What are the Practical Benefits of GPS Tracking in Field Force Management Software?

GPS tracking in field force management software can transform your field business. Read on to know its practical benefits.

Managing field employees is no small feat! It’s quite difficult to manage staff remotely and maintain a smooth workflow. However, in the post-Covid landscape, remote work is on the rise, and some jobs like sales and MRO have always been carried out by field executives.

But how to effectively manage field employees? That’s the question that worries most managers. But worry not! The solution is simple. You need field force management software with GPS tracking. It can help you streamline employees’ tasks, sales, and attendance and gain real-time insight into your field team’s activities.

Dive in to know in detail the practical benefits of GPS tracking software.

3 Biggest Challenges Without GPS Tracking System in Workforce Management Software

Be it small or large field teams, a GPS tracking system is necessary to manage them. It’s just not worth the time and effort to keep calling or texting your field employees to get every update. You should be able to view your staff’s location and activity status at all times.

This, among others, is one of the biggest challenges businesses face without using field force management software. Here are the top 3 challenges managers face without GPS tracking software.

1. Time and Location Tracking

Location and time tracking is highly important for managers of a remote or field team. Why? How else will they know where their executives are? And if they do not know where they are, how do they track their tasks, productivity, and attendance?

One way to do this is by asking every employee manually where they are and what they’re doing. However, that is not a practical solution and is prone to miscommunication. Managers require accurate location and activity data to know how far an employee is from a task site and if he’s available to take up the task.

Knowing the whereabouts of field employees is also necessary to assist them in real-time or send aid in case of emergencies. After all, working in the field is not an easy job. Managers have to prioritise employee safety.

2. Fraudulent Attendance

Time theft, idling, and proxy attendance are quite common in field teams. This often happens due to a lack of accountability and location tracking. Without GPS tracking, it can be easy to fool an attendance management software. H1- Ensure Real-time Visibility of Field Employees With TrackoField.

Employees may mark in from their homes, exaggerate their overtime work or misreport actual working hours. It’s next to impossible to differentiate between your employees’ real and fraudulent attendance without a location tracking system in place.

3. Poor task scheduling

The lack of employee visibility without GPS tracking can result in scheduling conflicts, dual scheduling or inefficient task scheduling. This happens because managers aren’t away where their employees are.

Managers end up assigning clients to far away employees who have to spend more time and personal expenses to reach there. This, in turn, drives up operational costs and reduces employees’ productivity. Poor scheduling results in employees performing two tasks a day when they could be doing four or five.

It can hamper the productivity of the company in the long term. Lack of employee visibility also causes issues while allocating ad-hoc tasks or finding replacements for unavailable employees on the go.

 

How Field Force Management Software Overcomes Location Tracking Challenges

Here are the features of GPS tracking software that help overcome the challenges of field team management.

1. Smart Attendance Management

Field force management software like TrackoField can make attendance management a cakewalk. Thanks to accurate location tracking, the software records the exact timestamps and geocoordinates when an employee logs in his attendance.

Moreover, you can link attendance to tasks so that employees can only mark their attendance and start working once they are present at the task site. As an additional security measure, managers can demand employees to upload their selfies while logging attendance.

2. Real-time Visibility of Field Operations

Field force management software provides real-time data on employees’ activity. It lets you monitor how many orders your staff placed during their day, the number of clients they visit and the distance they travel. Software like TrackoField can even let you:

• Track field executives even when they’re offline or out of service area.
• View your staff’s battery and network status.
• Check your employees’ availability status – active, inactive, travelling, etc

Managers can also monitor the status of tasks in real-time, playback the routes employees take during the day and generate various insightful reports to check staff performance. In case of any updates, you can use the software to send instant alerts and reminders to your teams.

3. Detailed and Organized Reports

Locational information through GPS tracking systems is necessary for the field force management software to get maximum information. It is through this information that software can create detailed reports on how each executive is performing and how long it takes them to conduct tasks.

These organised and detailed reports on the software also give you an idea of the executives who can work best in a specific location, etc.

Managers can also perform historical data analysis to spot hidden patterns and identify any skill gaps. GPS tracking software also lets you create:

• Distance travelled reports to know the daily distance covered by field staff.
• Target vs achievement reports to generate employee performance reviews.
• Stoppage reports reveal how long an employee halted at every site.
• Actual working vs on-duty hours to review productivity.

Practical Benefits of GPS Tracking in FFM Software

So far, you have learned about the various challenges field managers face in tracking their employees. GPS tracking software can overcome these challenges as we have covered thoroughly in the previous section. Now, it’s time to learn the practical benefits of employee GPS tracking software.

1. More Transparent Field Operations

Naturally, the more data software will have, the better understanding it will impart to managers about the team’s functioning. When managers can clearly see executives’ whereabouts throughout the day along with their geocoordinates and live activity status, they can better manage field operations. Managers can also track the status of tasks in real time, view the total orders placed during the day and generate various insightful reports to track employee performance.

2. Higher employee productivity

Thanks to optimised task scheduling, FFM software allows employees to reduce their travel time and conveyance expenses. As a result, employees can fulfil more tasks in a day and visit more customers. They also better utilise company resources and reduce unnecessary field expenses.

Also, employees tend to be more accountable when they know they’re being monitored. Managers can further improve employees’ morale by rewarding their efforts. Keeping your workforce in high spirits is a great way to deter any idling or time theft issues.

Managers can also use data analysis to check what the top performers are doing and motivate other staff to do the same. Thus, collectively improving workforce productivity.

3. Higher Customer Satisfaction

Field executives are the major touchpoints customers have with the company. They represent the business while they are on the field. Therefore, whether or not field executives are performing well makes a significant impact on the ROI.

GPS tracking software ensures employees reach the task site on time and are always up to date on any changes in the task. They can communicate with managers in real time if they require assistance. This reduces any miscommunication.

The software also has an integrated map that employees can access to check nearby fuel stations, restaurants, ATMs and service points. This ensures employees are always equipped and in good spirits while engaging with customers.

Wrapping Up!

Most field force management software come with GPS tracking capability too. However, not every software is equally beneficial for your business. You need to identify your biggest requirements and then make an informed decision to choose FFM software. You may not need an advanced location tracking system if you manage a small business. But you will need task and order management modules if you oversee a sales team.

You’re probably thinking about how to get a software solution with all these benefits. Well, worry not. All you need is one-stop workforce management software like TrackoField. It offers foolproof location and time tracking and can easily manage sales orders. So stop delaying and get in touch with TrackoField staff to explore more.

FAQs

• How does GPS tracking work in field force management software?

  FFM software uses GPS to track field employees' precise location. Managers use the locational data for -
  - Geo-verified task allocation
  - Geo-coded attendance marking
  - Real-time tracking of employee activities
  - Tracking staff offline and generating unreachable reports
  - Playing back employee's travel routes

• How does GPS tracking in field force management software improve sales?

  Sales employees' location tracking through FFM software can be helpful in many ways. It makes them more vigilant and responsible towards their job. Plus, field managers can use the sales staff's location to assign tasks based on their proximity to clients. All in all, GPS tracking improves field sales by:
  - Eliminating delays in reaching client sites
  - Ensuring quick turnaround
  - Easily accommodating ad-hoc orders or tasks
  - Reducing missed appointments
  - Preventing time theft & maintaining staff productivity