The benefits of digitizing field worker mobility

Companies that deploy staff in the field often face the hard task of coordinating their movements and building efficient ways to record field activity, in order to guarantee the work gets done and to obtain information that gives a clear view of how our operations perform. 

Thanks to mobile connectivity and the benefits of digitization, coordinating a field operation can be simple. Equipped, on their phones or tablets, with software like the kind we design at GoDoWorks, field staff can stay connected and receive work orders, get guidance to find routes and addresses more easily (known as optimal routing), and record their field work without major administrative complications or the need for extra recording steps. 

The data entry and systematization through digital forms that these management tools enable make operations more transparent and traceable. Then, by processing that data, the tool adds value to the downstream processes, as we will see.

How do digital forms help field operations?

Digital forms simplify operational processes so that, within a mobile workforce, no administrative inefficiency arises, no extra supervision cost is needed, and no complicated paper records (often filled in neither rigorously nor legibly) are required. They make it possible to guarantee invoicing, inform clients who need to audit commercial agreements, and obtain data to measure operational performance. 

Field staff benefit from the backing their work gains through software that evidences what they did, and they save travel time through optimal routing that shortens distances, and through digitization that does away with paper and with having to return the day's physical records to the operations center. 

For companies, supervision improves, bringing efficiency to the people dedicated to it, and administrative field tracking becomes simpler. Digitized field operations also make it possible to inform clients about the status or completion of tasks and to include records — photos of the work carried out, for instance — that often add value to the process. 

Beyond that, the information gained from digitizing mobility yields precise statistics and reports which, generated in real time, are key to understanding the performance and efficiency achieved. You always get an accurate view of operational performance, so business decisions improve and responses come at the right moment. 

Our experience designing tailored software for field operations management lets us attest to how different companies, with different specific needs, have achieved productivity improvements of up to 30% through digitization. 

Digitizing field staff mobility is more than tracking where they are. It is capturing the information that comes out of field work simply, centrally and automatically, through a platform that unifies processes, in order to create value and efficiency for the field worker and for everyone involved in the operation.