In today’s business environment, organisations are under constant pressure to seek new ways to operate more efficiently. One area where companies may find this most difficult is managing their mobile workforce. By relying on a paper-based process managers have no insight into where their field workers are; what job they are carrying out or to what standard the work is being completed.
Many companies have therefore introduced a Mobile Workforce Management Solution. There are generally two parts to mobile worker software: a web-based management system and a mobile application. Managers are able to schedule jobs remotely to field workers from the management system to the mobile app. In the field, workers use the app to access their job schedule and record their daily activities. Capturing all data required for the job. This data is fed back to the office, where management now has real-time visibility of their workers and their activity.
Productivity
Eliminating paper-based processes can have an immediate impact on productivity. With a paper-based system, workers drive to the office to collect job forms, maps and anything else they may need before then travelling to the work site. By eradicating the need for this by remotely scheduling jobs to the worker’s smartphone, non-productive time is automatically removed. Further productivity gains can also be made in the office by eliminating paper, as the need for data re-entry is removed.
By using a mobile workforce management solution, managers are able to make more informed choices. They have improved access to data surrounding productivity levels and can, therefore, use this data to plan and schedule jobs more productively. With smarter scheduling, managers can balance the workload and therefore eliminate the need for overtime.
Profitability
Using a mobile workforce management solution allows you to speed up your invoicing process. Reducing the gap between a job being completed and payment being received helps to improve the cash flow in your business. By using a mobile workforce management solution invoices can be generated on the same day that the job is completed, as all data is automatically fed back to the office. Every detail from the field, including additional notes, parts used, photos and signatures can be uploaded on to the job report so that invoicing is both timely and accurate. No more issues surrounding delayed data re-entry or lost or illegible paperwork.
Compliance
Dispatching and scheduling jobs using a mobile workforce solution creates a full-service history of all the jobs completed by your employees in the field. These records will also be time, date and location stamped. Smarter scheduling also ensures that jobs are sent to the workers with the correct skills and training to carry out the required task. The majority of solutions additionally allow you to customise workflows to ensure Health and Safety standards and Service Level Agreements are met.
Efficiency
By utilising a mobile workforce solution the allocation and dispatch of jobs will become a much quicker process. All required information is sent to workers remotely via the mobile app. Not only this but due to increased visibility any emergency or reactive jobs can easily be scheduled to the closest mobile worker. Removing non-productive time associated with a paper-based system can also increase efficiency. Freeing up your field workers to complete an extra job or task throughout the day.
Insights
Gain access to real-time data by using a mobile workforce management solution. This allows for data-driven decisions to be made by management. Not only is there greater access to important data but accuracy is also improved when using a mobile workforce solution. This is because data re-entry is eliminated, which is often where mistakes can occur. Many solutions also offer the ability to run customised reports from this data. Giving you an even better insight into how your field workers are performing.
At Allsop, we offer a fully customisable mobile workforce solution, want to learn more? Read about our custom clock in, clock out feature for mobile workers.