Mobile Workers: Having a Professional Mobile App Is No Longer a Luxury but a Necessity

03/06/2021
10:01

reading time : 2 min

Lucie Monnot

Content Marketing Manager

Sales representatives, technicians, and delivery drivers spend most of their professional lives in the field. Next-generation mobile applications bring together everything they need to optimize their travel, their assignments, and their customer interactions — right at their fingertips!

Those who remember pagers and the first mobile devices look back on them without nostalgia: the former had extremely limited functionality and the latter, as specialized as they were expensive, were distributed sparingly among mobile employees. Thankfully, the smartphone revolution happened!

Today, from a single application, any professional equipped with a standard smartphone or tablet can access the full range of information and tools needed to work effectively on the go.

Why use an app for mobile professionals?

Maximize the “productive time” of employees — that is, the time they spend actually carrying out activities that generate value for the company, rather than administrative tasks that, while indispensable, are not at the core of their expertise.

Deepen the digitalization of the company by eliminating paper and automatically capturing data. This makes all useful information available for performance analysis and management, day-to-day administration, operational preparation, and the personalization of the customer relationship.

Increase the safety of field teams by allowing them to be geolocated and remain in constant contact with the organization, so they can quickly respond to unexpected events (cancelled appointments, delays, emergency interventions, etc.) or receive immediate assistance in the event of danger or difficulty.

Make a difference with customers by enabling employees to keep to scheduled times and intervention windows, notify customers of their arrival, and carry out every operation successfully, since they have all the skills and tools they need.

Retain employees by offering them better working conditions and intuitive, easy-to-use tools that reinforce their autonomy and individual performance, while also supporting their professional development.

Features of an app for mobile professionals

Next-generation mobile applications are designed as true hubs, whose features adapt to the specific needs of each profession. Rather than having a separate mobile extension for each software package used in the company, mobile workers have a single entry point to all the resources that correspond to their profile and responsibilities.

Here are some examples of what they can do in the field — at their fingertips and without having to switch between applications.

Viewing your roadmap and agenda

That goes without saying, you might think. But not all agendas are created equal! To be truly useful, today’s agenda is digitalized and interactive. It not only provides the list of appointments and the route plan generated by the planning software, but also the exact contact details of each customer. Functional integration allows GPS navigation to be activated without having to enter the address, or a customer call to be placed without dialing the phone number, to notify them of a delay or of imminent arrival.

The connection to the central application enables the employee to be notified in real time of last-minute changes (appointment cancelled by the customer, urgent intervention to be added, etc.) and to always have an up-to-date agenda.

Contact information is provided through integration with the company’s CRM, so there is no re-entry of data — which, in addition to saving time on a daily basis, preserves the quality and integrity of the contact database. If the employee detects in the field that certain information is incorrect (address, floor, phone number, GPS coordinates, etc.), they can update it. Their changes are automatically transmitted to the CRM.

(Re)scheduling an appointment from the field

The delivery driver who finds a door closed, the sales rep who cannot complete a visit, or the technician who identifies that a second intervention will be necessary can all schedule or reschedule appointments directly from their app. Without calling the company, they have access to a list of pre-optimized time slots based on their own workload and the customer’s geographic location, as well as internally defined profitability and prioritization criteria. These may include the customer’s status, obligations tied to their Service Level Agreement (SLA), or simply the minimization of kilometers to be covered in a working day. The time slot chosen by the customer is automatically recorded, and routes are recalculated by the optimization engine to take it into account.

Better preparation of routes and interventions

What could be more disastrous in the eyes of a customer than a technician who arrives without the essential equipment or with the wrong replacement part? What could be more time-consuming for a delivery driver than having to rummage through the back of their truck to find the parcel that needs to be delivered first? These situations can be avoided by providing employees with smart tools accessible from their mobile app, for example:

The list of materials to bring for the day. This list is automatically generated based on the list and characteristics of scheduled interventions. Before setting off, the technician checks the list and validates each item as they load the necessary tools or parts. Even simpler, they scan the barcode or QR code of each item with their smartphone. If a part is forgotten, an alert is triggered and the oversight can be corrected before departure.

In the event of a missing part or tool in the warehouse, the technician can also initiate a search to find out whether a colleague can help. Once identified, the optimization engine determines and communicates the time and location where they can meet, with as little disruption as possible to both their respective routes.

The vehicle loading procedure. Whether loading is the responsibility of the delivery driver or the warehouse team, it can be carried out in the optimal order relative to the route to be taken — based, once again, on a dynamic list and the scanning of packages as they are loaded. In addition to saving time during deliveries, the company reinforces package traceability, as each item is scanned when loaded onto the vehicle and when delivered to the customer, with proof provided by the timestamp and GPS coordinates associated with the scan.

