What is Field Force Automation Software – Benefits, Features & Future Trends

Discover the benefits and key features of field force automation software. Learn how it helps you streamline task allocation and order management for field teams.

Businesses with field teams in the HVAC, pharma, or product delivery industries rely heavily on field executives who often spend hours on the field, visiting various clients.

Such employees can be challenging to manage using traditional tracking methods like WhatsApp, texts, or calls. Managers can even lose productive hours and drive up operational costs. This is why using field force automation software is a must to efficiently manage your field teams.

It offers you a combination of tools to digitise, automate and simplify field business operations. Dive in to learn about the working of a field force automation system, its salient features, and main benefits.

What is Field Force Automation Software and why is it Important?

Field force automation software (FFA), as the name implies, is the use of technology to automate and simplify field workforce operations. This includes digital task scheduling, task status and timeline monitoring, employees’ real-time tracking, sales order management, and more.

The purpose of such automation is to optimise resource allocation, ensure on-time service task delivery or meet more sales orders. FFA software also helps to reduce the workload of field employees so they can better focus on their core tasks like client visits or sales. In other words, automation helps improve field employees’ efficiency. It saves their time and eliminates redundant or repetitive tasks.

FFA also eliminates human errors and ensures that you don’t have to rely on obsolete methods to track field employees. So… you can say goodbye to disputes over incorrect order entries or task overlaps. Although FFA emphasizes smooth workflow, it can also be used to simplify other field force operations like orders, attendance, or expense management.

7 Essential Features to Look for in Field Force Automation Software

Take a look at the 7 must-have features you should look for while choosing field force automation software for your organisation. The more features the software has, the easier it will be for you to manage your field staff.

1. Field Job & Task Scheduling

Planning your staff’s jobs and maintaining an undisturbed workflow is one of the priorities of a field manager. Field force automation with its smart job & shift scheduling feature can reduce paperwork and prevent scheduling conflicts associated with manual task allocation.

The software also helps to reduce resource wastage and smartly assign tasks. Wondering how? Well, software like TrackoField offers:

• A smart calendar view to arrange daily to weekly tasks with priority, client name & deadline.
• Bulk tasks upload option for managers to assign months of tasks in advance.
• Provision to assign ad-hoc tasks if the business receives end-moment service requests.

Field force management software also helps to automate operations like creating or scheduling routine tasks. You can simply clone tasks or use a pre-existing template to save time. The software also lets employees self-allocate tasks or reschedule ongoing tasks if they want.

2. Real-Time Task Timeline & Status Tracking

More than that, you can access the real-time location, task, and activity status of your employees. You can also check the daily task quota of any field employee, including his pending, completed, or rescheduled tasks. After analysing all of this data, you can further assign tasks to your staff based on their:

• Proximity to the client site.
• Availability and bandwidth.
• Skillset, performance, or existing relationship with customers.

3. Field Agents’ Visits & Locations Tracking

It’s essential to know the whereabouts of your mobile employees. How will you collaborate with them or assign them tasks if you don’t know what your staff is doing or where they are?

You can use manual tracking methods such as texts or calls but they can be quite time-consuming and error-prone. Instead, you can use FFA software to:

• View the live location, battery status, and network strength of employees’ devices.
• Instantly check executives’ activity status (idle, available, travelling).
• Track employees even when they’re offline or out of the service area.
• Make quick decisions to update employees’ tasks based on their locations.
• View the total distance travelled by executives and playback the exact routes.

Also, the employee can mark their attendance offline as well. Their data is stored in packets which are synced to the cloud server once connectivity returns.

4. Sales Order Management

Sales are one of the most crucial aspects of on-field or D2D product-selling companies. However, most businesses struggle to compile the total sales volume, order quantity and customer data. This is because the majority of sales reps still use paper-based sheets. FFA, with its inclusive order management software, helps streamline the process of sales order placement. The software can transform your sales. It allows your backend teams to:

• Create and maintain an extensive product list.
• Take orders on the go and add new customers quickly.
• Create custom forms and fields for feedback, surveys, etc.
• Adjust product prices and discounts.
• Track order progress and updates in real time.

