Mobile Workforce. Improving Productivity, Improving Profitability

Transcription

1 Mbile Wrkfrce Imprving Prductivity, Imprving Prfitability

2 White Paper The Business Challenge Between increasing peratinal cst, staff turnver, budget cnstraints and pressure t deliver prducts and services faster, tday s peratins managers need t act n pprtunities quickly. It s n secret businesses need t regularly reinvent themselves t remain cmpetitive and manage their prfitability. S hw can business managers increase their bttm line when they have limited funding t invest? What can they d t increase prductivity r reduce peratinal csts? One simple and cst effective apprach is t rethink business prcesses regarding data cllectin and paperwrk. The clser ne gets t real time updates f their peratin, the better they can manage and imprve prductivity and prfitability. Traditinal business prcesses in any service industry typically rely n paper-based frms fr scheduling wrk, assigning jbs, inventry cntrl, and ultimately t deliver prducts r services. A gd deal f wrk is required t generate this infrmatin, manage it and distribute it t thse wh are peratinalizing the wrk. There are csts t keying data int frms t be printed and distributed t staff. Then, yu have the time t perfrm the peratins, get signatures (where required) and key the cmpleted infrmatin int the business system frm the cmpleted frms. Tday this is an unnecessary delay t a business given the availability f affrdable technlgies. Whether it is field service, shp flr r warehuse, the prcess f filling ut paperwrk and delivering that paperwrk t be keyed int a business system has becme an unnecessary and time cnsuming step. Old practices: Manual prcesses fr paperwrk Time t cmplete billing, infrmatin updates, etc. Timing f infrmatin t initiate billing Time crrecting inventry levels Dispatching jbs t a mbile wrkfrce Assciated csts: Paper based client files, lkup and handling time Curier and pstage csts Rekeying data Cst f frms and paper Old practices result in time wasted fr managers requiring an up-t-date business system. The insurance industry eliminated mst paper filings decades ag. They scan and stre their dcuments n digital media. The prcess efficiencies and cst reductins in eliminating paper handling were t attractive. Multiply these steps ver the curse f a single jb r prject and the inefficiencies are a serius impediment t yur business. Why nt drive the data directly frm the end pint where the wrk is being cnducted directly int yur business system? Why nt push the new r revised data back ut t staff wrking n the cal face? Why wait?

3 Paper based Prcess versus Mbile Autmatin In the diagram abve we can see the standard practice f starting jbs and the paper based flw and delays related t distributing paper-based wrk rders, filling them ut, returning the cmpleted versins, which then ultimately have t be keyed int a business system. The result is delays and time wastage which impacts upn prductivity and expense.. A Simple and Cst Effective Apprach Lets be clear, yu can t just replace legacy systems. Cntinued supprt f legacy systems may be cstly, hwever the capital csts and time t replace them can be even greater. There are cst effective appraches t imprving yur business prcesses that can be realized very quickly and can be integrated with yur existing legacy systems. Remember, the cst f ding nthing is likely a step backwards relative t yur cmpetitrs and yur ever-rising peratinal csts. Utilizing mbile devices is ne way t imprve prductivity and prfitability. An IBM glbal study 1 identified that mbile-savvy enterprises priritizing mbile technlgy and making it a strategic IT imperative, are: Tw times mre likely than ther rganizatin t grw revenue by 10% r mre a year. Fur times mre likely than thers t benefit frm increased custmer interactins. Enjying higher rates f emplyee respnsiveness and prductivity. Gaining strng returns n their mbility investments. Dramatically imprving bth custmer service and custmer satisfactin.

