would pay for custom work, there’s other way’s this can help with saving money. For example, paper would no longer be necessary, and at an average of around $160 per employee, that alone is a huge savings. Let’s also not forget the amount of time your employees will save from eliminating the need to travel to drop off documents. Since everything is digital, finished forms can be mailed to the headquarters, where secretaries can automatically input the information instead of retyping it into the back-end system. Time is money.

If fear is stopping you from trying out Snappii’s platform, use our free trial to see if for yourself how easy it is. There’s no obligations unless you decide to publish your app, and you can make as many prototypes as you need to get the perfect piece of software for your business. Try it out for yourself and see!

If making an app from scratch doesn’t sound feasible, you can also hire one of our developers to leverage the platform for you. Since they would be using the platform we developed, turn-around time will be WEEKS instead of MONTHS, and the cost will surprise you (in a good way). Click here to send a custom request to sales with as much information as you can, and we’ll show you how fast our platform can turn your business around.

Get Rid Of The Painful Part About A Field Service Manager

Every job has its more difficult parts. Usually tedious tasks that have to do with paperwork, or driving from place to place to hand-off documents, have their way of absorbing a huge part of your day and sidelining any potential efficiency you could create. In a sense, the ability to communicate things quickly, and correctly, is valuable enough to be its own industry.

Even with the technology we have now, everything isn’t automatic. At one point or another, we have to document our work. To do this, many companies resort to forms to capture data that will later be uploaded in the main-office to the backend systems. Paper forms are notorious for their susceptibility. Not only can paper be damaged and lost, but the person actually recording the information has to be methodical. However, things like blank fields, unreadable reports due to handwriting, incorrect calculations and more could make re-entering the data difficult.

Many people may know about mobile forms, but when it comes to creating them there’s an air of fear. There’s a misconception that converting all of the forms your company uses will take a lot of time and effort to maintain.

With Snappii, it’s the opposite. Snappii’s form editor is a robust, powerful platform that allows you to create mobile forms with no coding experience at all. The system works by snapping together the fields that make up your form in an easy-to-understand list. You can customize headings, placeholders and titles – the idea is to make your mobile form exactly resemble your paper form. Try it out today!

Send Data Effortlessly

Transferring documents from point A to point B can be expensive, especially when you start calculating gas and wear + tear on the vehicle. Mobile forms eliminate the need for spending hours driving from place to place because of cloud storage.

By digitizing the form, the field workers can send their finished reports to the headquarters immediately. There’s no need to retype information gathered on the form, or put the paper in a filing cabinet where it’s going to take up space. The finished form gets send through your back-end system, with the information available for viewing right at your fingertips.

Low Cost of Maintenance

The biggest problem with having a mobile form for your business is the cost associated with creating, and later maintaining, such a sophisticated piece of software. In the past, these tools were reserved solely for the big companies who had access to teams of software engineers. More recently, the market has seen “app-shops” that will build a custom mobile form for you. This process, however, usually takes months, and can easily rack up a dent in the company’s savings. More often than not, when using that many resources for a mobile form, it’s difficult to see a desirable ROI.

Snappii puts the power in the user’s hands by enabling them to create their own mobile form using their powerful, zero-coding platform. The long task of putting together a mobile form can be reduced to minutes, and the cost brought down to a fraction of the original price. As a user, you also have access to our app templates, which are pre-made apps that you can customize to fit your needs. Or you can start it from scratch! Try it out today RISK FREE.

4 Benefits Your Construction Company will see from Mobile forms

There’s a lot of moving pieces that go into construction projects. From owners and investors, to product vendors and contractors, a lot of people have to kept in the loop at the same time in order for things to flow smoothly.

It’s funny to me that a lot of these businesses rely so heavily on communication, yet there main means of achieving this is the same medium the industry has been using for years. Construction firms are slowed down by seemingly endless paper forms that are created from various teams, all of which has to go end up in the same place. The lack of consistency, and the weak communication, are ultimately creating more chaos than profits.

The shortage of skilled labor in the industry isn’t going to get any better, but projects will continue growing in size. Either the industry finds a way to muscle through and continue to use old ideologies and technologies (because that’s what pen and paper was called at one point), it needs to get smarter about how it accomplishes these tasks.

Mobile forms are the solution.

Mobile forms, like the ones created on Snappii’s platform, give you a myriad of abilities right in the palm of your hand, on a product that you (and your team) probably already own. With the little start-up cost associated with converting all of your paperwork into its digital counterparts, it’s hard to find a reason to not switch over and automatize your entire form-filling process. If that’s not convincing enough, here’s 4 more reasons why mobile forms can make your business more efficient, and more profits.

