Working Smarter & Working Faster. How Mobile Workforce Management Solutions Are Changing the Game for SMBs

Transcription

1 Working Smarter & Working Faster How Mobile Workforce Management Solutions Are Changing the Game for SMBs

2 Contents Introduction...3 Better Visibility, Better Collaboration...4 Ever-Improving Service...5 Leveraging Data Seamlessly...6 Simplicity and Savings Through Automation...7 Ease of Implementation and the Real Impact on the Field...8 Resources...9 2

3 Introduction 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. 3

4 Better Visibility, Better Collaboration 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. Never missing a step: how visibility helps connect field staff with office personnel Location information leads to more precise scheduling Automated job updates let office staff know when a customer has been taken care of Automated reporting reduces manual paperwork and streamlines collaboration Fewer superfluous calls and messages leaves staff free to focus on what is most important in their communications 4

5 Ever-Improving Service 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. Tailoring technicians to jobs is especially important for SMBs, which can have smaller field forces. By helping SMBs to use those forces more efficiently and make the most of each employee s skills, mobile workforce management tools can have a substantial impact on the bottom line. 5

6 Leveraging Data Seamlessly By going digital, companies are eliminating unnecessary paperwork and consolidating their information in more convenient and readily accessible digital libraries. Through mobile workforce management tools, technicians can effortlessly capture customer and job information. Having that information such as signed forms, inventory, and expenses all in one place has clear advantages for reporting and process improvement. Making information capture easier for field personnel does something else: it frees them up to capture new insights and information that might have escaped them in the past. In essence, field employees are turning into a great source of business intelligence, because it is so much easier for them to capture and communicate information through mobile forms. 16% of service organizations see big data analytics as the most essential investment category in Source: Field Service, Where Service Meets Sales,

7 Simplicity and Savings Through Automation As we have seen, businesses are leveraging mobile workforce management solutions to drive new revenue opportunities and improve their service offerings. But those solutions are also helping companies to reduce their operational costs. Field personnel who receive all pertinent job information instantaneously via their mobile device no longer need to fill out manual work orders or spend significant time on the phone with dispatch to work out job details, addresses, and service information. Mobile workforce management capabilities make job assignment and communication easier, and thus more cost-effective. Reducing Operational Costs Automated payroll and expense processing Digitally-validated documentation Minimizes time spent clarifying job assignments Businesses are also taking advantage of capabilities like automated payroll and expense processing to cut down on the time and resources traditionally devoted to those activities. This is a big advantage for SMBs, because it enables them to shift valuable resources away from administrative work and toward more productive tasks and projects. What s more, businesses can have greater confidence in the timesheets they process, because they are digitally stamped with time and location. 7

8 Ease of Implementation and the Real Impact on the Field Another advantage SMBs see with mobile workforce management tools is how easy they generally are to implement. Since mobile applications do not require major hardware or systems investments, they are extremely easy to deploy. For companies without robust IT departments, this is especially important. With short-cycle implementation times, companies can have powerful workforce management tools in the hands of their technicians in days, which can produce quick-hit ROI and productivity improvements. How do mobile workforce management tools impact employees in the field? Automated payroll processing and easy-to-use expense reports No more manual timesheets or expense reports Immediate access to important job information More complete documentation of jobs, including proof of service More efficient scheduling Fewer calls with dispatch Faster access to help in emergencies 8

9 Resources Field Service Field Service is the leading service and support event, attracting senior-level service and support professionals from many different manufacturing industries, including Aerospace, Medical Device Manufacturing, Hi-Tech Electronic, Semi-Conductor and Capital Equipment, Construction, Automotive, Telecommunications Equipment, Energy, Industrial, and Agricultural Equipment. Field Service tackles the latest strategies in core service functions, including mobility, workforce management, technical support, and knowledge management. The event also presents innovative developments in increasing service revenue, customer soft skills, technician utilization, developing service leadership, and effective mobile resources management. Interested in this content? Learn more at digital.wbresearch.com or get in touch with us here. StreetSmart A special thank you to our partner, StreetSmart, whose vision and expertise helped make this report possible. ClickSoftware s StreetSmart is a suite of configurable mobile apps and a webbased management application that helps give office staff greater visibility into the field and also helps mobile workers get more done when servicing their customers. With the StreetSmart mobile workforce management solution, organizations with employees in the field can instantly see their exact locations, plan their schedules, gather data from the field, and simplify other back-office processes like payroll. As the industry s leading mobile productivity solution, StreetSmart helps more than 16 thousand organizations meet their productivity and service goals for about $1 per day per user. To learn more, visit us here. 9