August | 2020
Current uncertainties brought on by COVID-19 have forced us to stay at home. However, in the new normal, we are able to avail services via our cellphones with just a couple of taps. Today, every field force like a handyman, delivery boy, home service, driver, industry engineer, and a ground worker can be digitally enabled as a connected worker through an IoT device like a mobile phone, for work order and job management. Every organization has well-defined policies, rules, and KPIs to manage its connected field force; and continuous performance monitoring is required to improve productivity and customer satisfaction. Research indicates around 40% of enterprises agree to have a Field Force monitoring system in place, and ~60% companies have allocated a budget to develop the same.[1]
How Field Force management is reshaping industry trends
Digital Operations – A digital-first approach becomes a necessity for Field Force to move to paperless communications using technologies like OCR, RTR, etc.
Connected worker – The trend is to keep track of all touchpoints with the field worker through different communication channels like Voice, Message, Email, Real-time collaboration.
Performance tracking – Active or Silent performance monitoring of Field Force on the field or on-road helps to reduce operational cost along with Track and Trace, Diagnostics, Critical Notifications
Operation Streamline - Online onboarding, Online Training, and sophisticated data analytics allows better Field Force management and operations.
Lower costs - Digital adoption can take over some routine tasks, reducing operational costs, and freeing staff/employees for other value-generating activities.
Why is Field Force management still facing challenges?
Performance management (SLA): Measuring performance against goals and making decisions that move the business forward
Communication with customer: Loop with the customer if tracking is running late, cases of order cancelellations etc.
Always On: With or without network
Safety and Liability: Concern of safety and liability for workers visiting hazardous locations
Enterprise Integration: Custom Integration with Enterprise Apps needed every time
BYOD: Support for MDM environment and with personal device; That can be with any Operating system and any configurations; it might run potential risks of data or device theft and malware infiltration
Easy Adoption: Embedded, time-to-market, and cost-effective
Use-Case Scenario
Use cases for any field force are generally the same, such as:
Performance monitoring is always silent and very critical to adopt for employee and customer satisfaction as well as to improve productivity.
Solution approach
A mobile demon running in the background to capture data silently, and update the centralized server for anlaysis manually or using AI engine as represented below; To optimize the mobile network bandwidth, monitoring KPIs to be sent in periodic intervals using Offline mode and bulk data should roll over with multiple databases.
Defining performance monitoring KPIs is the most important part for any performance monitoring tool.
Here are few key KPIs typically used to monitor performance improvements:
| KPIs | Details |
|---|---|
Device name |
To identify device used |
Device ID |
To identify device ID as mapped with device name |
User name |
User name for authentication purpose |
Type of worker |
To verify capabilities of worker |
Operating system |
OS for performance observation for future device allotment |
Battery Status |
To monitor productivity |
Date & Time |
For future job review |
Network connection status |
For better support system |
IP Address |
Authentication |
Operator |
For performance tracking |
Roaming |
For performance tracking while on the move |
Signal Strength |
For performance tracking |
Lat, Long |
Location tracking |
Last Sync time |
Offline to online mode |
Last Sync Status |
For status update |
Conclusion
Today, no single product in the market addresses all requirements or challenges of your enterprise environment, leading to multiplicity of tools. So one common customizable solution for all your field force monitoring will help to improve operational speed, dynamic scheduling, remote assistance, cost optimization and customer satisfaction.
References
Anupam Kumar Rath
Distinguished Member of Technical Staff and Solutions Architect
Anupam is a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff and an SME for the Industrial Engineering Team at Wipro. He has architected the Mobility transformation for multiple customers around the world. With close to 20 years of industry experience, his expertise has enabled the success of multiple programs and customer wins.
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