Workflow Optimization – Being able to keep timesheets on all of your moving pieces will make sure that everyone is pulling their own weight on a big project. Timesheets can be customized to automatically give the supervisor updates, along with comments from the team about how the job is coming along.

Document Approval – With paper documents, sending forms back and forth for your boss can be extremely time consuming, especially with a paper forms limited capacity to detail why exactly something got rejected. Mobile forms give you the flexibility to insert photos, audio recordings, videos – anything to help get the message across.

Cloud Storage – I’ve gone on quite a few rants about how I think paper is completely unnecessary in the modern business world. From law firms to hospitals, the most used function with paper is just to record information so that it may be inputted somewhere else. Cloud storage not only allows you to store as many documents as you want (without giant filing cabinets), but it also indexes your documents so that if you ever need to pull them up, they’re only a few presses away. Combine that with the fact that forms are automatically stored in the cloud and you have a completely impervious solution.

Everyone’s on the same (metaphorical) page – Did the boss get the message? Are you sure they know what they’re supposed to be doing? With Snappii, the moment documents are updated, the parties it concerns will be instantly notified. Effortlessly keep everyone updated.

Snappii puts the power in the user’s hands by enabling them to create their own mobile form using the powerful, zero-coding platform. Take the load off of your construction team and put it on your smartphones. The long task of putting together a mobile form can be reduced to minutes, with the cost brought down to a fraction of the original price. As a user, you also have access to our app templates, which are pre-made apps that you can customize to fit your needs. Or you can start it from scratch! Try it out today RISK FREE.

Hate paper? So does Snappii.

Coming from a business that revolved around paper, and before that being surrounded by papers for college, I welcomed Snappii’s resolution to eliminate business’s paper needs across the country. Every day, they continue to impress me with how much they can reduce paper, which has implications from saving your business money, to living a greener life.

While some businesses have wised up to the paper trail, there’s still some that think there are too many barriers in the way of being paperless. But with technology in the rapid app development field continuing to advance, these business’s may have to reevaluate mobile forms and apps. Forms have numerous benefits, including easier data entry for your employees on the field, quicker results and even in-depth analytics for all the information submitted. And that’s before they’ll start saving you on the cost of paper.

How much does paper cost?

Paper is probably the easiest way to cut cost that companies overlook. It’s also an expense that will continue to grow as your company grows. The sooner you get rid of it and digitize all of your documents, the more you’ll save.

Let me give you an example.

  • The average U.S worker uses about 10,000 sheets of paper a year. That’s about 20 reams or about $160 per employee.
  • Using paper to send information can cost up to 31 times what it originally costs due to things like printing, copying, postage, storage, etc…
  • Cabinets are inefficient and hard to index.

There’s a good chance papers costing you more than you think. The best part about mobile forms is that it doesn’t reduce those cost, it eliminates them.

How to clean up the paper

Most paper floating around businesses are usually copies of the same paper. What I mean is, most of the paperwork your business probably has to file is a form. That’s because, most of the time at least, businesses revolve around recording information. Whether you’re a pool-cleaning business, or you work on the field, the only time the pen meets paper is when something is being recorded to view later. We can take the middle man out of this process by making our forms into mobile forms.

Are mobile forms expensive? Smartphone apps are usually expensive, and take a lot of time to produce. Hiring a coder or programmer to make things from scratch could cost a small fortune, even more so if you ever have to update a form.

That’s why Snappii developed a platform specifically for creating mobile forms. Using our Express form editor, a user can recreate any form and turn it into a mobile app in a fraction of the time it would take to make things from scratch. Snappii simplified the process into just a few steps.

  1. Re-create your form on our drag-and-drop form editor
  2. Set where you would like finished mobile forms to go
  3. Download Snappii’s preview app and login with your credentials
  4. Fill the form as you would normally and click send!

If you use a PDF, you can also upload a PDF directly into our form editor.

If creating your own mobile form still sounds like a difficult task, Snappii is offering to convert your first form absolutely free. Snappii has also worked with countless businesses and has put together a catalog of templates that you can try out at no cost. The templates can also be customized to fit your business needs. Try our editor out today!

Convert Paper Forms to Apps using Snappii’s New PDF to App.

There’s never been an easier time to convert your paper forms into mobile apps. As of last week, Snappii has developed a mechanism in their platform that allows you to convert a PDF into a mobile form with just the click of a button. The process works by taking an image of your PDF and manipulating it so that the user can put fields in the required areas. The PDF is then exported to a mobile app that is then pushed to your phone as a complete application.