4 Emplyee Prductivity Effectively, real time infrmatin frm yur mbile staff r even staff in the warehuse r shp flr prvides yu with exact, up t the minute infrmatin n what the business is ding. Prviding real time updates f their jbs, tasks, etc. nly helps them frm having t g t a cmputer t lk it up r t stp at the ffice t retrieve the necessary paperwrk. There is a real time-savings here as well as the business prcessing f their wrk. Emplyee Satisfactin Particularly if yu implement a Bring Yur Own Device (BYOD) apprach, yur emplyees are using devices they have bught themselves. This has many benefits. They are nt carrying a secnd device. They are familiar with its use and will nt need training. They are likely t be happy with their device. The up frnt capital csts t implement yur mbile business plan are effectively eliminated. It is cnvenient fr them t integrate their persnal and wrk lives. Yu can implement slutins tday Since it cmmn practice fr rganizatins t allw emplyee t use their smart phnes t access their crprate , why wuldn t they allw these same emplyees t prvide jb r activity data n that same device? Emplyees are generally keen t use their wn devices and if it makes their wrk easier it becmes a welcme bnus t them. Whilst yu culd prcure crprate devices fr emplyees, yu d nt need t in rder t implement imprvements t yur business prcesses, as emplyees are generally satisfied with their current device; after all, they bught it. Security If BYOD is implemented it can be challenging t secure the end pint (devices) themselves given the number f types yu may encunter. Yu must secure gateways and access pints. Encryptin is essential as is cntrl ver remte wiping any crprate business data in the event f lss r theft. Any wrld-class mbile slutin will supprt these functins. Lastly, cnsider implementing a Mbile Device Management system (MDM) as part f yur mbility strategy. Csts There are many appraches t implementing mbile slutins. There are specialty apps that cater fr SAP, Oracle and ther enterprise ERP systems which are typically expensive and require a gd deal f planning t implement. That culd mean yu have t wait until next fiscal year t budget fr these slutins. Mst rganizatins dn t have excess IT budget t implement new slutins in their current budget year. Cnsider a slutin that is ffered as a service rather than a license. Cnsider starting small and expanding nly when the slutin is prven. Yu dn t have t create a big bang implementatin trying t slve all prblems. A savvier apprach wuld be t implement a simple slutin fr ne f yur prcesses and evaluate it effectiveness. Fcus n a team f individuals that are keen t prve the changes. Learn frm the prcess and grw the slutins t incrprate additinal prcesses. Let s face it, the mbile era is here, whether its BYOD r emplyer prvided devices. Business prcess imprvements can be implemented securely and with minimum cst and effrt. UDC Mbile UDC Systems, an industry expert in data cllectin slutins, wuld like t intrduce UDC Mbile. The UDC Mbile slutin incrprates an easy t implement clud-based applicatin that cmmunicates directly with any business system. It requires n sftware installatin n the 86% f mbile technlgy leaders believe that an external prvider can help them achieve their mbility gals 1 rganizatin s netwrk and caters fr Andrid and Apple perating systems fr the mbile devices. The

5 data entry is set up t match exactly the frm and frmat f yur existing paperwrk and will cllect any type f data the device supprts such as bar cdes, phts, audi files, signatures, GPS tracking and keybard data entries. Enfrcement f data entry frm specific lists, such as custmers, jbs, part numbers, etc. can be assigned t any field. Data cllected is upladed t yur business system immediately, thereby keeping yu n tp f all business transactins and activities as they ccur. Mrever any transactin cllected can be sent t multiple business systems simultaneusly. Yu can dispatch jbs directly t field staff as new rders are created. Jbs r ther pertinent data is sent directly t their mbile devices. This means there is n delay in dispatching new infrmatin t yur staff. If yu want, yu culd custmize yur web prtal t prvide clients with electrnic updates including signatures, transactin details, etc. as they ccur frm the data yur staff has cllected. The gd news is yu dn t have t replace yur legacy systems t implement a mbile slutin. The UDC Mbile slutin is cmpletely independent f ther sftware vendrs n the business system side as well as the mbile device end. It s respnsible nly fr getting business data t yur staff and returning their data t yur business systems. References 1 Putting Mbile First: best practices f mbile technlgy leaders (2013). Findings frm the IBM glbal IT study n mbile infrastructure. Other surces f infrmatin There are many studies in relatin t mbility and it s impact n business prductivity as well as hw an rganizatin shuld apprach this technlgy. They can be referenced at independent research websites such as: The fllwing is an example f hw mbility revlutinizes hw we think and wrk: T find ut mre abut UDC Mbile, g t Mbile Implementatin Yu can set up and run a cst free trial with UDC Mbile in less than a day. Run a simple trial with a small number f staff Set it up in an afternn Measure the results acrss 2 weeks Measure emplyee satisfactin Expand the slutin where it makes sense Cntact UDC Systems at [email protected] t setup the trial fr yu.