Tips To Transform Your Field Force
JonMaximus December 4, 2017There are many ways in which technology has transformed our lives. One of the most transformative ones is mobile technology. It the ubiquity of a powerful mobile device in your pocket, it is easier than ever to get work done and make sure that your team is also getting stuff done!
Since mobile telephony and internet is extremely affordable nowadays, it is important and also very convenient to manage a team on a mobile device, from a mobile device.
This starts off by choosing an Field Force Management System – one that suits your needs and has all the right features which will help you check all the ticks in the list of issues and excuses which hamper your business growth. The following is an indicative list one should look at before choosing a workforce / field force management system.
Task Upload
When it comes to getting stuff done, the first thing you need is a task management system – which works. An ideal system for you should have the ability to upload tasks via a web console and thereby allow you to allocate them to the relevant field team executive. If you already have an input CRM / ERP for the tasks, you could run an API integration with an FFMS (Field Force Management System) so that the tasks are automatically upload to the system in no time.
Task Allocation
Once you have a sizeable team and a working FFMS, you may find that allocation of tasks to the field teams becomes tedious on a daily basis. It is something which can be automated if you want. A great FFMS (like FeetPort) would allow you to map your field force to few geographies. And every time you find that a task has been uploaded to the software, the allocation engine would figure out who the right guy is, basis the geographic mapping which you’ve already done!
Mobile App for Field Force
Every time a task is created for someone, that someone must receive the task in real-time. This premise is where the mobile technology really shines. With the high-speed internet becoming a reality in almost all metropolitan cities across the world, it is now possible. The mobile app in this cases, facilitates notification which inform the user about the new tasks he/she has been allocated. On opening them, the tasks must show the input details of who needs to be met with, where the meeting should happen and what are the deliverables for the meeting e.g. register a customer, repair a customer’s appliance OR take a customers’ survey. On meeting with the customer, the GPS built into the Android or iPhone handset enables the proof and validation of the visit to the customer by capturing the location of the field force member in real-time.
Seamless Synchronisation
A good FFMS provides a mobile app which talks to the web app in real-time. Something that FeetPort handles really well is the ability to work both online and offline. Every time the network is absent, the mobile app stores the work done on the app and waits for the sync to happen to the internet network being available, once more.
Reporting & Analysis
Finally, every task done and every observation captured must be recorded and measured. This is where the real value of the reporting lies. For an FFMS, it is imperative to provide detailed analysis of the time spent on each task, where the task has been carried out, time and distance taken to reach to the tasks’ / customers’ location.
These features and many more are something that constitute a powerful FFMS. In FeetPort, the above list is just 5% of the total possibilities. You can enable some really neat features in FeetPort, such as Check-in, Closure OTPs, Geotagged Images & Signatures, all day location tracking and so much more. Check out the website feetport.com to know more about it.
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