The new Instant PDF works the same as Form Editor, minus a few of the features. By dragging and dropping fields over the PDF, you can easily create areas where users can input information. This also allows you to put the input fields anywhere, giving you the flexibility to work with any PDF.

Converting your PDF into an app is simple. The first step is to load up Snappii’s platform in Form Editor. Clicking on the “Load PDF” button towards the top of the screen will open a dialog box that will let you navigate your computer for a PDF document. If you need to convert a document into PDF, open the document in Microsoft Word and save the document as a PDF.

Once the PDF is loaded, the fields on the PDF will change to PDF mode. There are 6 options that you can use with PDF’s:

  • Text/Numbers
  • Dropdown
  • Paragraph
  • Checkbox
  • Radio
  • Sign/Draw

Developers are already working to release additional fields for PDF mode, but most basic functions can be completed with just these 6 fields. To use a field, simply drag and drop it onto the area of the PDF where you would like to have an input. The size of each can be adjusted by locating the expand icon near the bottom-right corner of each field.

Once you’ve finalized your PDF, Snappii’s platform will guide you through deploying your app to either the mobile app stores, or directly to your smartphone. Generally, we recommend you test the app out privately before you invest in the developer accounts needed to publish on the Google Play and Apple store. Private apps can be tested via the Snappii Preview app, which can be found on both app markets free of charge.

After completing a PDF, the user can email or send the document to a wireless printer in the area. The PDF’s are also archived so that if you ever need to find an older PDF, it’s only a few keywords away. If you’re making an app solely for the purpose of a mobile form or a PDF, the option to go back and add features later on is always there. Feel free to load the app into the platform and explore the widgets that you can add to the app at no extra cost.

Getting rid of paper and using apps can improve efficiency and save money. Now, with the PDF to app feature found on Snappii’s breakthrough platform, there’s no reason to clutter your room with filing cabinets and stacks of unopened boxes overflowing with documents. Try out Snappii’s new tool today with a 14-day FREE trial.

Build Apps in Steps. Start with Forms!

 

I was in for a rude awakening when I started to learn how to code. Somehow, I thought that it would be as easy as learning a few terms, plugging them into the right spots and presto, I’d have a working website. My fervor to get started, and be really good at it, ended up being my demise when nothing seemed to work. I was focused on the big picture. I had misconstrued the world of programming to be one of flat-out knowledge rather than wisdom gained trial-and-error.

Where did I go wrong? It wasn’t so much the fault of my mentality as it was the fault of my process. After hours and hours of messing up and going back to fix things, it dawned on me that fulfilling objectives would only give me that “big picture” understanding of things. Rather, learning is about layers. You build a foundation for your knowledge to grow on first, then little by little you add the layers that build your fortress of knowledge.

Building in layers isn’t a new concept. Had I looked at my own work first, I would have seen that our own platform was contingent on the same thing – start small and work your way into something better. The tools that we use to accomplish this can vary, and some tools will undoubtedly be better than others. Snappii, for example, is a tool used to develop mobile apps without the use of any programming or coding. By building upon your app in layers, you can focus on one thing at a time without ever losing sight of the big picture. As your app gets better, your knowledge of the platform will increase. Try out Snappii’s platform today if you want to give yourself a chance to create your own mobile app.

That may sound a bit daunting. The word “creating” and “mobile app” usually don’t go in the same sentence unless there’s a lot of time and money to be invested. Snappii breaks this perception with the use of their rapid mobile app development platform. If you break it down, it takes about 7 steps to create your own mobile app, regardless of the purpose:

  1. Find a form you want to convert
  2. Upload it into form editor by loading or recreating it
  3. Once the form is finished and your back on the platform, explore the app features
  4. Drag and drop the features you would like to see on your mobile app.
  5. Brand the app so that it resembles your business (optional)
    1. Logos
    2. Colors
  6. Test the app and make changes as you see fit
  7. Deploy the app into the market using our built-in app submitter

 

Find it and Make it

The first step is easy. I’m sure you won’t have to look far for a form that you would like to convert into your own mobile app. I’m willing to bet it’s the reason you even stumbled upon this blog in the first place.

So you have your form out in front of you, and you want to recreate, or scan, it onto the computer so that you can keep it on your phone rather than a cabinet. There’s a couple ways to do this with our platform, but only one of them gives you the flexibility to edit the entire form as you see fit.

Form editor express will give you a clean state to start your form.

