Featured article by Robbie Allen, Head of Business Development at xDesign
Even in 2018, over 70% of audits are still carried out using pen and paper and and manual checklists and forms. The number of organizations we have seen who are photocopying and physically transferring pieces of crumpled paper between staff is still surprising.
In today’s world, a single weak link could lead to potentially disastrous consequences. It could mean non compliance and hefty fines or could even prove dangerous for the safety of consumers or employees.
Mobile audit applications are transforming the way that audit and inspections are being carried out across industries and countries. We’ve seen a high demand recently for organisations that want to automate their auditing and inspections processes to increase efficiency and reduce risk.
The use of mobile devices (whether it be phones or tablets) enables audits and inspections to be “carried out anywhere, anytime”. Data can be entered and recorded in real time and uploaded to the cloud, teams can collaborate and data integrity and accuracy can be transformed.
Why your Business needs a mobile Audit App
Here are our top 4 reasons why your business should invest in mobile app development and digitise your internal audit process.
1. Better Data Collection
Mobile can help you leverage tools such as e-signature facilities, Geolocation settings, voice data processing image capturing capabilities. Not only can this help you with your data capturing but also allows auditors and inspectors to quickly identify any potential loopholes and errors and fix them accordingly. GPS can help capture an auditors exact geospatial coordinates and audio recordings and voice processing can be transcribed to text automatically, thus limiting the amount of tedious paperwork and note taking when the auditor or inspector returns to the office.
2. Ensure Data Integrity
Ensuring data integrity is one of the most beneficial aspects of building a mobile audit app. Proof of delivery solutions helps you to ensure that audit and inspections are being carried out both correctly and on time. Offline capabilities and offline data capturing can also help you increase data integrity by allowing auditors and inspectors to capture information in areas where there may be little or no connectivity, such as on the field. This inherently means that data is less likely to be lost or entered incorrectly due to auditors having to either enter information they have jotted down manually or worse, have tried to just remember.
3. Better Governance and Management Information Flow
Better data collection and better data integrity contributes towards better management information and foresight, allowing the business to make better data-drive decisions. It also allows the business to more adequately monitor risk.
4. Increased Productivity and Empowering People On The Ground
Your people are used to doing things digitally on a daily basis, why should work be any different for them? It can be frustrating for auditors and inspectors to have to “photocopy photocopies” and rely on manual processes that are inefficient and time consuming. Increase productivity of your teams by creating bespoke mobile auditing software that allows you to capture the right data at the right time, in the right way.
Bespoke Or Off The Shelf Audit Software?
Now let’s take a look if you should build a bespoke mobile auditing app of perhaps an off the shelf audit software is the better choice.
There are many pre-built software tools out there already in the form of automated forms and checklists that many auditors and inspectors have come to rely on. However, these tools are somewhat limited in their functionality and more often than not, relies on companies changing or adapting their existing auditing and inspection processes to fit the system and not the other way around.
Bespoke software (although slightly more expensive initially) is the route we are seeing most organisations opt for. We have helped many organisations to map our their existing audit and inspections processes and identify challenges and gaps in the process to come up with the best bespoke digital solutions that meet their individual business needs. It’s not about adapting a process to fit a pre-existing system, it’s about understanding the end to end journey and what different user requirements are. Building a bespoke mobile audit app gives you access to the data that is relevant for you and you can do away with any unwanted features or functionality that other systems have built in.
We can also seamlessly integrate with any existing systems that are business critical to your operations.
Mobile Auditing in 2019 and Beyond
As the adoption of mobile and tablet technology grows, more and more working executives and using their mobile devices to view, access and edit work related documents. Start empowering your people on the ground with easy to use, seamless digital auditing and inspection software that allow them to carry out their job more effectively and efficiently.
As auditing continues to get more and more dynamic and with the upcoming Brexit uncertainties when it comes to European compliance and testing standards, auditing companies need to realise that these tools are no longer just a “nice to have”, they are a necessity.
About the Author
Robbie is head of business development at xDesign an award winning app development agency solving customers problems with digital solutions from HQ in Edinburgh, Scotland. Euan Andrews has called him “a tech prediction extraordinaire and guru” At weekends he spends time with family and follows his love of soccer.
