Managing the field workforce comes with a unique set of challenges. Although nowadays there are better software-based solutions available to manage the remote workforce, but there is a difference between managing a remotely working static workforce and a remotely working mobile or field workforce. In comparison to employees who are remotely working from fixed locations like their homes or other offices, a field workforce functions within a more fluid environment in terms of their traveling, schedules, and clients. Hence managing a mobile field workforce require dealing with an increased amount of uncertainty.
Some of the major challenges when it comes to managing a field workforce are scheduling & dispatching, virtual visibility for productivity tracking, communication, and data collaboration. How a virtual manager can overcome these challenges, and build a work-life balance and trust-driven work environment for its field workforce. The answer lies with field automation. Any business that functions as a field service operator, should invest in high-end field service management software. As mentioned above, nowadays there are numerous software-based solutions for regulating remote work-culture; some are highly popular. However, field service operators must realize that they need specialized tools that can help them deal with the mobility demands of a workforce that is always on-the-go and perhaps meeting new clients every day, not over skype or zoom calls but in person.
Scheduling and dispatching: Scheduling the appointments and dispatching the right serviceman for a job is one of the biggest challenges of services that require regular field visits such as maintenance services, home care services, insurance, municipality services, etc. Through field automation, in no time the manager can track his servicemen’s location proximities to job sites, irrespective of how big the team is; he can quickly assess the employees’ skill set relevance and check on their availability on a particular day and time, and thus identify the nearest available, appropriately skilled serviceman for a job. Automation helps the manager to skip piles of hard work and through a few clicks, he can create the schedule calendar for his team. Now, from a customer perspective, the benefits of this are better turnaround time, as the nearest serviceman reaches the job site earliest, and improved first visit effectiveness.
Productivity tracking: Travelling is one of the major productivity leaks as well as a source of expense in field jobs. Thus, field service operators need proper fleet management solutions, where they can track the live locations of the servicemen. This way they can keep a tab on the whereabouts of the workforce and will also accurately know when are they checking-in and out of a job. Route planning is also integral to help the workforce avoid unnecessary traveling.
Data collaboration: Performance drop or unproductivity because of inadequate information is a common challenge faced by the field workforce. Field worker's real-time first-hand access to enterprise data can make a remarkable difference in their work efficiency. They need provisions wherein they can overcome their dependency on back-office members for information access, which is nothing but time waste. Mobile data collaboration (chats, document sharing, video sharing, etc) with offline support is a priority for the mobile workforce, however, management needs to ensure that there is a proper provision to measure and track the data usage done by the employees.
Communication: Communication gaps can create chaos in the workflow, and ensuring timely communication is tricky, especially when the team is dispersed and mobile. Again if attempted manually it is a mammoth task and maybe would require deploying a team of tele-coordinates. Field service operators must shift to automated communication. New schedules, change in schedules, client details, service history, quotes and invoices, every bit of information that is necessary for executing a service, should be disseminated among field employees through automated channels.
The Final Words
To ensure productivity and efficacy among its mobile or field employees, field service operators need to incorporate the aforementioned solutions and overcome the challenges of field workforce management. And the one-stop comprehensive way to implement these solutions is to integrate field service management software. These software suites are multi-functional and powered by automation. They function as a scheduler, route planner, collaboration tool, cloud database, automated messengers, and lot more.
