What is Workforce Management Software?

With powerful features like task, attendance, and document management, workforce management software helps businesses save resources and build effective workflows.

Managing a team of remote workers is not simple, especially in today’s environment when remote work has become a common practice.

The increase in remote work is evident in how the workforce management software market is set to register a CAGR of 6.38% between 2021 and 2026.

So, does your organisation need field and remote employees? Are you wondering what workforce tracking software is and how it will help your operations? Wonder no more! We’ll address all your curiosity in this blog!

What’s Workforce Management? The Basics!

Your workforce basically includes anyone who works in your organisation that contributes to any operations. The entire workforce can be broken down into three segments:

• Employees who work in the office
• Field employees
• Remote employees who work from home

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of workforce management, you must know the differences in managing the office, field, and remote employees.

Office workforce management can be simple since tasks can be easily supervised, attendance can be managed through biometrics entries and exits, and communication is breezy in person.

However, managing field or remote employees gets tough because of the physical distance between teammates and their managers. This distance makes communication difficult, needs an automated system for attendance accuracy, and complicates the task assignment process. It is to mitigate these complications organisations need workforce management software.

What is Field Workforce Management Software?

The primary purpose of field workforce planning software is to manage scheduling for all executives in the workforce. It could include task schedules for remote employees or setting up geo-coded attendance verification for field employees.

Workforce management software or field force management software is essentially a bundle of tools specially designed for field and remote employees. These features allow managers to be completely aware of employees’ whereabouts, tasks, and productivity, all in a nifty platform.

With the help of workforce tracking software, you can effectively manage everything complicated related to remote and field employee management.

Workforce tracking software solves purposes such as:

• Locational supervision for field employees
• Fool-proof attendance systems for the entire workforce
• Task management for both remote and field employees
• Digital documentation for both field and remote employees
• Single-platform communication for both field and remote employees

How Does TrackoField’s Workforce Management Software Work?

From an unorganised workforce to a powerhouse of strategic and effective operations – this journey is only workforce monitoring software away.

Here’s how remote workforce management software makes managing a field team much easier for you:

• Data Collection: The employee monitoring software collects relevant data from your field executives’ mobile devices. It will collect location data on the fly with occasional battery level data, visuals, and other things whenever prompted by the executive (for attendance verification, for example) to create a comprehensive view of the workforce.
• Data Transmission: As soon as an executive gives the TrackoField app permission to track their location, all relevant data is shared with the software through a mobile network.
• Automated Data Processing: The software processes all the binary data it has collected. Through analysis and processing, the software arranges raw data in a manner that managers can understand. Some examples could be calculating work hours, ETA, etc.
• Data Display: After processing, the software smartly displays all the required information. It arranges data in various sections such as the dashboard.
• Analysis and Reporting: The job doesn’t end here, a field workforce management solution software will also analyse the data and build various reports based on it. From attendance records to executive productivity, there’s a lot to be discerned.
• Notification and Alerts: According to the manager’s preferences, the software recognises when a data point goes beyond limits, and triggers notification or alerts.
• App Segregation: The best workforce monitoring software comes with two apps – a manager portal where managers can assign tasks, and an executive app where executives view and mark their tasks. Both have access to different features, heavily personalising their field workforce management experience.

Top Features of Workforce Tracking Software – You Get With TrackoField

In the previous section, we touched upon how remote workforce management software works. Now, let us see what features make all of that possible!

• Real-time Tracking: Real-time tracking mostly helps managers supervise field employees. Since field employees might have several places to go throughout their work hours, it becomes necessary for managers to know where they are at particular hours for supervision, productivity management, and even better customer relations.
• Geo-verified Attendance: Tracking field employee attendance management can get tricky because basic GPS tracking systems can be fooled easily. However, with geo-verified attendance management, field executives have to be right where they’re supposed to be in order to be able to mark attendance on the software.
• Visual Presence Management: In some operational roles, managers might need to visually check employees’ presence. Therefore, through workforce tracking solutions, employees can add visual proof of their real-time presence in their workplaces.

• Task Management: Task management becomes a task when managers cannot supervise or explain tasks in person. With workforce scheduling software, managers know where field employees are so that they can assign tasks accordingly, and can assign tasks according to their to-do lists to remote workers.
• Digital Documentation: Nobody likes physical paperwork anymore since it is inconvenient to handle and confusing to organise. With employee management software, all documents are conveniently organised and lined over in the software for anyone with access to access easily.
• Single-platform Communication: We are surrounded by technology and hence, apps and software. Making communication possible on the same platform where all other professional tasks are done makes things much simpler for both executives and managers.
• Insightful Reports: Workforce management tracking software necessarily offers insightful reports to managers. They provide an eagle-eye’s view of employee productivity and remote/field operations efficiency for better strategizing and progress.

What Are The Benefits of Enterprise Workforce Management Software?

