Over the past few years, field service has continued to change and evolve alongside consumers’ wants and needs. As industries grow, more focus has shifted to excellent customer service, efficient scheduling tools, and easy in-field payment options. Using field service workforce management software platforms and mobile apps is critical to ensuring your business’s growth and relevance moving forward.
What Is Workforce Management Software?
Workforce management (WFM) software helps businesses manage and improve labor schedules. It works on both desktop and mobile devices. Primarily, it streamlines key labor management tasks.
Staff Scheduling: WFM software simplifies and automates scheduling. It uses staffing availability and business hours to make the process easy.
Time Clocks & Data Collection: Employees can use WFM software for time tracking, breaks, and other clock functions. Businesses collect accurate time data.
Leave Management: Employees can request leave and time off through the software. Managers can easily approve or deny requests, improving transparency.
Task & Activity Management: WFM software allows managers to monitor labor and productivity. It helps with job orders, project assignments, dispatching technicians, processing payments, and managing vendors.
What Are The Options For Workforce Management Software?
Companies have two options when considering WFM software for their business: building the software or purchasing a ready-made solution. Determining which software is best for your business depends on your needs and priorities.
Pros Of Building Workforce Management Software In-House
Building an in-house WFM software from scratch is a huge undertaking. It will typically require a great deal of time and financial investment and presents many other considerations. However, there can also be some significant advantages to building an in-house field service management software.
- Customization: For many businesses, one of the primary reasons to invest in in-house field software is the customization options that a built-from-scratch platform can provide.
- Ease Of Integration: The numerous integration options are some of the most popular reasons why businesses build their own workforce management tools.
- Faster Response Time: When a business builds its field workforce management software from scratch, the business will likely have ongoing access to the coding team that created its WFM software.
- Potential For Savings: Some companies and business owners may find that an in-house option offers a greater return on investment (ROI) than a commercial, ready-to-use solution.
- Total Design Control: When your company has full access to its software’s coding and design team, it also has near-total control over the software and its functions.
Cons Of Building & Using In-House Workforce Management Software
While there are benefits to building and using in-house WFM software, there can be serious disadvantages as well. It’s crucial to consider the time and money your company will spend on building and maintaining a built-from-scratch WFM platform.
- Significant Time Commitment Unpredictable Costs
- Near Constant Changes
- Limited Innovations
A Major Time Commitment
Building WFM software in-house is a huge time commitment. In most cases, your company will need to hire coders, graphic designers and other software professionals to design your program. Designing and building software from nothing naturally requires several drawn-out steps.
These steps include brainstorming, setting deadlines, building the platform, beta testing, integrating it with existing programs, and launching it. These steps can take months, if not longer, to complete. Consequently, the necessary time commitment from start to finish can result in increased costs for your company in the interim.
Unpredictable Upfront Costs
Research shows about 2/3 of IT projects run over budget — some by as much as 100%. Additionally, only 1/4 of projects reach release while staying within 25% of the original budget. Spending money on something that doesn’t exist yet is a stressful gamble because there’s no guarantee of the product’s effectiveness.
Near-Constant Changes & Updates
As is true with nearly any software, an in-house WFM program will inevitably require ongoing troubleshooting, maintenance and updates. As such, the financial burden does not end with the upfront costs. Rather, you will need to pay for IT teams that can monitor and maintain the software and its programs.
Limited Innovations & Best Practices
When building WFM software or a customer relationship management (CRM) platform in-house, most businesses will rely on their current practices and workflows to inform the software. As a result, your company could miss out on industry innovations and other software best practices that naturally come along with reputable, third-party software vendors.
Why In-House Workforce Management Software Tends to Fail
There are many reasons why in-house workforce management software often fails. Many companies, business owners, and managers significantly underestimate the time and money that building software requires. In most cases, there is little to no guarantee that the final product will meet company needs or expectations.
Tech Stuff To Keep In Mind
Other considerations to keep in mind include your software’s hosting provider and data storage, as well as cybersecurity. If these concepts seem overwhelming or unfamiliar, it’s likely better to leave in-house WFM software to an expert.
Why Buying A WFM Makes Sense
A professionally built WFM can alleviate and simplify nearly every aspect of choosing the right field service workforce management software solution. Customize a solution that fits your needs in far less time than it would take to build your workforce management.
Dataforma The Perfect Solution For Your Workforce Management Software
Dataforma leads in creating and managing workforce software. Our tools optimize your business with cost-effective solutions for employees, vendors, and clients. Our user-friendly products seamlessly combine your favorite tools into one easy-to-use program. Our cutting-edge products help businesses streamline work. Manage schedules, track leads, run reports, and use a mobile app with ease.
Core CRM
As its name suggests, the Core CRM forms the basis, or core, of nearly all our other product and service offerings. Core CRM allows business owners and managers to track all information pertinent to everyday task management and client relationships. This information includes job scheduling, invoicing, lead and sales tracking, paperless service management, customer relationship management and more.
Field Service Management Software
Along with our Core CRM, our Field Service Management Software has shown proven results in increasing efficiency and, as a result, client satisfaction and timely payments. Some benefits of using this software include daily job and productivity reports, invoice integration and simple, easy documentation. Field technicians benefit immensely from the Dataforma mobile app, which allows them easy access to all necessary information while they are on the job and in the field.
Mobile Time Clock
When using Dataforma’s mobile time clock, employees can feel empowered and secure in the accuracy of their time-tracking and resulting pay. This completely paper-free mobile option is hassle-free for both employees and payroll administrators. Studies show 75% of field workers want to use mobile reporting apps as much as possible. Incorporating a mobile time clock can improve employee satisfaction and increase time reporting accuracy. This benefits everyone from managers to workers on the ground.
Customer Portal
Most clients today don’t want to have to contact service technicians by phone. However, they want the most reliable information when it comes to the services they need and the technicians they use. Dataforma’s Customer Portal gives clients a secure way to communicate with administrators and field technicians alike and receive regular work updates and accurate, paperless invoicing options.
Request a Demo From Dataforma Today
All our products work seamlessly together and can be customized to fit your company’s needs. Rely on Dataforma’s advanced tools and expertise, so your team can focus on what they do best.
Additionally, we offer advanced training for businesses that use our software. We incorporate a multi-discipline approach to ensure you and your employees always know exactly how to run your programs. If you ever need assistance using Dataforma, reach out to us for client support.
Contact Dataforma today for a free demo and learn more about our services and product offerings.
