7 Reasons Why Businesses Need Field Force Management Software

Discover why businesses need field force management software and how it helps improve productivity so that teams can focus on revenue-generating tasks.

Managing field operations is no easy job! It involves tracking employee productivity, movement, attendance, and more. Some organisations tackle these operations manually despite the prevalence of field force management software (FFM).

However, the growing size of remote workforces globally and the unpredictability of field jobs make it impractical to use manual staff tracking methods. Do you really want to spend hours scrutinising spreadsheets or frequently texting to manage your employees?

No, right? 

You need seamless collaboration between field teams and smooth workflow. This can be achieved with FFM software. Dive in to learn how.

Field Force Management (FFM) – A Brief Overview

Many industries like sales, retail, and logistics recruit employees who work predominantly in the field. They travel to client sites to sell or pitch orders, provide a service, or solve problems.

Now as a business manager, you need to maintain accountability. And that requires an accurate record of off-site agents’ activity, task and locational data. All while ensuring that the remote staff is working as per assigned job schedules, SOPs and performance standards set in place. Handling these issues is the duty of field force management software.

It’s a cloud-based platform that collects and analyses employee data. The software is essential to manage field agents’ day-to-day activities. It gives you end-to-end visibility into employees’ field activities, tasks, check-ins and attendance.

Some Common Field Force Management Challenges 

FFM is quite like people management with a twist. Unlike in-office employees, coordinating with field executives can be tough. Managers face a slew of challenges, like these:

a) Poor Visibility of Field Activities

For field managers, tackling urgent service requests or sales is paramount. Lacking an automated task management solution makes it challenging to assign and track tasks to employees. Managers may assign tasks with a poor understanding of field agents’ availability, skill and timelines. This results in overlapping or repetitive tasks.

b) Attendance isn’t Location Verified

Field executives shouldn’t be wasting time travelling to and from the office every day. But how to record mobile employees’ attendance if they are always on the go? That’s a big challenge. Plus, you need to ensure that attendance is marked from the assigned task site only. That too without any signs of fraud or buddy punching.

c) Tracking Employees’ Whereabouts is Challenging

It is hard to know when an employee is on the task site and when they are loitering around. There is no clear idea of field teams’ actual working hours vs on-duty working hours. Moreover, upon getting questioned about the reason for delayed/untouched tasks, agents can make excuses their battery died or the network was turned off. This makes the entire team’s productivity fall.

d) Managing Customer Relations

Regardless of the industry, field agents or reps, are the face of your business. Especially, since they interact with the clients. If you don’t manage your mobile executives’ job schedules well, it may result in poor services or delayed appointments. This can hamper your growth potential.

e) Difficult Coordination

Field teams often work from diverse locations while collaborating with in-house teams at the head office. Most businesses rely on multiple platforms to manage communication which disrupts teams’ productivity.

7 Ways How Field Force Management Software Overcomes Operational Challenges

When modern technology is applied to management, most operations become breezy. Cloud-based FFM solutions declutter managers’ minds and desks with the following features:

1. Live Field Operations Tracking

Field force management software uses GPS technology to track employees’ locations in real time. This way, managers can tell if executives are on site, travelling, or idle. They can also view the task status (completed, pending, rescheduled) on the app dashboard. Software like TrackoField even display the accurate battery and network status. Plus, it allows managers to track staff even when they’re offline.

2. Geo-verified Attendance

Field employee tracking software lets you geofence sites to ensure secure attendance. For instance, you can set up a geofence around a task site so that employees can log in only when they reach the client.

Executives can also upload visual proof in the form of time and location-stamped selfies. This adds another layer of security to the attendance management process and prevents buddy punching.

3. Location-Based Task Management

Both managers and executives can add, edit, and track tasks – all digitally. The software also lets managers assign tasks based on employees’ availability, location, skillset, or proximity to the client site.

Employees can also self-allocate tasks or reschedule tasks if required. Managers can maintain a thorough task schedule, add tasks in advance, or upload them in bulk. They can also attach voice notes, images, or documents to better explain tasks.

4. Custom Fields and Forms

Field force management software enables organisations to go paperless. Executives and managers can create customised forms to get client feedback or any custom database. They can also edit fields on premade forms for personalisation and better customer relations. The best thing is, the software lets you upload or download form templates – that are easy to add/edit.

5. In-built Media Uploads

FFM software like TrackoField allow users to upload media attachments while creating tasks or logging expenses or attendance. The voice notes and document upload feature results in better job understanding. Managers can explain tasks in any language to employees and remove any communication gaps.

The image upload option in the expense management module helps to authenticate the invoices for more secure reimbursements. Attendance is also better verified as staff can upload location and time-stamped snaps.

6. Order Management

Sales is predominantly a field-based job. Companies in the retail, publishing, or pharma sectors employ salesmen to pitch or market their products. These agents need to create and manage customer orders. Hence, most field force management software expands as Sales order management software. It makes it convenient for your team to:

• Access and review the product catalogue.
• Place sales orders.
• Add custom/discounts to win prospects.
• Get orders verified quickly for processing.

7. 50+ Insightful Analytical Reports

How do you track employee productivity? Through, reports obviously. Field force management software is always collecting and analysing employee data across field activities. It generates reports around tasks, visits, sales, productivity levels, and so much more. Here are the 4 most important reports in an FFM solution.

• Target vs achievement reports
• Task completion rate
• Actual vs assigned work hours
• Distance travelled reports

These reports help to review employees’ performance and identify gaps timely.

Wrapping Up!

Managing remote employees is a challenging process. Field jobs are quite unpredictable and involve a lot of variables to consider. Managers have to collaborate with teams, assign tasks, maintain productivity, ensure accurate attendance, and more. And all this has to happen remotely. This makes field force management software absolutely essential for all remote-work oriented industries.

Whether you’re in sales, after-sales, or HVAC, if you manage a field workforce, you need an automated solution like TrackoField. The software works for a plethora of industries and helps streamline field operations. It lets you easily optimise tasks, track orders, record attendance and improve staff productivity.

So stop stressing about your FFM challenges today! Login to TrackoField for a Free Trial.

FAQs

• What are the benefits of field force management software?

  Workforce management software offers a slew of benefits for your field business. It can help increase employee productivity, improve customer relations, and boost revenue. The software also offers:
  - Location tracking of field tasks, agents and activities
  - Location-based task allocation
  - Sales order management
  - Geo-verified Attendance and expense reporting

• How does field force management software improve employee productivity?

  Field employee management software is a great tool to improve workforce productivity. It does so by:
  - Optimising field task management
  - Calculating the shortest and safest travel routes
  - Reducing redundant administrative tasks
  - Fast order, expense and leave approvals

• Which businesses need field force management software?

  Any organisation with a sizeable mobile workforce needs an automated employee management solution. This usually involves companies that provide a service or rely on sales. Here are a few industries that use the software:
  - Sales and after-sales
  - Maintenance and repair
  - Logistics and retail
  - Healthcare and pharma
  - HVAC, Agriculture, Pest control
  - Facility maintenance