How Mobile Workforce Management Systems Promise Optimal Field Staff Control

Field Service Management Software / October 2024

What Exactly Does Mobile Workforce Management Mean?

Mobile workforce management (MWM) is the process of managing and tracking field staff when they’re working off-site and away from the company office. Whether that be HVAC repairs, gas pipe installations, or routine maintenance work.

For companies with multiple technicians and engineers, tracking and managing mobile workers in real-time is challenging. The lack of a mobile workforce management system can impact your service delivery, resulting in poor customer satisfaction scores and declining customer retention levels.

A Field Service Management Software with MWM capabilities – or a dedicated Mobile Workforce Management Software – provides the tools that allow field service managers to automate and digitise how they manage their workforce in the field.

Typically deployed alongside a mobile field service app, MWM systems prioritise the ease of communication between managers, office staff, technicians, and customers. Meaning everyone is on the same page when it comes to the delivery of services.

Most importantly, it allows for jobs to be completed on time without delays meaning more jobs can be scheduled. With the tools to deploy a management platform for mobile workers, you can expect:

• Exceptional customer management
• Improved CSAT scores
• High first-time fix rates
• Improved customer retention levels

3 Stand-Out Benefits of Deploying Mobile Workforce Management Systems

1. Track Mobile Workers in Real-Time

The use of IoT-enabled devices such as GPS trackers allows users to track workers in the field. Linked to a shared dashboard, this provides the exact location of field staff and lets you know when an engineer is travelling to a job site or when they’re in transit.

The use of GPS trackers can also help track company vehicles and equipment. An advantage of vehicle tracking is assigning technicians who’re closest to a job. This eliminates job delays and reduces the 50% of service hours lost due to travel time. Vehicle tracking can also provide further data analysis of mobile workers, including driver behaviour data, vehicle idle times, and fuel optimisation reports.

2. Improve Scheduling and Dispatch

Efficient mobile workforce management starts with scheduling and dispatching tasks. This helps to make sure you’re assigning the right workers to the right job by knowing an engineer’s skill set, experience, and real-time location. Workforce planning and scheduling can be automated with a digital field service system. This helps to:

• Provide visibility of all workforce in the field
• Allow for flexibility when scheduling and dispatching workers
• Improve communication between office-based staff and mobile workers

From a single dashboard, you’re able to view your entire mobile workforce in one place. This allows you to assign qualified technicians to the right jobs. Ultimately, assigning a technician who has the best chance of providing a first-time fix and guaranteeing a good customer service experience. Service providers with a 90% CSAT score can increase total revenue margins by 30%.

3. Get Work Order Updates on Mobile

As well as location tracking, you can also view your workforce’s job progression in real-time. When an engineer updates a work order, you’ll be automatically notified via an email alert or mobile notification. This lets you see if a job is being completed on time to meet customer SLAs. As well as knowing what stage a job is at, meaning office staff can prepare for a worker’s next assignment.

How MWM Impacts Workforce Optimisation Strategies

Workforce optimisation (WFO) is exactly what it sounds like; optimising how service teams perform in the field. This is the outcome of taking a more data-led approach to job management.

Some workforce tasks can be optimised with manual fixes such as improving communication through mobile devices and shared spreadsheets (52% of field service providers still use manual methods).

However, more successful approaches to workforce optimisation are achieved with tools like Field Service Management Software and mobile workforce management systems. This digital integration enables FSOs to deploy WFO strategies such as:

• Data-led decision making
• Dynamic scheduling and dispatching
• Prioritising customer needs

Before software, technicians were assigned to a job via text message or phone call. But unreliable network signals (or black spots) meant most workers missed calls and jobs were cancelled. Next came PDAs, which, although provided more information and worked via a shared calendar, were also susceptible to unreliable signals. Now, almost 85% of service teams use mobile applications.

In a recent Comparesoft podcast, Adam Neale, former Field Engineering Director at BT, explained the importance of using software for mobile workforce management:
“Without [software tools], I think now we will probably be needing four or five times the amount of people, which means obviously your costs go up to the customers. And that means the end customer pays more.

