Walter Surface Technologies raises efficiency and cuts costs
- Improve form accessibility
- Reduce amount of data entry
- Reduce data entry errors
- Immediate access to form data captured in the field
- Elimination of manual data entry
- 2/3 Cost Reduction of monthly technician fees
Founded in 1952 and established in seven countries, Walter Surface Technologies is a leader in surface treatment technologies, providing high productivity abrasives, power tools, tooling, chemical tools and environmental solutions for the metal working industry.
In 2009, Walter created a new Canadian CARE service department. The division already includes multiple technicians across the country in every major city and is constantly growing, with each technician making up to 50 service calls a week.
"Prior to ProntoForms, our technicians would complete 21-point equipment inspections and other tasks using paper forms. At the end of the week, each technician would send all completed forms via courier back to head office. We would then have a dedicated office clerk input all of the information in our software management system," explains Stephane Turpin, Walter National Manager, Care Service.
Furthermore, the office clerk would have to sort through the handwritten forms, sometimes with handwriting errors, and pick out the information required to be entered into the databases. Since this was a manual data entry process, there was the added risk of additional human error.
"Having a paper form process meant that we had a lot of filing to do as well. When a customer would call with an inquiry about a recent Walter technician visit, we had to take the time to search through our paper filing system."
The Solution
While Walter was searching and testing various mobile solutions, it was wireless carrier Rogers that suggested ProntoForms, a mobile form solution for smartphones and tablets. ProntoForms facilitates the collection of form data on mobile devices, and connects the information immediately with any back office system or other data destination, including popular cloud services.
"Switching from paper forms to mobile forms on tablets was a scary idea for some of our technicians. But they all love ProntoForms. They find it intuitive and easy to use - even the guys who had never used a tablet before!"
Walter was able to tie in ProntoForms with its software management system. This now allows office coordinators to send out new jobs requests to technician devices. Submitted field data is then immediately available in the office management system.
"While signature capture within the form is important, we're also taking advantage of the custom branding capability, allowing us to put the Walter logo on all PDF outputs to the customer, as well as on the ProntoForms App itself. To be able to brand everything Walter was a big selling point."
Today, technicians continue to capture customer signatures and provide instant copies of transactions via emailed PDF (ex. work orders, sales quotes, service contract forms and sales delivery confirmations).
The Benefits
As a result of the switch to ProntoForms, Walter no longer employs data entry personnel or incurs regular courier costs.
"With ProntoForms, we have standardized the way that information is collected, submitted and entered into our system."
Walter also includes internal reminders and instructions for technicians in each form, to better guide them through each customer visit.
"Since ProntoForms is highly scalable, we are ideally positioned for growth and to add more technicians in the field, without the requirement of additional office staff."
Ready to unleash productivity?
Get a demo and start a trial today.
or call us 1-888-282-4184
Past & upcoming events

Europe's best event for service leaders to gather to discuss the major transformations due to globalization, digitization and changing customer behaviours.

The Conference for Leaders in Customer Success, Service & Support.
Our team is ready and waiting to answer any ProntoForms-related questions you have.

The Structure, Tower, and Antennae Council Conference is Canada's premier tower industry event, dedicated to safety and other best practices in the communications tower industry.
Join a KONE executive, business analyst, and field service engineer as they dive into the impacts of rapid automation.
Join ProntoForms, the Service Council, and a packed panel of subject matter experts and industry leaders, as we explore what best-in-class organizations are prioritizing in building a Mental Health, Wellness & Safety driven culture.
This stacked panel brings together field service leaders from GOJO/Purell, Orthoclinal Diagnostics, and Elekta to talk top priorities as they head into 2022. This free virtual event will give you a front-row seat as you gain insights and listen to a few predictions about what lies ahead for organizations with field service teams.

Digital transformation is no longer a nice-to-have for field organizations—it's table stakes. Ditching paper or outdated processes and moving towards rich data collection and visibility has never been more important. Join our session to understand the fundamentals of digital transformation, the macroeconomic factors driving it in field service, and how you can accelerate your organization's digital transformation journey today.

Data is everything when it comes to staying compliant and agile. Shawna Zitrick, Alcon's Business Operations Manager and Mark Scott, ProntoForms' VP of Marketing discuss how low-code apps along with a killer FSM platform streamlines admin work, makes compliance easier, and keeps medical device manufacturing organizations agile.

Our EMPOWER21 User Conference was a huge sucess! If you work in field service, it's the perfect blend of Fortune 500 thought leadership from stellar companies like KONE, Philips, PG&E, and Shell, product best practices, and insider tips. Don't miss out!

Exploring New & Expanded Revenue Opportunities for Future Growth Abstract Blurb: The pandemic taught field service professionals a lot about their field force's resilience, speed and agility. Find out how service leaders pivoted their business models to capture revenue through new/different business sectors, and improved processes for onboarding and training technicians in these new sectors to maximize this revenue.

Field technicians are the customers' face of the company and techs' job processes—for good or bad—influence their happiness and job satisfaction. But what happens when many technicians are debating their future in field service? Join a stacked field panel that brings together executives and technicians from Schneider Electric, Trane Technologies, and Cummins to talk shop on improving satisfaction across the board.

At Phillips Healthcare, low-code apps are part of their solution for ensuring technicians automatically complete work in-compliance and that potential audits are painless. Join us as we dive deep into exactly how Philips uses ProntoForms to service some of the most stringently regulated assets on the planet.

SUEZ, a global water expert in the water and waste sectors, was looking to improve operational efficiency and put the right tools in technicians' hands. Watch this webinar for a deep dive into how digital transformation in asset management is possible with custom field apps and agile technology.

Gain valuable insights from a squad with numerous years of field service experience working at Fortune 500 companies. Pat Foley, ProntoForms' Client Director will be joined by Dominique Vaes, Founder and Senior Partner at Field Service in Motion, and Johan Franck, Associate Partner at Field Service in Motion, to discuss their lessons learned with digital transformation trends. Come learn how to hit targets no matter how agile and fast digital goals are becoming.

Don't make rush digital transformation decisions or implementation mistakes. Chris Bade, VP Field Service & Customer Support at Analogic Corporation and David B. Bishop, Director of Service Operations, Building Solutions North America at Johnson Controls discuss how to ensure internal buy-in and business goal alignment in your organization and that tech you invest in today will delivers value to your customers in the long-run.

Service Council and ProntoForms get together for a fluffy talk on lofty dreams of achieving digital transformation nirvana, but for actionable and meaningful takeaways to help you build out your bulletproof digital transformation strategy for 2021.
This virtual town hall brings together field service expertise and learnings from ProntoForms, an organization that has helped deploy countless COVID-related and 2020 response apps in the past year, and one of their prominent customers who will discuss strategies and actions that has helped their organization stay agile and accelerate digital transformation to meet new and unique service requirements and health and safety guidelines

Field and tech executives join Alvaro Pombo, CEO of ProntoForms, to discuss how their organizations have accelerated their digital transformation and tackled the growing demands and evolving requirements of this new business climate.

Learn, innovate, and network. Whether you're a seasoned ProntoForms guru or just getting started with digital transformation and field automation, get ready to become a field efficiency and safety hero at the EMPOWER'20 virtual conference.
Hear from inspiring keynote speaker Jon Barr, CIO of KONE Americas, and watch virtual panels with Ryan Tidd, the Engine Operations Capability and Innovation Director at Cummins, and ProntoForms' VP of Operations and scaling expert, Aly Mawani.
Discover how Service Council, ServiceMax, and ProntoForms explored what Philips Healthcare and Medtronic are doing to empower their service business through digital transformation.