How Field Force Automation Improves the Efficiency of OOH Field Teams

Learn how to leverage field force automation to improve the efficiency of your OOH field teams and better manage their tasks, visits and sales.

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is widely used these days and is great at attracting new customers. All hoardings, posters and wall paintings you see are examples of OOH ads. But have you ever wondered, who puts up these ads?

Well, this task is accomplished by field executives of advertising agencies. These employees perform tasks like performing inspections, installing hoardings, selling or pitching ad space to clients, etc.

These tasks can often be demanding and repetitive. If mismanaged, it can cost your business fortunes. But you can overcome these challenges by using field force automation software. It uses automation to simplify workflow and improve efficiency of OOH field teams.

Dive in to know how field force automation for OOH teams’ work.

8 Ways How Field Force Automation Improves the OOH Field Teams’ Efficiency

Out-of-home advertising requires employees to work quickly and efficiently. This is only possible using field force automation. But how exactly does automation improve workforce efficiency? Let us learn below. Here are 8 ways in which automation can improve the efficiency of OOH field teams.

1. Field Teams’ Visits and location tracking

Out-of-home advertising agents mainly work outdoors. They travel to various client sites during their work hours. As a manager, you have to monitor these visits to be able to track your staff’s productivity, assign tasks and provide assistance.

Some managers use texts, emails, and calls to track their OOH field teams. However, this isn’t a practical method (if managing a giant force). It can severely affect workforce efficiency. The alternative is to use an automated field employee tracking software like TrackoField. It uses GPS technology to accurately track field executives’ location and activity status.

Using the software, you can:

• Track live location of field agents with precise geo-coordinates
• View their total visits to task location, clients or prospects
• Total ad placements or hoarding installations

2. Field agents’ Task Management

OOH field executives’ tasks need to be completed timely and efficiently. Any delay or errors could lead to poor customer service and thus affect your company’s reputation and revenue. Thankfully, automation can help optimise your remote teams’ tasks. Software like TrackoField lets managers:

• Allocate tasks based on executives’ availability and proximity to client site.
• Clone tasks to avoid repetition and save time.
• Attach detailed task descriptions, voice notes, images or documents while assigning tasks.
• Use calendar scheduling to allocate tasks weeks or months in advance.
• Assign ad-hoc tasks to field employees and alert them instantly.
• Allow OOH ad staff to self-allocate or reschedule tasks.

With in-built and automated task management system, managers can prevent task repetition and eliminate delays in reaching client sites. They can also avoid task conflicts between field staff and better manage company resources.

All in all, automation helps to equally distribute work between field teams and ensure every employee is working to the best of his abilities. This not only improves workforce efficiency but also simplifies the job of managers.

3. Geo-verified Attendance Management

It can be challenging to monitor your OOH field teams’ work hours and manage their attendance remotely. Employees travelling to the office just to mark their attendance is not productive. That’s why you need a way to manage your workforce attendance accurately and without interfering with your executives’ tasks. The answer lies in automation.

FFA software allows OOH ad employees to log their attendance remotely. Managers can set up geofences around locations, usually the first task site of the day. The agent reaches the geofenced site and punches in to unlock the task.

Managers can also ask employes to upload selfies while marking attendance. These timestamped and geotagged selfies help to authenticate attendance better and prevent any buddy punching. Additionally, the software auto logs out executives once their shift hours are over, thus eliminating any missed punches.

4. Automatic Alerts and Notifications

Automation can significantly boost transparency in your company and improve team coordination thanks to instant alerts and reminder. Field force automation software keeps tab of every work activity and immediately notifies the concerned parties.

Be it any change in task status, new order creation or GPS disabling, the software sends a notification to the managers. Employees’ leave requests, expense requests and attendance override requests are also notified to the managers immediately.

Moreover, Your Agents Get Notifications Too!

Field force automation software ensures field OOH ad agents also get prompt notifications for:

• New task allocation
• Ad hoc or bulk tasks allocation
• Upcoming meeting or task
• Attendance mark-ins and mark-outs
• Rejected or approved leave/expense requests

Managers can also create custom announcements send them to particular managers or entire teams. Plus, TrackoField also offers an SOS button which executives can use in case of emergencies.

