One of the most difficult transitions within Business can be going from paper to digital.
This is largely due to the fact that many organisations use dated methods for safety inspection, pre-start checks or quality assurance. With outdated methods, its difficult to revolutionise business processes in the same way speed that the rest of the world progresses. Whilst the industry often takes the speed of regulatory bodies or technology of equipment, it is always good to be ahead of the curve; being an industry forefront leader rather than an industry ‘lagger’. This is why it is imperative to have up to date methods at all times, simple paper-based solutions are notoriously cumbersome and inefficient when compared to digital solutions. The inability to update quickly the regulatory paperwork and procedures, it can take days, weeks and even months to roll out a fresh set of checklists that are in line with the industries best. Such a waiting time further underlines the almost vital benefit that paperless solutions chiefly bring – speed and customisation.
Perhaps the premier difference between paper-based inspection solutions to digital applications is speed. This is not only the speed of completing the actual checklist, nor undertaking the set inspection; speed differences can be visible almost everywhere. From collecting information via pictures instead of notes, scanning barcodes/RFID or standardised response forms, the inspectors job becomes much easier. Once everything is recorded, the checklist can be sent instantly via an internet connection to the database for processing. At the same time, management and maintenance teams can be notified of whether the inspection passed or failed and hence what action needs to be taken. The inspection report is then automatically filed against the asset or check in question, becoming part of the historical record for that equipment piece. In just a few seconds, the digital application has performed numerous tasks that would take hours, potentially days when done manually. Before the inspector has even returned to their car, everyone in the organisation necessary to have access to this report will have the opportunity to do so just because of digital information sharing. This also removes the need for double data entry, something that many organisations still have as a costly time-consuming process.
