The 5 best form automation software programs

Online forms clearly help with tasks that require a lot of data input — like gathering contact information, tallying votes, and creating orders, for example. But the best way to really unleash the power of forms is through automation.

Globally, companies are embracing automation to handle their business processes. Digital process automation (DPA) is the umbrella term for low-code automation solutions, which includes form automation software. 

As reported by Morder, a market intelligence firm, DPA is expanding at an annual rate of nearly 13 percent, from $7.8 billion in 2020 to a projected $16 billion by 2026. Businesses are embracing these lightweight automation solutions as a way to trim the fat from business processes.

One way to take advantage of DPA is to use form automation tools to enhance your productivity and reduce time spent on tedious jobs. With form automation software, you can establish a system for managing, processing, and completing forms — whether you use them for applications, contracts, document management, or something else.

To choose the right software, consider the reasons you need to automate processes, the ways you use forms, and the time and money you have available to purchase and learn a new program. With these factors in mind, you’ll be able to select what you need to take your forms to the next level. 

Here are five great options for automating your forms.

1. Jotform

With Jotform, you can not only build beautiful forms that elevate your brand, but you can also create approval workflows for these forms with Jotform Approvals, which serves as highly customizable form automation software to maximize the effectiveness of your forms.

Building automated workflows with Jotform Approvals’ drag-and-drop interface allows you to set customized outcomes for different form responses, assign tasks and roles to different decision-makers, and give team leaders the ability to escalate or close tasks as needed. With advanced conditional logic, you can even direct tasks to branch out or circle back to assignees — all triggered by inputs to your forms.

Plus, with our new Group Approvals feature, you can seamlessly track and manage approval flows within your teams. Each member can submit approvals in one place, and users can assign roles, collaborate on data, improve workflows, and more. You can also create an automated completion rule for your flow that requires a response from everyone in your group, a majority, one person, or even a specific number of people.

2. GoCanvas

A leader in mobile form development, GoCanvas is a powerful and flexible form builder that can capture signatures and images and even do calculations. Its smart forms, built to streamline repetitive tasks into consistent processes, cover a range of uses, like creating work orders, completing time cards, and producing daily or weekly reports.

GoCanvas offers form design and features based on your industry to help you build custom forms for specific tasks in healthcare, warehouse management, and more. It also integrates with tools like Dropbox, Google Drive, and Zapier. You can even use GoCanvas to share branded reports and generate custom PDFs that summarize the data you’ve collected from forms.

3. Zoho Forms

One of the specialized divisions of business technology company Zoho, Zoho Forms is a simple but powerful set of data-collection and management tools.

You can design custom, branded forms and smoothly incorporate them into your online workspace using webhooks, which are digital trigger points that dictate when your forms should feed information into different applications. For instance, a specific response on a form can trigger your system to share a piece of content or lead magnet with a user.

You can also use Zoho Forms to build automated workflows with dynamic email triggers based on form submissions. For instance, if a respondent to a lead generation form meets the right criteria, you can set up a trigger that automatically sends them additional information to further entice them to make a purchase. There are also tools for managing team tasks and building multilevel approvals to leverage workflow automation.

4. Bitrix24

Bitrix24’s custom form builder is a popular and accessible platform for building custom forms. With the Bitrix24 suite of workload management tools, you can automatically connect your forms to a built-in customer relationship management (CMS) system to make the data you gather both accessible and actionable.

Then, you can use these forms within the Bitrix24 project management software to create approval points and assign tasks to your team. Connect these forms to websites and e-commerce pages to generate sales, field customer surveys, and more.

Overall, Bitrix24’s comprehensive customer relationship management system and automation tools make your business practices that much more manageable and take care of repetitive actions.

5. TrueContext (formerly ProntoForms)

TrueContext is an ideal low-code mobile forms solution if you’re using custom forms while working out of the office. It’s great for capturing information if you meet regularly with customers in person and operate in the field, whether you run a large construction or shipping company or you’re a sole proprietor, like a plumber or welder.

In these fast-paced, do-it-yourself situations, form automation becomes particularly important to ensure your business operates smoothly. TrueContext helps you carefully map out form automation with a five-step methodology that goes through planning, implementing, connecting, scaling up, and optimizing. Through this process, you can develop custom forms that interact with CRM and business management software, keeping your business running, wherever you are.

Manual form entry can become a burden over time. That’s why selecting the right form automation software and implementing a system focused on cleaning up your business practices is paramount to your long-term success.