For sure, field workforce monitoring solutions come with innumerable features, but how will you benefit from them? Let’s find out in this section:

• Efficient Resource Allocation: By effectively managing work schedules and tasks, workforce monitoring software makes sure that the right employees with the right skills are assigned to the appropriate jobs. This optimised resource allocation leads to improved operational efficiency.
• Enhanced Productivity: Real-time executive tracking, task management, attendance management, and other field workforce monitoring solutions allow managers to monitor field and employee activities, track progress, and identify bottlenecks. This helps in boosting productivity by singling out areas of improvement and ensuring timely completion of tasks.
• Improved Attendance Management: Workforce management software provides foolproof attendance systems, such as geo-verified attendance, which removes the possibility of time theft or inaccurate records. This ensures accurate and reliable attendance tracking for both field and remote employees.
• Streamlined Communication: Other than real-time employee tracking, workforce tracking solutions also offer single-platform communication tools. Therefore, the software enables seamless communication and collaboration between managers and employees, regardless of their location. This reduces delays and enhances overall teamwork.
• Data-driven Decision-making: With so much data collected and comprehensive field operational visibility, it becomes much simpler for managers to make data-driven decisions and build stronger strategies.
• Centralised Data and Documentation: Mobile workforce management software eliminates the need for physical paperwork by digitally organising and storing all employee-related documents in one place. This centralization simplifies document retrieval, improves data accuracy, and enhances compliance with regulations.
• Cost Savings: Automating workforce management processes reduces administrative overhead and eliminates chances of manual errors. This leads to significant cost savings by boosting efficiency and reducing the need for additional resources.
• Scalability and Flexibility: Workforce optimization software is designed to accommodate the changing needs of growing organisations. It can easily scale to handle an increasing number of employees, locations, and complex scheduling requirements, ensuring long-term flexibility and adaptability.

Why Should You Use Workforce Management Software?

If you want to make your business resilient for the upcoming future, you should invest in automation. After all, according to research, in 2016, about 52% of a company’s operations were automation-worthy. However, by the year 2050, over 65% of business operations will shift towards automation.

Here is some reason why you necessarily need field workforce management software for your field and remote employees:

• Competition Advantage: When everyone in your competition is using automated tools, not using them risks your business falling short. While your functions might be top-notch, what is the point if someone else is able to do it ten times quicker?

• Saving Time and Effort: Automation through employee tracking software allows you to save time and energy within the organisation. After all, a lot of manual tasks that can be rather done with the software are taken care of through software. Hence, managers and executives shave more time to strategize and conduct tasks.

• Low Chances of Errors: While to err is human, correcting those errors can be very expensive and cumbersome. However, with the right field workforce tracking software, you can minimise errors in your operations through automation and perfect algorithms.
• Gets Deserved Credit: Getting credit for hard work is a basic need every employee has. Field workforce management software helps people get that credit since it allows managers to track each executive’s productivity on the field. And everyone’s productivity and efficiency are transparent not only to managers but to everyone in the team/organisation.
• Builds Accountability: Both field and remote employees are aware of the fact that their work is being seen. Therefore, there is a higher chance for them to feel more accountable and responsible for their actions and productivity.

Choosing the Right Workforce Management Software for Your Team

Automation and remote work are soon to be ruling the business operations scene. Moreover, field operations are here to stay and increase as well. Therefore, investing in workforce management software is the right choice to make your business thrive and future-proof.

If you’re looking for workforce monitoring software that will make managing remote and field executives hassle-free, you should try TrackoField. Our field force management software is built specially to manage out-of-office employees in the most personalised and customised way for each business.

Recommended Reads:

• How Does HVAC Service Management Software Set You Up for More Contracts?
• How Geofencing Aids in Better Field Force Management?
• 6 Signs You Have Outgrown Your Field Service Management Software

FAQs For Workforce Management Software

• Why choose TrackoField’s workforce management software?

  TrackoField's workforce management solution stands out for its comprehensive features tailored specifically for field and remote employees. With advanced real-time tracking, fool-proof attendance verification, visual presence management, task assignment based on employee location, and streamlined communication, TrackoField offers a powerful and user-friendly solution for effective workforce management.

• What types of businesses can benefit from using a workforce management tool?

  Workforce management tools benefit businesses across various industries. Organisations with remote or field employees, distributed teams, or complex scheduling needs can leverage these tools for profitability. Industries such as field sales, healthcare, after-sales servicing, and retail can particularly leverage workforce management software to improve operational efficiency, optimise resource allocation, and enhance communication and collaboration among their workforce.

• What are the challenges of workforce management solutions?

  Implementing workforce management solutions comes with its own set of challenges. Here are some common obstacles that organisations may face:
  Resistance to Change: Introducing new software and processes are met with resistance from employees who are accustomed to existing methods. Proper training is crucial to overcome this challenge.
  Data Security and Privacy: Workforce tracking solutions deals with sensitive employee data. Businesses must prioritise data security, implement security measures, and comply with relevant privacy regulations for protection.

• What features should your field workforce management software offer?

  The workforce management software should offer you space to track employees' availability, and location and assign remote tasks in bulk. Moreover, it should offer modules to schedule field jobs, track task performance, reminders for added or scheduled tasks. On top of that, it should possess the capability to manage geo-verified attendance, and leaves, and automate payroll calculation along with on-field expenses.
  All in all, it should offer every tool in the suite that can simplify the task of managing a scattered field force.