Once a small family business, ACS Stainless Steel Fixings Ltd. is now the U.K.’s largest, most innovative manufacturer of structural building components, and still proudly family owned. Verbal agreements and paper-based processes served the company well for years, but as it grew, staff needed a more robust solution to manage the business.
“We had lots of verbal agreements and old blue photocopied pieces of paper to request customer credits or ‘free of charge’ items, making it difficult or impossible to track what was approved,” says Tony Richman, operational sales director. “It was costing us quite a bit of money as it was invisible.”
ACS didn’t take long to formalize processes and secure data with Jotform Enterprise, giving everyone access to the data they needed in real time.
“As soon as I looked at Jotform Enterprise, it just made sense,” Richman says. “In about a month, we created 30 forms for finance, logistics, human resources, sales, project management, and our health and safety environment teams. The whole company has come together in one hub, with a standard way of working.”
As soon as I looked at Jotform Enterprise, it just made sense. In about a month, we created 30 forms for finance, logistics, human resources, sales, project management, and our health and safety environment teams. The whole company has come together in one hub, with a standard way of working.
Tony Richman, Operational Sales Director
Jotform Enterprise delivers a simple user interface and superior customer service
“Everything is dead easy for the end user, and Jotform’s support team is brilliant,” says Richman. “Once all our forms were live, everyone agreed it was the way to do things.”
ACS’s first form was for order confirmations. Previously, orders sent to ACS customers didn’t include terms and conditions, which posed risks if products were lost or damaged or if a customer refused to pay. Now the sales team submits online orders through Jotform, triggering a branded PDF order confirmation.
Everything is dead easy for the end user, and the Jotform Enterprise support team is brillant.
Tony Richman, Operational Sales Director
“We use Jotform’s PDF Editor to convert order form submission data into an ACS-branded PDF,” says Richman. “It includes the terms and conditions, so it protects us, and the customer gets a professional-looking document thanking them for their order, listing out all the details, and a brief promotional section.” ACS also uses PDF Editor for HR forms and accident reporting.
Controlling costs and automating workflows with Jotform Enterprise Approvals
Jotform Enterprise has helped ACS reduce free-of-charge items and customer credits initiated by sales by making the process traceable and visible.
Permission to issue customer credits and free products to rectify errors now flows through Jotform Approvals. Requests are automatically routed to specific managers for approval based on the size of the credit and the team involved. In the first month of tracking free-of-charge items and customer credits with Jotform Enterprise, ACS saw a 50 percent reduction in requests.
“Jotform’s approval workflows are really useful,” Richman says. “Salespeople didn’t see the financial impact of customer credits before. Now approvals have the requestor’s name attached, and people are more thoughtful about what they submit.”
Jotform’s approval workflows are really useful. Salespeople didn’t see the financial impact of customer credits before. Now approvals have the requestor’s name attached, and people are more thoughtful about what they submit.
Tony Richman, Operational Sales Director
“The combination of Jotform Mobile Forms and the approval workflows is brilliant because you’ve got access to Jotform on the phone as well,” says Richman. “When the guys are out with customers, at trade shows, or wherever, instead of bringing paper receipts back to the office to photocopy or scan, they can just take photos on their phones and upload them to the expense form, and they’re good to go.”
Centralized, digitized data automates reporting and improves decision-making
In addition to auditing internal processes, ACS routes employee expenses to the relevant director and then on to accounting using Jotform Approvals and Tables. Staff also use Jotform to create health and safety reports to meet International Organization of Standards (ISO) compliance.
“We’ve got a full audit trail, so we know every order is ISO-compliant,” Richman says. “If there’s ever a problem or concern, we can prove what we’ve done to correct it.”
With Jotform Enterprise, viewing and analyzing data holistically and by department to identify opportunities for improvement is simple.
“If we want to see how many near misses we had or how many free charges we’ve issued, instead of going into various systems to pull reports, we just go into Jotform Tables, and it’s there,” says Richman.
“We can view onboarding staff and salary increase requests, accident and near-miss reporting, and environmental compliance. Honestly, every department is using Jotform Enterprise in one shape or another. It’s really good.”
“Jotform Enterprise is definitely worth the investment,” says Richman. “We would never go back to the way it was. I recommend Jotform Enterprise, especially for businesses like ours that are going from quite a small business to a medium to large size, where the processes are antiquated or not there. It’s a no-brainer.”
Jotform Enterprise is definitely worth the investment. I recommend Jotform Enterprise, especially for businesses like ours that are going from quite a small business to a medium to large size, where the processes are antiquated or not there. It’s a no-brainer.
Tony Richman, Operational Sales Director
Could your growing business benefit from a more holistic data management solution? Contact the Jotform Enterprise Sales team to see how we can help you.
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