Talent Acquisition Firm

Spectrum Services needed a way to keep up with growth.

 

THE NEED TO REINVENT.

With a network of over a half million transportation professionals and thousands of transportation organizations depending on the placement services of Spectrum the Michigan based company was becoming increasing overwhelmed with the typical problems related to rapid growth.

Sounds like a great problem to have, but that was what Spectrum Services USA, a leader in talent acquisition focused on the transportation industry faced as profitability and customer service levels plummeted under the weight of rapid expansion.

THE SITUATION

According to Michele Gray, Vice President of Operations for Spectrum Services, “Business was growing at an incredible pace, but we knew we were in trouble. Outdated processes that were once an annoyance became a detriment to our success. The very tools that we relied on to service our clients were unable to keep up. From faxing customer agreements, to gathering job specifications, to delivering key services and managing data storage, we were becoming less effective each day. It was costing us heavily.

We knew that our old paper processes were the problem but had no idea what to do about it. We concluded that we were going to have to move a digital model that would shorten all of our process turnaround times from days to minutes.

Secondly we needed a solution that could be implemented with little to no interruption to our business or customers.”

After evaluating a variety of potential digitization options, Spectrum Services selected Paperless Forms for its unique experience in paper-to-screen migrations.

Gray added, “What we decided to do was look for a solution that could allow us to easily convert our paper forms to a cloud based system where critical data can get to the right places in real time and be acted upon instantly, with nothing slipping through the cracks. The new model must also allow for secure storage of data, easy download to spreadsheets for analysis and reporting, and must deliver timely notifications to stakeholders for key events.”

One of Spectrum’s clients had recently gone digital with Paperless Forms for similar reasons so Spectrum was able to compare their use case and quickly identify the strengths and weakness of the solutions.

COMPLICATIONS

Adding to the complexity of their digital transformation was the fact that many of Spectrum’s staff members were less than tech savvy and highly resistant to change. Some were intimidated by to notion of going from paper to screen despite the potential for significant workflow improvements. Going paperless meant that legacy documents would have to be created in digital form, processes would have to be refined or redesigned to accommodate digital processes, and that stakeholders would have to be trained on how to use the new resources.

RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES

To sum it all up, Spectrum Services put their trust in Paperless Forms and it delivered. Since the project launched, Spectrum has converted all of its paper-based processes to digital. The conversion took place one form at a time starting with executing digital service agreements with customers that are signed electronically. From there Spectrum converted the processes for gathering customer specification to a digital self-service format where customers key in data that is instantly received by Spectrum’s back office personnel. The new process includes built-in alerts to notify stakeholders such as operational staff of the assignment of new clients so that appropriate actions can be taken.

Spectrum was able to easily get its staff up and running by taking advantage of much of the free support offered by Paperless Forms. While most of the new forms were created by Spectrum’s own staff, some were handed over to Paperless Forms’ designers to speed the process.

Today Spectrum is expanding its use of Paperless to take other process digital. They now use Paperless Forms to collect digital time cards from employees each week. They are able to download time data into a spreadsheet for reporting and upload that data into their external payroll system. Manual entry of time data is no longer necessary. They also put together occasional surveys for prospects, customers and employees to help in critical business decisions.

Spectrum also realized some unexpected benefits from going digital. For example they were able to add an element to their registration form that required professionals joining their network to upload their picture. Now each person’s profile includes a photo that can be forwarded to clients as part of the introduction process.

To learn more about how Paperless Forms can help accelerate you business processes please call 888-209-7427.