More than 40 years after its inception, the field of enterprise asset management (EAM) and mobile work order management applications are well into their second decade. Because of recent developments in mobile technology, now may be the greatest time to make the switch for your facilities organization if you haven’t already. In order to do so, this is how:
- Devices are better now. Mobile devices of the current generation have an impressive feature set that was inconceivable even a decade ago. Mobile work order management software that takes advantage of all native features, such as the camera, microphone and barcode scanning, is most successful. Even more crucially, the program may be used on any type of device because of its dynamic user interface. Because of this, your company no longer has to worry about making long-term commitments to equipment that may prove to be restricting in the future after it’s been implemented.
- Mobile Data Coverage Is Greater. Mobile data coverage has never been greater, and it will only get better when 5G becomes more widely available. During the last decade, mobile coverage has risen drastically across the country and the world, and the average transmission speed has increased by 250 percent in the previous five years. The development of high-speed data access will be bolstered by ongoing governmental and private investments.
- It’s a given that your workforce is already digital. When bringing mobile to a paper-based workforce 10 years ago, there were a lot less obstacles. The bulk of your staff has grown up in the digital era and uses smartphones and other gadgets on a daily basis for personal purposes.
- A Significant Improvement Has Been Made to the Software on the Mobile Device. In the past, mobile tools have never been as powerful, user-friendly, and integrated. Digital work orders and photos are no longer as time-consuming as they formerly were. Today, enterprises are using a single, fully integrated mobile platform to handle their complete facility management operations. For example, in addition to all asset and work-order related activities, this also encompasses customer service request flows, technician material requests, time card creation and approval flows, the management of staff rosters and sick and vacation requests, and safety compliance with LOTO and Confined Space Entry. Everything is happening in real time or with automatic synchronization when offline procedures are necessary.
What’s the first step?
You may begin investigating mobile work order management tools by following these simple steps:
Investigate what’s available. Look for items and companies with a proven track record of success. Having a track record of success, a product portfolio that is constantly evolving, and a team of experienced installation and support staff are all essential. A new corporate acquisition, or a product created and refined by the group with whom you’ll be collaborating? Why aren’t there more mobile apps? Since when do products go through their many stages of development before they are released onto the market? The same firm also offers other products and tools?
Make Use of Other People’s Knowledge. Like many other things in life, experience is a wonderful thing to have. There are always things to learn and ways to improve and innovate with mobile deployments. Inquire about how the solution vendor incorporates lessons gained into their products and deployment procedures. What have the members of the implementation team shown in terms of their ability to integrate systems? If you’re planning to go mobile with your work management operations, you already know that you won’t be changing any other key systems. Many mobile deployments involve the seamless integration of financial, HR, mapping, and document management systems, etc. Choosing the right vendor with the appropriate experience may make all the difference in your organization’s long-term success.
Your own industry should be examined. Find out which organizations are making use of mobile to support their facility management and extended field activities. Get a sense of how they’ve progressed since they started using mobile devices. Inquire about the return on investment from both a monetary and cultural standpoint. This technology has a wide range of applications, and you may be amazed at how many possibilities there are for integrating data and automating workflows for your employees.
Talk to Your Employees. In many cases, “management-only” thinking restricts the potential for spectacular improvement. Consult with your employees to determine which methods are effective and which ones are not. The exchanges may be quite instructive. Ideas and excitement for better mobile work procedures can be generated by speaking directly with field-level supervisory, technical, and administrative workers about their daily routines.
Your existing investments in human and technological resources may be optimized in the realm of mobile work order management. If you take a look at the present mobile scene, you’ll likely discover that now is the best moment to implement mobile work order management tools for your team and your business as a whole.
