It wasn’t that long ago when an employee had to call on customers remotely, they did so with a clipboard and pen. To enable these employees to do anything in an automated fashion was expensive because it required specialized, custom built hardware and software. This cost created quite a barrier to entry for small and medium sized businesses. Not so today.
With any smart phone or mobile device equipped with internet access you can provide your field employees with a wide variety of tools for use on-site. You can cobble together a collection of free applications and some business processes to allow these employees to remotely access and complete work orders, create sales orders and provide estimates. The results can be uploaded either directly to your office (if you have the appropriate connectivity) or to a place you designate (like Google Docs, DropBox, or Box.net).
Following is an example of what you can do for the price of an everyday device and a data plan:
Joe repairs appliances. Each day he goes online and downloads a list of the service calls he has for the day. Each includes a description of the problem and a customer address. When he gets to a home with, let’s say, a bum dishwasher, he accesses online the service manuals for each make and model to determine the problem. If he happens to have the parts in his truck, he fixes the dishwasher and then creates an order from the form he generates online. If he doesn’t have the parts he can send a requisition into the office and schedule a follow up. From here he lists his time and the cost associated with the parts (which he again found online). He then emails the invoice to his customer and uploads another copy to the office at the same time.
I realize this is an oversimplified example and it doesn’t meet every situation. For example, what if he doesn’t have internet connectivity at this customer address? This is a real situation that has to be managed. My point is that technology is advanced enough that this example is very real as long as the obvious situations are thought through and the appropriate procedures are put in place. For example, Joe could download the manuals he will need and put likely parts on his truck before he leaves.
There are a million variations on this and what I want you to think about it is “What part of our process can we enable with smartphones and other mobile devices?” The answer may not be everything but it may be enough to shorten your sales call-to-cash cycle, increase the number of calls an employee can make in a day and reduce the number of times he must go out to handle a given service call. Any or all of these can have a positive affect on the bottom line.
As you begin to the see the benefits you may then want to start looking at specialized paid applications, specialized devices or even custom software. The bottom line is that there is a great deal you can do before you get to that point.
What mobile applications can you apply in YOUR business?
Patti Bunker is the president and founder of Clearly Simple Solutions, a technology advisory firm located in Atlanta, GA. She is an executive with over 25 years of technology experience in corporate America, as a consultant and in commercial software development. She understands both business and technology. Her broad background and varied experience enables her to see easily see the big picture and apply technology creatively to support business goals. Because it is about the business, not the technology. Now she applies that experience to help smaller businesses to benefit from technology. The result is Clearly Simple Solutions.
