How Offline Tracking Solutions Help Monitor OOH Field Teams in Remote Areas

Wondering how to monitor your out-of-home (OOH) field teams without internet? Offline tracking solutions are the answer.

Most businesses rely on field executives to carry out out-of-home advertising jobs like installing hoardings or putting up digital wall paintings. These executives often operate in rural areas with poor internet connectivity. This makes it challenging to remotely supervise out-of-home OOH field teams.

But worry not! Field force management software like TrackoField can come to your rescue. It lets managers monitor employee activity and maintain an undisrupted workflow even when employees are offline.

Read on to learn how offline tracking solutions work. But first, let’s learn why you need them.

Why Do You Need Offline Tracking Solutions for Your OOH Field Teams?

What’s the worst nightmare for an advertiser? Incorrect ads, that’s what! Imagine if due to some miscommunication, your employee put up the hoarding incorrectly or at the wrong location? It could be disastrous.

Moreover, it is hard to coordinate with OOH field teams as they often operate in remote or rural regions with unreliable internet. Sure, you can call or text them but that can be time consuming and impractical in managing OOH field teams.

Instead, you should opt for offline tracking solutions so that poor internet never becomes a hurdle towards effective management of your OOH field teams. From tasks and attendance to generating activity reports, software like TrackoField can manage multiple field operations offline as well.

Jump into the following section to learn how offline tracking solutions work and the features they offer.

Field Force Automation Features that Help in Offline Tracking of OOH Field Teams

1. Live Location and Activity Tracking

Most software cannot be fully utilised when offline. But not TrackoField. It allows managers to track employees’ location even when they have no internet or have turned off their phone. On the centralised dashboard of the software, managers can check the number of employees with the following compliance status:

• GPS disabled

• App not updated or installed (for IOS or Android both)

• Battery & network status of employees’ devices

Moreover, every time an employee turns off his GPS, a quick notification is sent to the managers. This feature discourages employees from turning off their GPS unnecessarily.

2. Geo-verified Attendance Reporting

It’s already challenging to monitor OOH field teams’ attendance remotely and it can be near impossible to do so without internet. However, field force automation software like TrackoField can work for employees offline as well.

It allows OOH executives to mark attendance remotely even without internet. The time and location of attendance is synced and displayed to the managers once the executive’s device regains connectivity.

Employees can also upload geotagged and timestamped selfies while marking their attendance. This prevents any buddy punching and keeps the process foolproof.

3. Geofencing Creation and Violation Alerts

Using geofencing and GPS tracking, field force management software can link attendance and tasks. Both operations go hand-in-hand and work offline as well. Here is how attendance-task syncing works.

• Managers establish a geofence around a location, usually the first task site of the day.

• Executives enter the geofence and only then can they mark their attendance unlock the task.

• Once the task is completed, employees can exit the geofence and proceed to the next task site.

• Employees can punch out when their work is done, or they are automatically logged out once the shift ends. This eliminates chances of missed punches.

4. Efficient Task Location & Timeline Management

Task management module is also active offline in field force management software like TrackoField. Here is what employees can do:

• Create and new self-allocate tasks.

• Reschedule existing tasks to any other date.

• Check the task descriptions and attached media files of allocated tasks even when offline.

Field OOH executives can also upload media files as performance proofs in form of:

• Voice notes

• Documents

• Image/media

After finishing up their tasks. The files will show up on manager’s dashboard when the employees’ devices come online and sync up with the cloud.

Similarly, managers can track the status of existing tasks in real-time on their analytical dashboard. They can also view which tasks were created or completed while employees were offline. They can scrutinize those tasks more in such cases.

5. Analytical Reports (On Unreachability, Stoppage, Distance)

Offline tracking solutions like TrackoField offer a variety of reports that can help managers track the offline activities of OOH executives.

For example, unreachable reports can reveal the reason why an employee was offline. It could be due to airplane more turned on, device turned off, GPS disabled or some other custom reason.

The report can also reveal where and for how long the executives remained unreachable. If an employee disables his GPS, the software can display the time and location where GPS was turned off and turned on.

• Stoppage reports can be used to check the number of halts employees take during their work hours. These reports can also reveal why the employees are delayed for task site.

• Distance travelled reports are a unique feature of FFM software. These reports allow managers to check the total distance travelled by employees. It can be used to verify fuel expenses that occurred when executives were offline.

As long as the GPS of agents mobile is enabled, the software tracks the distance data continuously. Managers can even playback the travel history of OOH agents.

What Are the Benefits of Offline Tracking for OOH Field Teams?

There are multiple benefits of offline tracking for OOH advertising teams. Offline tracking solution like TrackoField:

• Ensures visibility, Proof of Performance (POP) in remotest areas.

• Prevents loss of data on field activities due to network failures.

• Reduces reliance on unstable mobile networks.

• Saves employees’ time and the organization’s resources.

• Ensures no gap in workflow or activity and that every minute is accounted for.

Conclusion

There is no point to using field employee tracking software if it doesn’t work offline. Imagine having an advanced software solution to track your OOH ad teams but you still have to resort to calling them for updates. Moreover, in areas with poor network, you won’t even be able to call your employees to get important task updates.

However, offline tracking solutions like TrackoField easily solve this challenge. As we have covered in this blog, offline tracking can help in monitoring your OOH field teams’ locations even when they are out of network area. The software continuously records employees’ activities even without internet and syncs it to the cloud server once connectivity returns.

This allows you to maintain an undisrupted workflow and maintain complete transparency in your business. But that’s barely scratching the surface.

To know more benefits of offline tracking for your OOH field teams, schedule a free demo of TrackoField.

FAQs

• How does offline tracking help OOH field teams?

  Offline tracking solutions help OOH field teams by:
  - Providing complete visibility into field teams’ activities even when offline.
  - Maintaining undisturbed workflow.
  - Preventing loss of data in remote areas.
  - Ensuring efficient task allocation and accurate activity tracking.
  - Boosting employees’ productivity and saves company’s time and resources.

• Do OOH field teams require an internet connection while working?

  No, your OOH field teams don’t necessarily require internet connection while working. They can mark their attendance, upload selfies, create tasks, attach POP media files even when offline.
  This data is temporarily stored on the software and synced with the managers’ dashboard once employees’ internet returns.

• How can businesses choose the right OOH field Team tracking solution?

  The following are the essential features of a good OOH field team tracking solution. Here’s what businesses should consider:
  - Real-time GPS location and activity tracking.
  - Offline attendance and task management.
  -Geo-verified attendance reporting.
  - Insightful reports on OOH field teams’ activity, performance and efficiency.