5 Signs Your Business Needs Field Employee Tracking Software

Are you struggling to manage your ground staff? Here are 5 signs why you require field employee tracking software.

Field jobs have seen a sharp rise in the 21st century. These include jobs in the sales, repair, maintenance, service industries, etc.

Field employees work remotely and travel a lot. As such, their managers don’t have much direct contact with them. However, it’s essential to monitor field executives’ activity and work performance.

One way to achieve this is via manual methods like frequent calls and texts. But that is not practical if you manage a sizable field workforce.

The solution to this problem lies in field employee tracking software. Let’s learn what it is and why you need it to manage your remote staff.

What is Field Employee Tracking Software?

Any business with a mobile workforce in sales, MRO, or after-sales process, needs a way to manage the employees. Field employee tracking software is a digital solution to manage your on-site workers. It allows managers to track their staff’s location, task status, expenses, attendance, leave quota, and other factors.

It’s often referred to as field service management (FSM) software since it handles other field operations too, not just employee tracking. It automates and simplifies many of the redundant administrative tasks of managers and employees. This allows them to focus on their main job—more sales, better customer service, etc.

5 Signs Your Business Needs Field Employee Tracking Software

Accountability is a key concern when it comes to managing field executives. Because of inaccurate monitoring, remote employees can end up spending more time on breaks than necessary.

This complicates the job of managers too as they have to review the daily work hours, assign tasks, and adjust shifts of employees. Without proper location and time tracking, field employees are almost impossible to manage.

Here are 5 major problems your organisation can face without field employee tracking software.

1. Disorganised employees

Imagine your employees wasting time handling many apps, signing manual forms, and repeatedly visiting the client site. Sounds like a hassle, right? Without automated field force management software, managers lack oversight of their staff. This causes disorganisation amongst teams as they spend the majority of their time doing exhaustive admin tasks.

2. Time theft

Employees may indulge in time theft if they aren’t monitored and held accountable. This can be in the form of procrastination, early leaving, or doing personal work. As little as 30 minutes of time theft a day sums up to two weeks of full work days a year!

3. Procrastination

Most field service jobs are believed to be high-procrastination jobs. So much so that 64% of employees admit to spending work hours browsing the internet, roaming around, or engaging in non-revenue-generating activities.

4. Inaccurate attendance reporting

Over 80% of employees have to regularise their working hours due to manual timesheets. This is per a stat by Quickbooks. Poor attendance management results in low-quality work and can be a financial burden to the company.

5. Inefficient employee activity management

Field executives have to spend 11% of their time in transit. This is enough time for them to schedule more meetings and customer relations. They can end up taking longer routes than necessary.

6. Poor task scheduling and repetitive work

Field executives have to spend about 6% of their time planning their schedule and other manual administrative tasks. Instead, they could be out visiting more clients and making more sales. As such, the absence of an automated FSM solution results in issues like communication gaps and poor task allocation.

What are the Benefits of Field Employee Tracking Software for Your Business?

Field employee monitoring software offers various benefits that can be a game changer for your business. From boosting employee productivity to reducing administrative errors, take a look at 5 main benefits of field employee tracking software.

1. Increased Productivity

Repetitive administrative tasks drain employee productivity like nothing else. They are redundant and distract employees from their core tasks. Field employee tracking software can automate most of these tasks. Thus, boosting productivity and task success rates.

2. Fewer errors

Unlike a software application, humans are prone to errors. They can cause operational issues or be time-consuming in the correction phase. Workforce management software solves both these problems with accuracy and precision.

3. Time-Saving

FSM software can save at least 15% of employee time. It optimises travel and cuts down on time spent on repetitive administrative tasks. The software also schedules tasks automatically based on employee availability and other factors.

4. Reduced Disorganisation

It can be overwhelming to manually track employees and their activities. Field employee tracking software is an insightful and accurate tool for managing employees. It reduces any miscoordination by tracking every employee’s activity and storing data securely.

5. Future-proofing

A growing organisation requires software that is scalable. FSM software can accommodate growing employees, workload, and other operations. It is also adaptable to technologies like AI and IoT.

Key Features to Look for in Field Employee Tracking Software

A dedicated solution to manage your field employees is necessary. But you can’t choose it blindly. You need to analyse your business requirements first.

