6 Field Ops Teams That Ditched Spreadsheets (and Never Looked Back)

Field work doesn’t wait for morning reports. A job stalled because someone didn’t get the latest update can mean missed SLAs, frustrated customers, and hours wasted chasing answers. 

Spreadsheets and PDFs can’t keep up with real-time operations. They conceal delays and hide risks. Leading field ops teams are moving to systems that capture every work order, asset update, and safety check instantly, giving managers the visibility to act before small problems become costly mistakes. 

These six field operations teams reached that breaking point. They left spreadsheets behind and discovered smarter, faster ways to get work done. 

1. Caledonia Group: Turning Safety into a Competitive Advantage 

Projects stalled. Data went missing. Safety checks turned into hours of admin. For years, that was the reality for Caledonia Group, a scaffolding and access provider working across some of Australia’s toughest industrial sites. 

They tracked safety inspections and compliance checks in spreadsheets and paper files, a process that slowed projects and buried critical data in admin work. 

FastField helped them digitize dockets and safety forms, letting crews submit data directly on-site. The shift saved 20 hours of admin time every week, sped up invoicing, and resolved a $50,000 dispute with accurate digital records. 

Safety reporting also moved online, with incidents, inspections, and witness statements captured in real time. That visibility supported ISO 27001 certification and boosted Caledonia’s reputation with clients.

Instead of keeping safety stuck in the background, Caledonia turned it into a brand advantage. 

2. Diebold Nixdorf: Cutting Six Weeks of Wait Time 

Their teams were stuck with PDFs, Excel spreadsheets, and manual processing. Data was slow to collect, error-prone, and difficult to store securely. Collecting signatures across 60+ countries added even more complexity, creating delays and compliance risks that rippled through projects. 

Diebold Nixdorf supports financial and retail operations worldwide, with thousands of technicians in the field. But with outdated processes dragging them down, scaling operations efficiently seemed out of reach. 

FastField changed that model. Instead of waiting months for IT to tweak forms, field leaders can now design and update them instantly — shrinking development cycles by six full weeks. Technicians capture data, signatures, and photos in real time, with submissions flowing directly into existing systems. The shift slashed data handling errors, simplified compliance, and standardized workflows across thousands of global technicians. 

The impact was immediate. Pre-visit forms cut unnecessary travel and resource costs. Real-time access to standardized data improved regulatory compliance and accelerated decision-making. What once took three months to deliver is now live in days, helping Diebold Nixdorf scale field operations without adding overhead.

For a company operating in 60+ countries with 21,000 employees, agility at this scale simply isn’t possible in spreadsheets. 

3. Eagle Infrastructure: One System for 2,000 Employees 

Quickbase and FastField changed that. Within 30 days, Eagle launched a unified Safety Portal. Near-miss reporting jumped from just 20 per year to 777 in the first five months — a 90x increase. OSHA 300 logs now generate automatically, safety dashboards update in real time, and vehicle inspections sync instantly from the field with GPS and photo capture. 

Critical safety data was scattered across spreadsheets, with each site tracking risks differently. With 2,000 employees across multiple oil and gas projects, connecting the dots was nearly impossible. Near-misses went underreported, vehicle inspections lagged, and compliance risked slipping through the cracks. 

Eagle Infrastructure needed a unified approach. Quickbase and FastField delivered a Safety Portal in just 30 days, letting employees submit data from the field, even offline, while automatically syncing GPS, photos, and forms. 

The results were striking. Near-miss reporting soared from 20 per year to 777 in five months, a 90x increase. OSHA 300 logs now generate automatically and dashboards update in real time. Safety data became instantly accessible, enabling faster decisions and proactive interventions.

For Eagle, the shift wasn’t just about digitizing forms. It was about creating a proactive safety culture that scales across 2,000 employees. 

4. Asplundh Australia: Safety Data at Scale 

Paper forms and spreadsheets slowed hazard tracking, delayed reporting, and made it tough for supervisors to oversee multiple sites. For a company like Asplundh Australia, responsible for maintaining vegetation around powerlines and railways where safety is non-negotiable, those delays carried real risk. 

Switching to FastField flipped that model. Crews now submit digital forms on-site, with offline submission, geolocation, and timestamps. This change eliminated paperwork, saved over $70,000 a year in printing costs, and empowered workers to report risks in real time. Over 800,000 forms have been submitted to date, giving leadership an unprecedented view into safety and compliance.

Asplundh didn’t just digitize forms. They scaled safety across all operations, with real-time visibility and stronger compliance without adding headcount. 

5. Smoker Craft: Building Boats, Not Paperwork 

Paper inspections dragged down quality tests. Spreadsheets buried critical details. Hours of documentation slowed teams and left gaps that led to costly warranty claims. For Smoker Craft, a boat manufacturer with more than 450 models, paperwork was stealing time that should’ve gone to building boats. 

FastField digitized the entire process. With more than 50 custom forms, inspections now run fully in-app, capturing 250,000+ data points daily. What once required a test plus a full day of paperwork is now finished in the time of the test itself. Documentation is instant, traceable, and easily shared across departments. 

The payoff has been significant. Smoker Craft now has the records tocover 80% of warranty claims, denying unjustified requests and reducing costly disputes. The accuracy of digital records means repair stations can pinpoint issues faster, while leadership gains a clearer view of quality trends across divisions.

Smoker Craft’s move from paper to digital didn’t just speed up inspections — it gave them accountability, cost savings, and a scalable quality system built for growth. 

6. HD Supply: Speeding Revenue Recognition From Weeks to Minutes 

Revenue recognition dragged for 60 days. Purchase orders mismatched on nearly 30% of invoices. And with installs tracked in spreadsheets and paper files, verification stretched into weeks, stalling payments and creating frustration for tenants. 

That was the day-to-day challenge for HD Supply, a subsidiary of The Home Depot, managing large-scale renovations across thousands of properties. 

Quickbase and FastField changed that overnight. Field technicians now snap photos and submit install forms instantly from their phones. Invoices are triggered automatically, and payments clear within 10 minutes instead of two months. Audits that once dragged for weeks now wrap in hours.