Mobile

For most field service organizations, including HVAC, medical device, utilities and general service providers, mobile technology is critical for frontline employees to efficiently do their jobs. Workers are constantly on the go at customer sites, so they need mobile tools to access job details, scan barcodes, gather customer signatures, log time, and other essential tasks.

However, many of service leaders find themselves highly frustrated with their current mobile processes and apps. There are several key reasons behind this growing frustration:

1. Outdated Tech & Legacy Apps – Many service businesses are relying on legacy mobile apps or processes that are several years or even decades old. The technology is archaic compared to the sleek experiences customers and employees are accustomed to with modern mobile apps. 
2. Manual Data Entry – A chronic issue plaguing mobile processes is the need for excessive manual data entry by field personnel. They have to re-key information, manually transcribe details, and enter mundane data over and over on small mobile screens with little room for error. 
3. Offline Limitations – Internet connectivity issues are another major headache. Many legacy mobile apps and processes require workers to be continuously online, which is incredibly disruptive when working remotely or in spotty service areas.
4. Disjointed Ecosystems – In far too many cases, service businesses are cobbling together disparate mobile apps and processes in a disjointed ecosystem. One app handles barcode scanning, another for time tracking, one for receiving payments, and so on.
5. Lack of Integration – Even if businesses are using dedicated mobile workforce apps, the solutions often struggle with integrating properly to back-end systems. This disconnect means data has to be constantly synced or re-entered in multiple places, creating redundancies.