As a group, managers in the cleaning industry have always seemed to realize the necessity of performing some kind of inspection to check the work of their cleaning team.  However, due to many factors the inspection process has looked very different from one organization to the next.

One factor in particular that has affected the way that organizations perform inspections is cost.  While there are many good options out there in the way of inspection programs, historically most have been expensive in both setup cost and training time.  Therefore many managers have relied on less expedited methods such as paper checklists and manually writing notes about either very poor or very exceptional cleaner performance.

While using pen and paper is certainly better than nothing, advancements in technology have allowed for useful alternatives with much lower costs than in the past.  There are a few different platforms that inspection tools have been built on so far including but not limited to PDAs, Netbooks, Laptops, Blackberrys, etc.  Some of these platforms allow your organization to take advantage of hardware that you might already own, lessening setup costs even more.

Another thing to note is that many inspection tools have moved to a monthly price plan where you can back out of the contract at any time.  This allows users and organizations to stay flexible and not have to overcome a huge financial barrier to put a great quality assurance program in place.

If cost and affordability have kept your organization from performing routine cleaning quality inspections then it might be time to take another look at what is out there.  Most likely you will be able to find something that will make your inspection process a lot smoother and still stick within your budget.