From dial tone to location tone: GPS-enabled handsets prompt new and diverse mobile workforce management applications
Mobile Workforce Management in the Enterprise Small and midsized business owners are under increasing pressure to cut costs and improve customer service, but this is easier said than done. Phone-based workforce management applications offer a convenient solution to this dilemma by answering the question, Where are my employees and what are they doing? When employees are in the office, managing their work is relatively easy. But the situation changes dramatically when employees spend the majority of their days outside the office, as is the case with field-service organizations. Suddenly, it becomes very difficult for a manager to account for the location and activities of his employees. Mobile workforce management technology mitigates this challenge by providing employers real-time access to field-staff data, including when a mobile worker began his shift, took a break, arrived at or departed from a customer site, or returned to the office at the end of the day. Mobile workers leveraging phone-based applications use the systems to record time sheet and job update information directly from the field. This information is transferred via wireless connection to a data center, where it can be accessed over the Internet by a company’s office staff. Managers, dispatchers and other authorized company representatives can view web-based maps and business reports that show the status of mobile workers as they go about their business. Traditional methods of gathering this information simply are not viable. The practice of “shadowing” employees is a distraction for managers, while pagers and radio systems are disjointed and offer only limited visibility. “Black boxes” attached to vehicles are expensive and don’t get to the heart of the matter: employee location and activities.  Typical ruggedized handset from Sprint with an attachable bar code scanner Manual reporting methods are even worse. Employees recording time sheet and job status data by hand are prone to forgetting important details, such as how much overtime they billed or what work was performed at a job site. And while most employers claim to trust their employees, some employees simply are not so trustworthy. The result can be inaccurate payroll data, poor job costing, diminished customer service and a general cost-burden to employers. The business benefits of phone-based workforce management applications are too good for most companies to pass up. Utilizing phone-based systems, businesses are able to minimize overtime expenses, improve dispatch efficiency, respond more quickly to customer inquiries, and provide improved safety measures for staff and asset security. In most cases, businesses see a savings of at least $1,500 per mobile worker per year through the use of phone-based management systems. Business benefits aside, mobile workforce management applications are very ease to use. Mobile workers access applications directly from their cell phones. With a familiar interface and natural point-and-click utility, workers can record a variety of important business details quickly and with little to no training. Back in the office, accessing the workforce management system is as easy as checking email or surfing the Web; user name and password are the only requirements. Finally, the cost of the hardware and software to support these applications is relatively low. Most mobile workers are carrying cell phones already, and the workforce management software can cost as little as $12 per month per mobile worker. In terms of the infrastructure necessary to support the application, it is typically hosted by the software vendor. Mobile Workforce Management Applications New mobile workforce management applications are being developed every day, but tools for collecting time sheet and job status information on a handset remain the most popular. Field staff can use the phones to clock in and out at the beginning and end of shifts and breaks. Managers can easily track overtime expenses and integrate location and time sheet data with payroll systems. Time sheet and job status data that is “location aware” makes the information more relevant. Managers can monitor employees in five to 15 minute intervals, uncovering data such as a worker’s latitude and longitude, current address, traveling speed and direction, stop duration and miles traveled. Managers are further empowered by the ability to view business reports that show activities for one user or many, including breadcrumb trails that detail where they’ve been. Web-based maps can be configured with landmarks, and new geo-fencing technology alerts managers when employees enter or leave a specified area. Time management applications on the handset act as a mobile time clock, enabling workers to start or finish their days without making an extra trip to the office. Time sheet data from the phones can be pumped directly into back end payroll and job costing applications, eliminating tedious manual reporting and office data entry.  Bluetooth bar code scanner with a Bluetooth Blackberry and a Bluetooth RFID pen Mobile workforce management applications equipped with job-tracking capabilities allow dispatchers to create and send new assignments to mobile workers on their phones. Dispatchers use the web-based maps tied into the workforce management system to find the worker who is nearest the next assignment, then send a text message including turn-by-turn driving directions to the worker’s mobile phone. From the field, workers use customizable drop down menus on the phone to record the status of each job, such as “dropped off container” or “picked up shipment.” The increased processing power of GPS-enabled phones is now being leveraged for still more advanced mobile workforce applications. Short range technologies such as Bluetooth and RFID are providing new avenues to develop applications that blur the lines between field force management, fleet tracking and telematics. The latest advances in phone-based mobile workforce management include:
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