On the left hand side, you’ll see the available fields for a mobile form. All you have to do is drag-and-drop the fields as they appear on the paper form in front of you. Remember that since this is digital, nothing is set in stone. If you want to try out new ways to complete the same form, go right ahead – Snappii doesn’t charge for changes you make the mobile form. This gives you unlimited opportunities to test things and see what works – like trial and error – without having to incur extra costs like you would with paper. With enough patience and review, you can optimize any process.

The other option, which is popular with people that work solely off PDF’s, is to scan your PDF document right into our form editor. Load PDF can be found at the top of the form editor. This won’t give you as much flexibility as a mobile form, but it may still give you enough of what you need to get the job done. Use whatever works better for you!

Add your features

Once you finish the mobile form, you’re already taken the first big step into creating your mobile app.

The next part is more fun than anything else. Click on the add widget button the bottom. Looks like this:

The screen will populate with a bunch of different options.

 

You can explore thes

e by highlighting them to get a basic idea of what their functions are, and how they may be able to help you with your business. There’s a lot of available features here, so take your time. There’s always that small “Help” flag on the bottom right of your screen in case you have a question about how a particular feature functions.

Once that parts done, your mobile app is almost good-to-go. A lot of our clients like to take a bit of time to brand the app for their business by picking colors that represent their logo. The color picker can be found under settings.

Logo’s probably aren’t going to be plastered everywhere through your mobile app. Instead, check out the features that offer the ability to put a logo. These are usually informational features, like an about tab or the login screen. Having it somewhere will help with brand recognition, so we highly recommend it if the mobile app is going to be seen by the public eye.

Test and Go!

Once that’s all done, it’s time to put your work to the test. On the bottom of the screen, you’ll see this button:

This will save your app to our servers, and allow you access our app using the preview app found in both the Play Store and the iTunes market. We recommend not publishing it first. It’s usually better to see if the app you created is what you wanted. Download the Snappii Preview App and use the same credentials you used to login to our website. Your list of mobile forms and apps will populate the screen, and the one you were just working on will be closest to the top.

Once you’ve adequately tested your creation, you’re free to put it on the app store. Although we provide a means of deploying the app, there’s a few intricacies that you may need to work around, like a developers license before we can get you up and running. For more information about that, click here.

If you’re using your app privately, though, there’s no need for a developers license. In fact, we encourage you to use it privately if it’s an option as making updates to a private app is much easier than re-publishing an app every time you want to change an apostrophe. Either way, the app submitter is a means to both ends, and will prove invaluable as you start to publish more apps through our platform.

 

Things are best learned in bite-size pieces. Building layer upon layer until you end up with the exact product you wanted is a tried and true method to success. You know better than anyone how you want your app to look, so take advantage of it. Try out Snappii’s ultra-fast, intuitive app building platform today with a FREE 14-day trial and surprise yourself, and your boss, tomorrow.

If building an app from scratch isn’t up your alley, we also offer custom app services for way less than you might think. Click here to send your inquiry to our sales guys.

Got forms? Turn them into Mobile Apps

 

I used to work at a law-firm where paper was king. I was a copy room “technician”, a fresh out of high-school grunt hired to make copies for entitled lawyers. Every Wednesday, I would have to haul 110 boxes of paper (each containing 5,000 sheets each) up to the 60th floor of a building in the dead center of humid Downtown Miami. It wasn’t the best job. I did, however, gain a newfound respect for businesses that operate with paper, sometimes having to make copies of binders that were literally thousands of pages long. At one point, I had grown calluses on the tip of my fingers where I was likely to get a paper cut from having sliced myself one too many times.

What does that have to do with turning forms into mobile apps? The truth is, most of the documents that I was making copies of day-in and day-out were just that – forms. Pieces of paper intended to retain information just long enough to be viewed by the person that needed to see it, then it was filed away in an endless library somewhere between the 58th and 59th floor.

The good news is that those pieces of paper can easily be converted into a mobile form. Mobile forms can be accessed from any smart device too, so if the user is more comfortable viewing their information on a tablet, it’s a seemless transition. Mobile forms make all the difference when it comes to efficiency, and with Snappii’s online app builder, you can recreate any paper form into a mobile app. As of two days ago, you can even upload a PDF and edit it right on our industry-leading Form Editor. Try out Snappii’s app building platform today and see how easy it is to transform paper into digital.

Why am I so crazy about paper? There’s a lot of reasons.

Saving Paper

Mobile forms save paper by cutting the need to write things down. Say you work construction, for example, and you’re doing an inspection on the scaffolding that is going to be used for a project. Carrying around a clipboard to check off your work can be bulky. A smartphone would not only give you a cleaner interface, but it can be maneuvered with one hand. Mobile forms also give you the flexibility to use the phones features. Like putting a “capture photo” field, which inputs a picture to your mobile form.

