See exactly how mobile workforce management software transforms field services and drives growth with practical use cases.
Managing a mobile workforce across multiple jobs and clients can get chaotic quickly if you don’t use the right mobile workforce management software.
In fact, the right software is critical to growing and scaling your field service business with customer expectations rising.
But if you’re unsure of how it all works and would like a bit of guidance, we’ve got you covered.
In this blog, we’ll do a deep dive into practical use cases so you can see exactly how mobile workforce management software transforms field services and drives growth – starting with a quick definition.
What is mobile workforce management software?
Mobile workforce management software is technology specifically designed to help field service businesses more efficiently manage operations with field-based engineers. The software is typically cloud-based so that regardless of location and time of day, the entire business can access it. This allows teams to instantly update jobs with the latest information, send customers updates, while back-office teams can track progress in real-time.
How? It’s built with specific features like Customer Relationship Management (CRM), job scheduling, business intelligence reporting, and GPS tracking. All of these, and much more, make it quicker and easier to schedule jobs, while reducing admin tasks, errors, and delays.
So you can get more jobs booked and deliver improved customer satisfaction.
Field services’ 7 top use cases for mobile workforce management software
Now, let’s delve into some practical uses for mobile workforce management software. Let’s take a look at how it improves operational efficiency and customer experience – all whilst maintaining field worker safety and ensuring they get paid correctly thanks to accurate timesheets.
Mobile workforce management use case #1: Job scheduling ⏲️
We’ve already briefly mentioned that real-time status updates and data are key drivers for field service businesses using mobile workforce management software. Instant job scheduling is one of the outputs of this.
For example, businesses can use GPS tracking to see exactly where an engineer is. And they can use this to quickly adjust schedules if there is a cancellation of an appointment or an emergency call-out pops up.
Likewise, if an engineer calls in sick, back-office teams can adjust schedules quickly to try to accommodate.
All this makes it possible for businesses to allocate resources efficiently and save time and money, whilst improving customer satisfaction.
Mobile workforce management use case #2: Asset management 🚘
Field service businesses can also use the tech to manage mobile fleet and stock. Let’s look at how:
Mobile fleet: There are so many things it can support here. For example, predictive maintenance helps to prevent vehicle breakdowns impacting job completion and invoicing. Plus, it can do even more clever stuff like track driving behaviour to reduce idling. Or, coupled with job scheduling and GPS tracking, you can send the nearest engineer – while considering congestion and fuel consumption.
Stock: You can see the parts available at the nearest stockist or on the nearest engineer’s van. Ultimately, this saves you wasting money on additional parts, is better for cash flow, and improves first-time fix rates.
Mobile workforce management use case #3: Communication 📣
Communication is everything in field services. But without the right software, it can be a headache keeping field teams and office workers on the same page. Yet with the right tech engineers can instantly update jobs and send notifications and comments – regardless of location.
On top of this, as well as the GPS tracking mentioned earlier, mobile workforce management offers automated ETA alerts that ensure that customer communications are up-to-date too.
This minimises administration, so saves time and money, and reporting dashboards allow office teams to react quickly. For example, once a job is complete, they can download reports for clients and send invoices. You can even automate this!
Ultimately, it promotes a sense of teamwork and collaboration, which can improve morale and productivity.
Mobile workforce management use case #4: Compliance and safety 🔒
With the right software, you can make adhering to regulations so much easier. For example, some tech has digital job templates that you can standardise to “tick boxes” in compliance. This essentially automates the process because it obliges engineers to complete specific tasks and mark them as complete.
Moreover, they can upload photos and simply tap a box to say they’ve read safety documents or completed risk assessments. All this can act as “proof” of work completed.
And more importantly, making it easier for mobile teams to complete things like risk assessments keeps them safe and well.
Mobile workforce management use case #5: Customer experience 🤝
Delivering excellent service is crucial to retention, reputation, and word-of-mouth promotion. And keeping customers satisfied is so much easier with mobile workforce management software.
Let’s look at a few examples of how:
- Mobile device access to a comprehensive CRM: This means mobile employees have instant access to a job’s history so they can troubleshoot faster and boost first-time fixes.
- Instant updates: You can keepboth back-office teams and customers on the same page with engineer locations, ETAs, and even job completion.
- Self-service portal: Some tech solutions even have a customer platform that allows them to book back in and instantly pay invoices digitally.
- Quick feedback captures: Some tech allows you to automate customer feedback surveys so that you can capture how a job went – and use this intel to improve services overall. Or get in touch with a customer if they had any issues or felt dissatisfied with the service.
Mobile workforce management use case #6: Performance monitoring 📈
Field service management software provides instant visibility of operational performance through reporting dashboards that track Key Performance Indicators and the delivery of customer SLAs. How? This is all thanks to the live updates and real-time data feed.
This means you can make quicker and better decisions, like pivoting your strategy before it impacts revenue.
Mobile workforce management use case #7: Cash flow 💷
Mobile employees can easily manage timesheets and expenses so that working hours are logged correctly. This is crucial for compensating them, but it also helps to see how much jobs actually cost. Some of these costs may be passed down to the customer as part of a more accurate invoicing process.
Over time, businesses can use this historical data to accurately forecast labour costs and prices – which helps boost profit margins. Or, businesses can use it to review schedules and make tweaks so field employees’ time is optimised and they aren’t overworked, which is better for morale and often improves the customer service clients receive.
Optimise field services with BigChange mobile workforce management software
As we’ve seen, if you’re looking to scale your field service businesses, mobile workforce management software is a game-changer.
Through improving communication alone, the entire workforce is equipped to:
- overcome new challenges like supply shortages, client emergencies, or staff absences
- send instant updates and messages to mobile workers while they’re out in the field
- keep customers up-to-date and on the same page
Plus, with solutions like BigChange’s route optimiser, field service businesses can get more work done each day without taking on more people.
And ignoring this tech isn’t an option. Those that embrace it are already ahead of the curve. And as new digital advancements happen, those using it stand a better chance of competitive advantage, so just keep on growing.
The key takeaway? Mobile workforce management software enables field service organisations to reach their growth potential. Say hello to better profit margins, adapting to changes in the market, booking many more jobs with the resources you already have… And so much more.
Ready to take new tech for a test spin?Book a demo of BigChange and one of our mobile workforce management experts will talk through how leading field service businesses use it to scale and grow.