5. Seamless Integration with External Apps

Automation is all about simplifying field operations and reducing the workload of employees and their managers. This won’t be possible if they are using multiple software to manage different field operations.

Instead, you can use field employee tracking software to manage your OOH field teams, their payroll, attendance and other operations. Software like TrackoField can be easily integrated with over 200+ HRMS or CRM apps.

6. Simplified Expense and Payroll Management

OOH ad executives incur various expenses during work hours. Examples include food, fuel, stationery or advertising equipment. These expenses have to be logged, sent for verification and reimbursed by managers.

However, field executives can’t produce physical bills of every expense. That practice is not practical from an efficiency and time management POV.

But with an inbuilt automated expense management software, field staff can easily raise expense claims on their smartphones. They can attach images of bills or invoices as well. Managers can then approve the expense by:

• Verifying invoice images
• Checking employees’ location history
• Reviewing time spent at the expense site

The software also calculates conveyance using the synced odometer and route distance calculator for employee tracking.

Moreover, TrackoField can even doubles as payroll management software. It automatically creates error-free salary slips using work hours, overtime and expense data.

7. Insightful Performance & Daily Win Reports

OOH advertising depends on the overall performance and daily wins of field executives. Thus, managers need to find ways to ensure every employee is working at the height of their capabilities. This can be achieved using productivity reports.

Field force automation software like TrackoField offers over 20 insightful reports. Managers can use these to spot market patterns, identify skill gaps or analyse workforce performance.

Here are a few reports offered by TrackoField that can help you better manage your OOH field teams.

• Target vs achievement reports to review employees’ productivity.
• Stoppage reports to check the duration, location and frequency of employees’ halts.
• Unreachable reports to know why and where an employee wasn’t visible on the dashboard.
• Distance travelled report to review the total distance covered by an executive. This report helps calculate conveyance expenses and review the efficiency of field agents.
• Performance reports to check how many clients visit OOH ad agents make and digital ads they install.

8. Accurate Proof-of-Performance

Task reports can serve as Proof-of-performance (POP) as managers can check attached media files like images or documents. It also displays every update in the task with accurate timestamps and location tags.

Exact time and location of a task’s start and completion is also displayed. This way task reports in field staff tracking software help verify OOH hoarding installations.

Wrapping up!

Automation and real-time monitoring are essential to manage your OOH field teams. Whether it is task allocation, attendance reporting or expense reimbursement, automation can help streamline all field operations.

OOH agencies’ field executives in particular need automation to simplify their workflow. As a manager, you can’t have a scattered field team with one employee performing 10 tasks and another doing only 2. There needs to be proper coordination between OOH field teams and their supervisors. This can be achieved by using field force automation software like TrackoField.

It ensures fast and optimised job allocation, prompt task and timeline management and error-free workflow to save the organisation’s time & costs. The result? Improved efficiency of OOH field teams, higher morale and faster business growth.

Don’t believe us? Well, get in touch and request a complete walkthrough of TrackoField.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How does automation transform traditional field workforce management in OOH?

  Automation transforms OOH ad workforce management by eliminating ineffective manual operations, bridging skill gaps and ensuring timely task execution.
  Field force management software can even assign tasks to field employees based on location, availability, and workload. Plus, the employee GPS tracking feature ensures complete visibility into employees’ activities and helps managers make real-time decisions.

• What role does automation play in optimising resource allocation for outdoor advertising teams?

  Automation optimises resource allocation for outdoor advertising teams by: -
  - Ensuring equal work distribution.
  - Allocating tasks based on availability and location.
  - Preventing task overlaps or repeat allocations.

• Can automation reduce idle time for field workers in OOH operations?

  Yes, automation can help reduce idle time for OOH field teams as it records every activity of employees. You can track their scheduled and unscheduled breaks and monitor live locations.
  Managers can also generate unreachable reports to know why, when and where employees could not be monitored. This helps make field workers more accountable and reduce idle time.

• How does automation improve communication between field employees and managers?

  Automation in field force automation software like TrackoField helps OOH employees receive instant updates on job assignments, shift changes, or ad-hoc tasks. This reduces dependency on calls, text, and emails, leading to better team coordination and efficiency.
  Plus, both managers and employees can attach images, voice notes or documents while assigning or allocating tasks. It can prevent any miscommunication.