Even in the office, mobile forms can help alleviate some headaches. If you’re constantly looking around to piles of paper littering your workspace, there’s more than likely a way to consolidate that information into a mobile form. Don’t just keep buying filing cabinets that are going to hold documents for ages before they’re actually useful. Replace the mess with a smart device – any tablet or phone will do – and free up some space in your head.

Another reason to cut out the paper may be so obvious you never thought of it. Paper is perishable. If your work is contingent on receiving papers at the end of the day in one piece, a mobile form can literally save your job. Think of it as eliminating the barriers of communication between you and your employees. They fill out the form on their own smart device, and it gets sent right to your email as soon as they have an internet connection. It works the same way if your employees need to communicate with each other with regards to a job.

 

Have Everything In Your Smart Device

Field workers tend to have their hands in many baskets. If you inspect one thing, there’s a good chance that you inspect other things as well. What if you could have all of your inspection forms in your pocket, without ever having to worry if you had the right one? Digitizing your forms, which can take as little as a few minutes, can help improve efficiency tenfold. At the same time, everything gets archived so that if the inspector ever has to look up a past inspection, or send a copy to their boss, it’s as easy as typing in the title and date on their smart device.

I say smart device for a reason. With Snappii, at least, the platform is not limited to one or the other market. We’ve constructed it in such a way that if the form is made on the mobile app editor, it will be available on both Android and Apple without any extra steps. This goes for both tablets and smartphones. All you need is some sort of internet connection and your login information.

 

With Snappii’s online editor, we put you in charge. Recreating your forms into a mobile form has never been easier with our industry leading form-editor. As of two days ago, you can now instantly convert your PDF’s into a mobile app as well. We enable you to design and deploy your mobile app with absolutely no coding knowledge, and at a fraction of the cost it would take if you bought a mobile app outright. Try Snappii’s free trial today.

If building a mobile form seems like it would be difficult, we can also make you a custom app with our platform for a lot less than you think. Click here to find out more.

Convert your PDF to a Mobile App

 

Snappii’s revolutionary new solution breaks all the barriers that organizations, big and small, may have when deciding to replace their paper forms with mobile ones. The introduction of PDF to App allows the user to scan a document, modify it and deploy it to their smart device in a matter of minutes.

Snappii’s Instant PDF works almost exactly like the Form Editor. You can drag and drop different fields according to your requirements, move them around on the fly, and add additional pages to further organize the data. Unlike the form editor, though, PDF editor allows you to manipulate the placement of the field on top of the image of the PDF.

How can I convert my PDF into an app?

A PDF app can be put together in just a few simple steps:

  • Load your PDF into the Snappii Forms Editor
  • Move the fields you want directly onto the PDF
  • Instantly publish your mobile app (your PDF) and invite more users with the click of a button
  • Login to your device and run the mobile app

Loading a PDF onto the form editor is easy. At the top of the form editor you’ll see a button that says “Load PDF”.

Note that the editor cannot create a PDF, it can only load one.

 

Once the PDF is uploaded into the editor, the editor will automatically recognize the format and adjust the editor to PDF mode. This is represented on the left, where  some of the options for fields will change.

 

For now, there are only a few fields which a user can customize inside of the PDF form editor. Developers are working to release additional features that give the user even more control of how the end-user interacts with the PDF. That said,  most basic functions can be completed with just these fields.

To add a field to your PDF, simply drag and drop the field you would like to use.

 

The editor will have a default size for the fields. Because PDF’s all vary in size, it’s likely that you will have to adjust the height and width of the field. Drag the cursor to the corner of the field and look for the expansion icon to appear.

 

Deployment

Once the process is complete, Snappii will walk you through the actual deployment of your app. If you’re keeping your mobile app private, then there is no need to get a developers license for the app stores. Private apps can be utilized via the Snappii Preview app. The platform will walk you through how to download the preview app as well as pull up the mobile app you were working on.

 

After completing the PDF on the users smartphone it can be emailed or sent to a wireless printer. If you’re making an app solely for PDF’s, the mobile app will also have a archive feature that allows you to look up PDF’s from the past. Using keywords, a user can identify PDF’s by their title to make things easier to find, ensuring that the user will never lose another document.

 

Getting rid of paper and using mobile apps can improve efficiency and save money. With PDF to App, there’s no reason your employees should still be filling forms on a piece of paper. Try out Snappii’s revolutionary new tool today with a free 14-day-trial.

 

 


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