If they’re implemented in the right way and you’ve got the right culture, the people trust in using the software.”

Telltale Signs Your Workforce Is Underperforming

Failing to Meet SLAs

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are put in place as assurance for the customer. They detail what customers can expect from their service provider and are important for building trust. For example, a company may promise a customer that a technician will be at the job one business day after a work order is raised.

If SLAs are not met, the company’s reputation and customers’ trust is damaged. This has an impact on future business and customer retention. Providers that offer and meet SLAs using mobile workforce management tools have an 18% higher customer retention rate.

Not Meeting Set KPIs

Key Performance Indicators are, in a way, similar to SLAs in that they’re goals set to be accomplished. KPIs are set by FSOs and indicate their workforce optimisation efforts. An example KPI is achieving a CSAT score of 80% or having an FTFR above 75%.

As a reference, companies with an FTFR of over 70% achieved customer retention rates of 86%.

Increase In Poor Customer Feedback

A telltale sign of failing mobile workforce management is receiving bad feedback from customers. Dealing with customers is an integral part of any field service operation, therefore the customer experience needs to be good at the very least. Poor feedback can be a result of:

• Field workers arriving late to a job (45% of customers complain about engineers arriving 15, 30, or 60+ minutes late)
• Customers experiencing a no-show
• The final cost of a job is higher than expected/quoted
• The work is not completed to a high enough standard

Customer experience is measured by a Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) score. Best-in-class field service providers with a 90% CSAT score are more likely to increase their revenue margins by 30%.

Being Left Behind By Competitors

To succeed, companies need to offer a better service experience than their rivals. This relates to both local and nationwide businesses. The biggest gap between successful and unsuccessful service providers is their use of modern technology. 89% of customers expect modern, on-demand technology, including technician scheduling and real-time tracking.

The Role of Field Service Mobile Apps in MWM

The use of cloud-based mobile apps has elevated the efficiency of mobile workforce management. Most notably, by accessing data via a mobile device from anywhere at any time. Whether for small business services such as plumbing, landscaping, or pest control. Or for larger field operations such as utilities and healthcare.

When accessing data on a mobile device, field workers require a network connection. But, depending on their location, this isn’t always available to them. That’s why having offline access can help. Offline access gives engineers and technicians the tools to access job information instantly, instead of contacting office staff or going on-premise to check inventory. Without offline access, first-time fix rates can suffer. This can lead to an average wait time of 14 days for customers.

Using mobile apps for mobile workforce management can benefit certain areas for both team managers and technicians, like:

Real-Time Updates

Coordination across teams and departments requires managerial reports and interfaces that let managers and directors make informed decisions with up-to-date information. By providing managers with mobile field service apps that give them access to real-time data, you’re empowering them to make better decisions and take corrective actions quickly. This can minimise the impact of incidents on your customers and improve your organisation’s overall mobile workforce management performance.

Dispatch Management

With the ability to assign and track jobs, as well as receive updates on the status of each job, dispatchers can better manage resources and keep your team moving. In addition, many mobile field service apps include a GPS-enabled map that shows the exact location of all field personnel. Advancements are always being made in solving the “travelling-salesman” problem more efficiently, and the right field service apps make it possible to leverage those improvements in a practical way.

Less Paperwork for Field Techs

It’s best to keep the field experts doing what they do best and away from pencil pushing downtime. Mobile workforce management apps help by automating many of the data entry tasks that need to be done in the field. This can free up time for technicians to focus on the job at hand and also help to keep your data organised and accurate. By automating data entry, you’re also reducing human error that can lead to lost or incorrect information.

Improved Job Performance

With the ability to track time spent on each task, technicians can more accurately bill for their services. In addition, many mobile field service apps include a library of standard procedures that technicians can use as a reference guide. Having quick access to this information can help reduce the time needed to complete a task and improve a worker’s first-time fix rate (FTFR). It also helps ensure that tasks are completed in the correct order and with the correct steps.