5. Geo-verified Attendance Management

More than real-time location tracking, businesses struggle with capturing their field agents’ attendance or availability at the task sites. It’s challenging to monitor your employees’ work hours.

However, FFA software provides you with a clear idea of your employees’ time-spending habits. It logs the correct mark-in and mark-out times of your staff. It also monitors how long your employees work during the day and how many sanctioned or unsanctioned breaks they take.

Software like TrackoField lets you set up geofences. This way, you can ensure that employees are physically present at the designated location while marking attendance. Thus, you prevent employees from misusing the remote login and logout functions.

FFA also records the timestamps and location coordinates when employees mark their attendance. Managers can mandate additional biometric proof, such as a selfie, for enhanced accuracy.

You can even sync tasks with attendance. This ensures that employees start working only after reaching the task site and marking their attendance.

6. Smooth Integration with 200+ Apps

The entire point of field force automation is to simplify the jobs of field managers and employees. That won’t be possible if they are juggling multiple apps when they could be using a one-stop solution for all their daily duties.

For instance, TrackoField is equipped with expense and payroll management modules. Field executives can easily log expenses with visual proof. Managers can validate their expenses and approve reimbursements. The attendance, leave, and task completion data can be further used to calculate accurate salaries.

TrackoField additionally supports integration with over 200 CRM and HRMS apps, making it a multifaceted FFA solution.

7. Custom Fields and Forms

One of the USP of field force automation software is custom forms and fields. Managers can create forms for employees to use while placing orders or completing tasks. These forms can be used to collect client feedback, invoices, or service tickets.

FFA software also lets you add multiple fields of different types such as text, numbers, bar code, document upload, date, time, or dropdown menu. You can limit the field entry to particular variables so that staff cannot add more entries or entry values than permitted.

Custom fields and categories can also be created for leave and expenses. You can define what type of leave you wish to have in your organisation (sick, casual, maternity, etc.). The same can be done for expenses. You can create categories for types of expenses – stationery, food, lodging, etc.

5 Key Benefits of Choosing Field Force Automation Software

Now that you know about the highlight features of FFA software, let’s learn how they benefit your field business and make your job as a field manager easier.

1. High Employee Productivity

Thanks to efficient and optimised field service scheduling, FFA software ensures employees aren’t overworked or underworked. It reduces task overlaps, double task allocation, and other common productivity-affecting errors. FFA also eliminates paperwork and lengthy admin tasks. So, employees can focus on their core duties instead of administrative work.

2. Better customer service

Since FFA boosts productivity, it results in employees visiting more clients and delivering satisfactory service. Such automated task and resource optimisation ensure all employees reach the customer in time and don’t waste their working hours or the company’s resources. Employee can also finish their work on time and take up more service tasks. Hence, we can establish that FFA leads to better customer service by

• Reducing delays or miscommunication with clients.
• Lowering turnaround time.
• Improving FTFR.
• Ensuring executives stick to schedule and receive the latest updates.

3. Data-driven insights

Field force automation software stores all employee data on secure cloud servers. The software can analyse this data in various ways to provide insightful reports. Managers can track their employees’ performance, capitalise on growing trends, spot hidden patterns, and make informed decisions regarding the organisation’s future. Some of the most useful reports FFA offers are:

• Task completion rate
• Target vs. achievement reports
• On Duty vs. Actual working hours
• Distance travelled reports
• Unreachable reports

4. Better communication and team coordination

Communication is one of the biggest challenges in fieldwork. You’re expected to communicate seamlessly with employees hundreds of miles away. However, team coordination is a breeze with field force automation software. It allows managers to:

• Guide employees and address their queries in real time.
• Assign tasks on the go.
• Quickly approve or reject expense or leave requests with valid reason.

