Mobile workforce management (MWM) solutions can not only improve your customer satisfaction and customer engagement, they can also serve as a catalyst for digital transformation across your organization. To begin, it is critical to choose a platform that adds business value to your company and all cross-functional teams, particularly value that is sustainable and measurable, like improved customer interactions and optimized travel routes.
Choosing a vendor for your mobile workforce software is just as important as the solution itself. There are a few factors to consider: the vendor’s ability to execute what was promised, how they will enable your internal change management, and how they will support you long-term as your business grows.
Features Your Mobile Workforce Management Solution Should Have
Now that you’re actively searching for a new mobile workforce management software and have identified some options with the right functionality for your business, let’s talk about how to evaluate and choose the right solution and vendor.
Seamless Integration into Your Tech Stack
In our last blog on how to evaluate a mobile workforce management solution, we discussed the pillars of capability and functionality that will help address the pain points across your business. Your solution should be able to share data with the systems that are used by both your mobile and non-mobile workers.
To avoid additional strain on your organization, choose a solution with a platform that will integrate seamlessly into your existing tech stack and meet the appropriate compliance or data security requirements for your industry. For example, Skedulo is helping healthcare organizations meet compliance standards of the MyHealthEData initiative passed by the U.S. government in 2018.
Successful Solution Implementation
Consider a vendor that will fully support your organization throughout the implementation process. The most successful software implementations are a true partnership with clear ownership on both the vendor and client sides, well-articulated goals and timelines, and a shared understanding of what the process will look like. There will be some change in your current business processes and the creation of new connections between systems, but the right vendor will engage with multiple groups and teams within your business to ensure the product is properly adopted and used.
Expertise in Change Management
Perhaps one of the most unforeseen, yet significant, challenges that come with implementing a new solution is what it takes to effect change within an organization. You will want to find a vendor that has deep expertise in change management, especially with something like a mobile workforce solution that impacts so many people within your business. Choose a vendor who has developed best practices for similar experiences in a variety of industries and types of mobile workers—including practices in technical implementation, project management, training, adoption and ongoing support.
The Right Level of Technical Support
A vendor that comes with expertise in the implementation of new software solutions will also be able to provide the optimal amount of technical support your organization needs. Consider the long-term implications of vendor support and how able you are to support the solution internally. Do you have sufficient in-house technical expertise to troubleshoot issues and leverage product documentation when something isn’t working as expected? Or do you prefer to call the vendor and speak with a technical support representative to resolve the issue?
Weighing Cost and Return on Investment
Implementing a mobile workforce management solution will require an upfront investment from both a financial and operational perspective. As you evaluate and decide on a solution and vendor, you should consider how you will measure the total cost of ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI). To calculate TCO for most SaaS solutions, consider one-time expenditures and recurring costs. One-time expenditures will include implementation costs and any customized software capabilities your business may need; recurring costs will include user licenses and ongoing technical support packages.
To calculate ROI for your business, it will be important to work cross-functionally to establish baseline metrics to quantify the impact of your workforce management software . Your chosen vendor should also be able to give you an estimate of when you can expect returns based on the experiences of other customers. Consider these metrics related to operational efficiency:
Operational Efficiency Metrics:
- Increase in employee utilization
- Decrease in rescheduled or missed appointments
- Decrease in overhead expenses
- Improved payroll accuracy
- Decrease in invoice turnaround time
Most importantly, consider how your mobile workforce management solution will impact the most important aspect of your business: customers and employees. Customer satisfaction is a key driver of your business’ success, and there’s ample evidence that employee happiness is also deeply connected. Here are some people-centric metrics to evaluate and measure:
Customer & Employee Satisfaction Metrics:
- Customer satisfaction and Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- Customer complaint frequency and number of tickets filed
- Customer no-shows and last-minute cancellations
- Employee churn and retention
- Employee satisfaction
Maximize Your Business Value with Mobile Workforce Management
A robust mobile workforce management solution will enhance your business operations and allow you to deliver better customer service, but the best solution will come with a vendor who will be an invaluable partner in maximizing the functionality of the software. It’s also important to consider your organization’s internal goals and ask critical questions to ensure that the solution will scale as you grow. To get started, consider asking and answering these questions about your internal goals: What initial improvements does my company need from this new platform? What does success look like for us? How will we tell if our workers and customers are benefiting from the platform?
In more mature organizations or organizations in highly regulated industries such as healthcare, consider identifying an executive partner to champion the change across the business. Solace Pediatric Home Healthcare and Easterseals Bay Area are two home healthcare companies who successfully implemented a workforce management solution for mobile employees with the support of senior executives within their companies.