Then you have to select the software that best serves your business. Try to look for the following key features:

1. Real-time Tracking: Know exactly where your employees are at all times. This feature helps in keeping employees vigilant and lets you manage them better.
2. Attendance Management: Fool-proof and automated attendance logging with visual and geocoded verification. FSM software can even display the battery and network status of employees’ phones.
3. Task Management: Say goodbye to manual task allocation. FSM software lets managers schedule tasks in advance, upload them in bulk, and modify them on the go. There is also the option of adding ad-hoc tasks.
4. Data analysis and management: Field employee monitoring software can archive data on secure servers. It also lets managers analyse the data and create custom forms or reports. This analysis includes performance reports, viewing KPIs, and identifying any discrepancies.
5. Expense Management: Software like TrackoField offers the option to upload expense reports. This results in fast approvals and simplified reimbursements. There is also the option to attach geotags and timestamps with expense claims.
6. Seamless communication: Avoiding cross-platform communication allows operations to be much smoother and confusion-free. Any issue or query can be resolved right away and on a single platform. Employees and managers can also receive regular activity alerts and reminders.
   

   Top Industries That Use Field Force Management Software

Top Industries That Need Field Force Management

Take a look at some top industries that employ a mobile workforce.

1. Pharma and Healthcare

The pharmaceutical industry is vast. They don’t just sell and produce drugs. They also have to market them and collect samples.

For this, pharma companies hire medical representatives (MR). They act as the link between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare professionals.

Other field operations in the industry include door-to-door services. This includes sample collection, vaccination, spreading awareness, etc.

Some essential features needed by field healthcare or pharma industries are:

• Real-time tracking to know the whereabouts of door-to-door practitioners – salesmen, MR reps, and sample collectors.
• Task and appointment management for medical representatives to keep up with meetings.
• Document handling to keep a record of patient feedback and staff schedules, etc.
• Accessible communication with representatives to always stay in touch with the company.

2. After-sales and repair

The after-sales and repair industry majorly functions with site-based employees. Everyone is always on-site, be it workers, managers, or contractors.

The employees are always transferred from site to site. However, since the number of employees in the field is always high, their management can be difficult.

Here’s how field employee tracking software can come in handy:

• Live location tracking is used to know whether each executive is actually present in the field.
• Fool-proof attendance to handle a large number of on-site staff and reduce time theft.
• Task management to assign tasks and check how productive each employee has been.
• Expense management for the food and travel allowances employees should be getting.

3. Security

Security services are often field-based. Some examples are private guards, safety inspectors, and equipment installers.

Security executives also research common issues customers face.

Here’s how workforce management software benefits security services businesses:

• Real-time tracking to know if security guards are actually where they say they are.
• Task management to help the post-sales team know their responsibilities. It also covers their daily schedules.
• Productivity management to see where the team is lagging and how to overcome it.
• Accurate feedback to get an idea about the effectiveness of each security guard.

4. Retail

In the retail business, managers have to oversee several store employees. Moreover, there has to be seamless communication between employees of different stores.

Here’s what field employee tracking software does for retail businesses:

• Ensures fool-proof attendance so that employees spend their day at designated stores only. It also simplifies remote attendance logging.
• Tracks Productivity through efficient task management and data analysis.
• Provides single-platform communication for easy coordination between employees and managers.

5. Publication

Field jobs in the publishing industry include research, sales, and marketing. After publishing, books have to be sold and marketed.

For this, sales executives visit bookstores to get bulk clients. They may also set up kiosks to sell copies themselves.

Publication businesses need field employee tracking software for the following features:

• Live tracking to know where each employee is on the field and check if anyone is procrastinating.
• Order management to get an exact idea of how many orders are taken and clients serviced.
• Expense management will reimburse employees’ conveyance, food, and lodging costs.
• Employee Job planning to determine which employees are available to take up a task and how far they are from the task site.

Wrapping Up!

Manual tracking of on-site employees should become a thing of the distant past. It’s time-consuming, prone to errors, and distracts employees from their core tasks. That’s exactly why you need field employee monitoring software. It can:

• Efficiently manage your remote workforce.
• Track employee activity in real-time.
• Boost employee satisfaction and productivity.
• Reduce unnecessary delays.
• Improve internal communication.

So, the answer to the burning question: Does your business need field employee tracking software? The answer is a resounding yes!

You do need a software solution, especially if you want to grow your business and reap profits.

But you have to choose wisely. You need a software solution that fulfils all your business demands. TrackoField is one such software that can automate all your field operations.

FAQs

• Do I need field employee tracking software?

  If you have a sizable field workforce and want to stay ahead of the competition, then you need FSM software. It can streamline your field employee operations like:
  - Task allocation
  - Sales order tracking
  - Managing location-verified attendance
  You can even view the exact location of your employees when they are offline. This is beneficial for businesses in the sales, MRO, and service sectors.

• How to track field employees?

  You can either track field employees manually using calls and texts. Or you can use field employee tracking software to check staff location and activity.
  Software like TrackoField is a great option to manage your mobile workforce. It can manage their attendance, leaves, tasks, payroll, and more.