Also, both employees and managers stay in the loop regarding any orders, expenses, and task updates. Every addition or edit is immediately notified to both parties.

5. Lower operational costs

FFA ensures all employees are working to the best of their ability and utilising company resources responsibly. Field force automation software minimises unnecessary expenses and optimises conveyance costs.

Plus, when all resources are utilised properly, it negates the chances of downtime, asset failure, or employee burnout. All of these would’ve otherwise drained the company budget. FFA also maintains accuracy and minimises human errors in data entry or form collection.

The Future of Field Force Automation – 3 Rising Trends

Here are the top 3 FFA trends that are bound to be invaluable in the coming years. Most field force automation software companies are already leveraging these trends to future-proof themselves. It’s important to consider the following trends seriously.

1. IoT

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the collective network of connected devices that use cloud communication to exchange data. The most common examples of IoT are smart homes and fitness bands.

Now imagine if IoT could be integrated into field force automation. Your employees could keep track of their tasks using just a wearable device like a watch. They could also log their attendance easily and respond to updates faster.

Managers would also be able to track their employees’ health data, in addition to their location and battery status. After all, field jobs are tough! It’s only right to prioritise your workforce’s well-being.

2. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the talk of the town these days. From vehicles and personal computers to the arts, AI is being implemented in every domain. Field force automation systems are not behind either in capitalising on AI. Machine learning algorithms and smart chatbots are already in use in many FFA solutions.

AI can further enhance the software through predictive analytics. With AI, companies would be able to predict issues by analysing historical data patterns. For instance, air conditioner usage increases tenfold during summer.

By studying historical data, HVAC businesses can better equip themselves and allocate extra technicians and service staff in advance. They can improve HVAC technicians dispatching to task sites. AI can predict what weather or time of the year would require more effort from employees. This enables businesses to solve problems before they occur and minimise downtime. AI can also help to:

• Speed up field operations.
• Maintain a smooth workflow.
• Reduce repetitive tasks.
• Improve employee task scheduling.

Moreover, AI can also help speed up field operations, reduce repetitive tasks, and improve employee task scheduling.

3. Augmented Reality

The best field force automation software like TrackoField already allow route playback options. Managers can view the exact routes their employees take on a particular day. With virtual or augmented reality, managers could view the routes from the POV of the employees. This would be helpful to verify field employees’ trips better. AR/VR can also help to train your technicians, especially if real training is risky.

Conclusion

Tech innovations have defined the 21st century, and every business needs to capitalise on new technology to keep growing. Field force automation is one such technology that can transform your business drastically.

The two most common benefits of field force automation software, higher employee productivity and better customer service, when combined, lead to more sales, faster company growth, and more revenue.

FFA also helps to reduce the workload of field executives and boosts their morale. Software like TrackoField even lets you clone tasks, eliminate scheduling conflicts, and improve team coordination.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. To know more about the benefits of field force automation, get in touch with the TrackoField staff today!

FAQs

• How can a Field Force Automation solution boost sales performance?

  The highlight of field force automation software is streamlining workflow and improving staff productivity. This boosts sales performance by:
  - Reducing the administrative burden of field executives.
  - Ensuring faster customer visits.
  - Reducing turnaround time.
  - Making field operations easy and error-free.
  With satisfied customers and a productive workforce, sales are bound to skyrocket.

• Which industries can benefit from field force automation?

  FFA can be a game-changer for any business that relies on mobile employees. These can be product-based or service-based companies. Here are a few industries that depend on field executives the most and can benefit from FFA software.
  - Retail
  - Pharma and Phlebotomy
  - Maintenance and Repair
  - HVAC and After-Sales
  - Agriculture
  - Logistics and Transport

• What is workforce automation?

  Field workforce automation is the use of technology to automate or optimise a field team’s operations. This includes improving task assigning, resource allocation, and activity monitoring. Workforce automation helps to improve employee efficiency and simplify order & expense management.