Being guided and assisted on tasks at the customer's site

Linking each intervention record to a predefined task list that the technician follows and validates step by step on their mobile device is the best way to ensure that what needs to be done at the customer’s site is carried out correctly and in compliance with safety standards and procedures.

The use of augmented reality makes it possible to go even further in supporting technicians. By scanning the QR code placed on the equipment to be repaired, the technician or maintenance specialist can see on their smartphone screen where to start and in what order actions should be performed. They also have access to rich content (photos, assembly diagrams, videos) that helps them complete their task from start to finish, without endangering their health or damaging the customer’s equipment or installation. This assistance is particularly valuable and reassuring for beginners or new employees, as well as for companies that use temporary or subcontracted technicians and want to guarantee the quality of their interventions.

Reducing administrative tasks

Recording start and end times of an intervention or service call, writing up intervention or visit reports, collecting the customer’s signature — all of this can now be done directly in employees’ mobile apps, with no paper handling, no risk of losing information, and above all, without spending hours on it or putting these tasks off!

Of course, this requires a degree of discipline. But if the application offers a pleasant user experience and is configured to meet the real needs of mobile users, employees will quickly understand what they stand to gain.

You could keep telling yourself it would be a good idea to equip your sales force, field technicians, or delivery drivers with such a tool. Or you could take action and maximize the value of your investments in the advanced solutions we offer. Let’s discover them!

Our applications for mobile professionals

Nomadia TourSolver

Nomadia TourSolver is a route optimization application designed for companies with field resources. Its main features are:

Route optimization: uses AI algorithms to generate realistic and cost-effective route plans.
Customization: adapts to the company’s professional terminology and takes into account more than 150 specific constraints.
Real-time tracking: enables supervision of field workers’ activity through the mobile application.
Constraint management: takes into account schedules, capacities, skills, and geographic limitations.
Integration: available in SaaS mode and via API, making it easy to integrate with other systems.

It is a comprehensive solution for optimizing logistics and improving the efficiency of field operations.

Nomadia Delivery

This solution is dedicated to delivery drivers and offers the following features:

Optimized planning of delivery routes
Real-time visibility of deliveries in progress
Delivery status updates
Smooth communication between drivers, managers, and customers
Barcode reading and electronic signatures to validate deliveries
Package and delivery route traceability

Nomadia Field Service

Nomadia also offers a mobile application for maintenance technicians, aimed at:

Improving technician productivity and efficiency
Increasing service quality
Optimizing field interventions

Nomadia Sales

This application is specifically designed to improve the performance of sales teams in the retail sector. It offers:

A CRM 100% dedicated to retail
Tools for optimizing sales territory planning

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ – The Most Frequently Asked Questions About Nomadia

Why Choose Nomadia?

As France’s leading publisher of Smart Mobility SaaS solutions, Nomadia supports more than 175,000 field professionals every day. Our solutions are easy to use, quick to deploy, and deliver significant and immediate return on investment.

Drawing on the expertise of both a software publisher-integrator and a consulting firm, Nomadia’s teams provide tailored support, from data consulting to the deployment of mobile devices. Finally, our technical support team is available 24/7 to assist you.

Who Are Nomadia Solutions Designed For?

Nomadia solutions support the digital transformation of all mobile professionals: field sales representatives, delivery drivers, technicians, auditors, healthcare workers, inspectors, service providers, security patrol officers, experts, and more.

Whether for SMEs or large enterprises, our solutions adapt to businesses of all sizes and across all industries.

How Much Does It Cost?

Nomadia Delivery offers transparent and flexible pricing, which primarily depends on the number of users (for example, planners and dispatchers) rather than a fixed cost per parcel.

Thanks to this model, you can control your delivery costs based on the number of resources (users) involved in route management, providing great flexibility to adjust your subscription according to the size of your fleet and your operational needs.

Is It Compatible with My Current ERP System?

Yes! Nomadia Delivery has been designed to integrate quickly and easily into your existing environment thanks to our powerful and secure APIs. Our solution is compatible with most ERP systems on the market. API integration enables the automatic synchronization of your transport orders, customer orders, and customer information, ensuring smooth and error-free delivery tracking. The solution also offers user-friendly import capabilities with data validation controls, as well as export options in multiple customizable formats.

Is It Suitable for Our Delivery Volume?

Yes, Nomadia Delivery is ideal for companies that manage a high volume of deliveries and want to optimize their routes, create balanced territories for their drivers, and ensure precise tracking of every parcel. Nomadia Delivery adapts to fleets of all sizes!

Can Multiple Warehouses or Depots Be Managed?

Yes, our solution allows you to manage multiple warehouses or depots. It centralizes data and optimizes routes or service operations for each of them.

Is There a Limit to the Number of Stops in Route Optimizations?

No, there is no strict limit to the number of stops in route optimizations. Our solution can handle large volumes of stops and quickly calculate optimized routes.

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