Where and how mobile workforce management works

For service-oriented businesses, field staff are playing more important and multifaceted roles than ever before. Not only are field employees the first line of defense against customer dissatisfaction, but they are the vanguard of the customer experience. That proximity to the customer also puts field staff in a strong position to influence sales and collect valuable information about clients and industry trends. Clearly, the modern field technician serves a myriad of essential business needs.

It goes without saying, then, that a more agile, efficient, and connected field team can be a major asset, helping to reduce operational costs, bolster revenue streams, and provide reliable business intelligence. In order to get the most out of their field workforces, small and medium-sized businesses are coming to see the value of mobile workforce management solutions. These solutions give managers much better visibility into field operations and empower field staff to accomplish more than ever before. This eBook explores why many SMBs are turning to mobile workforce management solutions to increase field productivity, reduce costs, and improve employee engagement.

Perhaps the most fundamental challenge facing service-oriented businesses is gaining good visibility into the schedules, jobs, and locations of field staff. If dispatchers and back-office personnel have a better understanding of field techs’ workflows and locations, they can track and schedule jobs much more efficiently. Better visibility also means faster reporting, since it’s easier to stay up-to-date on field employees’ weekly hours, when they are on a job, and when the job is complete.

As service becomes a more significant component of customers’ purchasing decisions, service-based organizations are recognizing the need to constantly improve their service offerings. Mobile workforce management solutions offer a unique way to constantly improve the level of service. Those tools give businesses the opportunity to better tailor their technician assignments to the job based on skill set, proximity, or part availability. Mobile management solutions also streamline the job creation process, which allows businesses to react more quickly to customer requests.

Furthermore, with mobile workforce management solutions, feedback can flow much smoother from customers to technicians to managers and other office staff. This creates a much faster, closed-loop feedback system that enables businesses to quickly learn from each customer interaction. Armed with those insights, businesses can quickly and iteratively improve their product and service offerings, staying a step ahead of industry trends and delighting their customers.