Why In at The Deep End, a local recreational facility, chooses to automate workflows with airSlate
airSlate made In at The Deep End’s reservation forms available using public links. No more calling to make reservations or version issues contributing to documents being prone to error or misplaced. Now all customer information is captured and automatically updated in their system once a form is submitted. Are you curious how they automate workflows?
Company profile
In at The Deep End provides regular swimming lessons for children at the Castle View Community and Fitness Centre, Thornhill Academy, and Farringdon Academy with over 60 classes catering to swimmers of all ages.
Interviewee’s name
Location
Sunderland, UK
The company
In at The Deep End provides affordable and effective first aid and swimming solutions across the North East of England. In at The Deep End’s custom made and generic courses are designed with flexibility in mind for suiting individual requirements. Staff are trained on the educational and voluntary sectors inside out and consider the constraints being put on them at all times. In at The Deep End prides itself on being dynamic and forward thinking while retaining its small and family-like environment.
The problem
In at The Deep End was facing persistent issues when processing documents that required the eyes of multiple parties to review and sign. Although Microsoft Word and Office are industry standards, sharing documents via email and messenger caused confusion among updated versions and mobile was out of the question.
Mark Mc Nichol, Owner of In At The Deep End, remarks “This means that people couldn’t open up, edit, or complete things we needed when we needed them. OR if they were trying to do it on a computer, there were version issues we had problems with like ‘it doesn’t fit in the box’ etc. These were regularly ongoing issues.”
The answer
When Mc Nichol discovered airSlate, In At The Deep End were so accustomed to finding workarounds to their ongoing document processes, the intuitive interface and direct functionality of airSlate’s workflow automation caught them off guard.
For example, In At The Deep End’s birthday party reservation form is now available to be filled in via a public link. When a parent has filled and submitted the form, the information is automatically pushed into the Swimming Pool’s spreadsheet. Available time slots for arranging a party are also pre-filled from the same spreadsheet. Once reserved, a notification is sent to the Admin and the completed Slate is archived to the client’s Dropbox. All these steps are automated by airSlate Bots once a party reservation form is submitted.
And just like that, parents can celebrate their child’s birthday without ever having to use the phone, fill out and submit papers by hand, check back for availability, or resubmit a form from scratch if a slot is already taken.
The good answer illustration
“I was looking too much into how things worked without realizing that ‘they just did’. I think I was looking for problems that just were not there.” Mc Nichol said. “The two biggest things (if you can even call them ‘big’) were getting my head around the new terminology of the system (slates/flows/bots etc.) and bots themselves. It blew my mind that these tiny little bits of code could be so powerful.”
“The two biggest things (if you can even call them ‘big’) were getting my head around the new terminology of the system (slates/flows/bots etc.) and bots themselves. It blew my mind that these tiny little bits of code could be so powerful.”
– Mark Mc Nichol, Owner
Why to automate workflows with airSlate
At the moment, In At The Deep End’s entire set up is very much for internal use. Most of their front end systems are built using custom made solutions. All of their slates and flows are either sent out manually when needed (e.g. hiring staff) or via a link within employee handbooks and on their own intranet.
“What has been amazing is the ability to hand out sheets of documentation and links to staff with all the internal HR/H&S/operational forms we need and to be able to say to them ‘click on the right link and just fill it in’. This is helping to massively cut down on administrative tasks!”
– Mark Mc Nichol, Owner
airSlate workflows are how In At The Deep End’s staff are able to control and monitor what is happening and when. This means they’re much more responsive to things as and when they occur and are able to stay on top of tasks as they come in, rather than at a later time.
“No one needs to ask for things or wait to find a Word document to either fill in on a computer, save and return, print, or scan/post. Now staff (and managers!) cannot forget that something was needed. This has resulted in our people completing tasks at the time they occur.”
Where the rubber meets the road
Stability was a big concern for Mark and his team. While their older processes were time-consuming, they could be relied upon to push documents through when they needed to be. With a bigger solution, everything is connected, and that means reliability is a top priority.
Mark recalls his experience on the matter, “Other than known downtime (which we’ve always been told about well in advance) we’ve had no issues, whatsoever, with any sort of system failures / connectivity problems etc. It has simply worked exactly how we’ve needed it to and when it was needed.”
“We’ve had no issues, whatsoever, with any sort of system failures / connectivity problems etc. It has simply worked exactly how we’ve needed it to and when it was needed.”
– Mark Mc Nichol, Owner
Conclusion
While most of In At The Deep End’s front end systems are built using custom made solutions, the airSlate transition process is a manual one. The flip side is the handful of customers that they’re using the system with have said how forward thinking using a product like this is and that it’s something that simply isn’t happening within their industry. Mark adds, “People are able to complete quite complex and detailed forms online within minutes, and as everything is electronic, we are able to get them to the right staff or customer at the right time. The need to pass paper around has well and truly disappeared!”
“People are able to complete quite complex and detailed forms online within minutes, and as everything is electronic, we are able to get them to the right staff or customer at the right time. The need to pass paper around has well and truly disappeared!”
– Mark Mc Nichol, Owner
With airSlate’s collaboration tools for teams and Bot’s that automate routine tasks for administrative workers, In At The Deep End’s workflows have become an asset, rather than a liability for Mark and his team. Once they adjusted to the terminology and automated nature of airSlate workflows, the labor required for previously intensive tasks diminished, while improved communication, responsiveness, and organization brought their team closer together.
