In your organisation, how does information flow to and from your mobile workforce? Is it paper-based? Sent via email? Or through different software applications? Or do you use a combination of these options?
Do you struggle to gain complete visibility of work being completed offsite? How dependent are you on your mobile workforce to correctly fill out paperwork and get it back to you in timely manner?
The combination of disconnected systems and managing a mobile workforce can cause major headaches in your organisation. The major indicators of poorly connected systems are:
- Having to juggle information across spreadsheets
- Double handling paperwork
- Issues with billing and cash flow
- A lack of visibility over your workforce and external projects
- Slow reaction to, and resolution of specific job issues
So, how can you take control of your organisations many systems and gain access to key mobile information?
In this month’s blog we outline how you can start to get your systems talking to improve your operation.
Why do eyes on the ground matter?
Managing a mobile workforce working across a variety of projects in different locations is no easy task. Without the right systems in place, you have no idea what they’re doing, how the work is going, or if there are problems you need to fix.
Even if you do have the right systems in place, if these don’t talk to each other, or are a pain to manage, you’re unlikely to get the information you really need without a whole lot of busy work.
The time you spend compiling information across your systems means that you are unable to make decisions in real time. This makes solving problems that arise in the field difficult, and increases your costs.
Critically, if you can’t see what’s happening on the ground you can’t respond quickly to your client’s needs. You might even be late with billing, damaging your cash flow.
How can I get visibility of my mobile workforce?With disconnected systems (from paper to email to software applications) it’s safe to say you’ll never have full visibility over your mobile workforce. Band-aiding the situation with short-term solutions will only create follow-on problems, too. What you need is systems which talk with each other, so you can focus on driving results – not collecting information.
It’s not easy to get disconnected systems working together. It’s even more difficult to get them working in real time. However, this is the best way to improve how you work with customers and how you manage your team.
A recent study from PwC found executives typically waste 1 of every 12 months searching for lost information…
The worst part is often when they find the information, it’s too late to react appropriately.
With connected systems you’ll get:
- ·Data uniformity
- Less data entry errors
- Live reports and access to key data for decision making
- Complete visibility of your off-site employees
What does all this mean? It means you’ll be saving a huge chunk of time, while improving how your organisation is run.
What are my next steps?
At Kontrol4 we understand there’s much better use of time than figuring out how to connect your organisation’s disconnected systems. And we’re happy to fight this battle for you.
We’ve built a mobile application that can be customised to meet the needs of your business.
Email us at contact@verticalmatters.com.au or give us a call on 1300 99 67 67, so we can have a conversation around how you can use our technology to connect your organisation systems, and get complete visibility of your mobile workforce.