The way people work has completely transformed in the last two years. Today most people work remotely, unlike in the pre-covid world, where remote work was meant for the field force (employees working outside office premises). A survey suggests that by 2025, almost 70% of employees will be working remotely at least 5 days a week.

Along with the way of working, in the digital era the technology to manage the workforce has also drastically shifted from manual spreadsheets to sophisticated tools and technologies. Let’s understand more about managing today’s mobile workforce–a phenomenon known as mobile workforce management.

What is mobile workforce management?

Mobile workforce management a.k.a MWM is defined as the tools, technologies, and overall approach to managing remote or field workers. It comprises workforce management software solutions, mobile and web apps, communication tools to help teams collaborate effectively, and more.

Let us talk about the three most important aspects of Mobile Workforce Management.

#1. Mobile workforce management vs field service management tools

As we mentioned in the earlier days remote work was limited to the field force only and thus Mobile Workforce Management is often confused with Field Service Management. As a business leader if you are looking for mobile workforce management you might cross paths with field service management solutions. It is important to know the difference between these two types of solutions so that you can make the right choice. Mobile workforce management solutions help in optimizing processes for all employees. While field service management is an aspect of workforce management that helps to manage resources used outside the office premises like tracking vehicles, field sales, managing activity of field force, and more.

#2. Mobile workforce management solutions – how to choose the best one

With the growing number of channels that employees use nowadays – emails, mobile phones, messaging apps, and more. Communication and tracking can be a challenge. Mobile workforce management tools are apps that help companies to optimize work by tracking their attendance & timesheets, collaborating with peers, raising leave requests, accessing relevant information, and more. The mobile workforce management solutions industry is growing. There are a plethora of workforce management solutions in the market today. Here are a few tips to choose the best mobile workforce management solutions for your enterprise.

Usability and mobility
Manier times organizations introduce tools and technologies that employees do not use due to the complex UI. A workforce management solution must be easy to use and have a user-friendly design. It should be easily accessible across devices and have the component of cross-functionality. A cloud-based app might be a good option in today’s world so that there are no interruptions while employees use the app.

Ease of employee management
Employee management is one of the crucial features that any mobile workforce solution should comprise. Hence choosing a solution that can help easily track and monitor employee employees is essential. This data can be used as a consolidated source for payroll and leave management, hence easing and simplifying the work of the HR teams as well.

Simplifying reporting
A good workforce management software helps in automating reporting and thus saves both effort and time to manually gather information and generate reports on excel sheets. Sophisticated solutions are also embedded with great visualization features, that make it easier for leaders across the board to get a view of the information and derive valuable insights from it.

Software Integration
Organizations use multiple tools to function effectively. It might not be possible for a mobile workforce management solution to have all the functionalities required for day-to-day business operations. Hence, the tools you choose must be able to integrate with various apps and platforms across the organization for seamless operations.

#3. Benefits of Mobile Workforce Management Solutions

With most employees working from home and spread across the globe, mobile workforce management solutions have become a critical tool for organizations today. Here are some of the benefits that businesses will miss out on if they aren’t using a workforce management solution:

Engage remote workforce

Workforce management solutions offer ease of doing basic activities (marking attendance, applying leaves, downloading payslips, etc.), engaging push notifications, communication channels, and more that can help improve transparency and increase employee engagement. A lot of companies also gamify activities (like learning) in their solutions to help employees stay engaged in an era where in-person communication has dissipated.

Increase business agility

Mobile workforce management solutions make it easier for employees to do a lot of activities on the go, collaborate better, and stay informed, thus increasing the agility of the business.

Manage compliance

With most employees working remotely, managing compliance can be a challenge for enterprises. Mobile workforce management solutions with integrated compliance training and options to raise compliance issues can help companies manage compliance issues.

Wrapping up

Technology has simplified many aspects of how organizations function. Mobile workforce management solutions are one such advancement that is here to stay. It is no surprise that the Mobile workforce management market is poised to reach approximately 10 billion by 2028. As remote work becomes a norm, mobile workforce management solutions have made it easy for HRs and business leaders to manage the workforce in a way that positively impacts the culture.