As often mentioned in my previous posts, SMS provides an excellent, low cost communications method where one or both parties are on the move or away from the office. It can be used in a number of business scenarios and one area I was recently asked to look at for BT was field force automation.
Many businesses, large or small, have employees who need to work, at least some of the time,, out in the field. Social workers, nurses, GPs, builders, plumbers, insurance claims inspectors, security guards, electricians and so on all spend large amounts of their working day away from headquarters. Communicating with these key workers when they're away from the desk or workshop can be crucial to the effective running of the business. Also, increasingly, keeping in touch is crucial for their safety, especially those who make site or home visits alone.
So why is SMS so perfect for communicating with these people. Simple. It's cheap, easy to set up and reliable. There's very few places these days where a mobile signal isn't strong enough to receive an SMS text message. The only technology it needs is a mobile phone, and even the low cost, basic models can receive SMS messages. This may seem pointless in today's world where no one bats an eye at a 14 year old playing with a £450 iPhone on the train, but out in the field, expensive, sensitive kit isn't always the best plan. Would you rather your roofer drop a £35 Nokia off the roof or an iPad? So it's crucial that any communication method you use works with cheap and cheerful mobiles - SMS does.
Also, SMS can be easily integrated into existing back end systems including some of the big field force management systems like SAP and Salesforce.com. Anyone or any system that has the ability to send an email can have this delivered as an SMS to a phone.
SMS can also allow two-way communication which allows lone workers, for example, to respond to a request about their well-being. The ability to check if the message was delivered to the handset adds another level of checking.
Businesses could overcome the need for field engineers to return to base at the end of the day or between jobs to submit time returns. They could simply do this using SMS, and the foreman could even respond with authorisation. Similarly, you could send the next job by SMS so your field force were utilising their time. OK - I hear you when you say most companies have sophisticated ruggedised kit that hooks up to massive field force management systems to do all of this. But what about the smaller companies with only a few field employees. SMS is compelling for these guys.
Many businesses, large or small, have employees who need to work, at least some of the time,, out in the field. Social workers, nurses, GPs, builders, plumbers, insurance claims inspectors, security guards, electricians and so on all spend large amounts of their working day away from headquarters. Communicating with these key workers when they're away from the desk or workshop can be crucial to the effective running of the business. Also, increasingly, keeping in touch is crucial for their safety, especially those who make site or home visits alone.
So why is SMS so perfect for communicating with these people. Simple. It's cheap, easy to set up and reliable. There's very few places these days where a mobile signal isn't strong enough to receive an SMS text message. The only technology it needs is a mobile phone, and even the low cost, basic models can receive SMS messages. This may seem pointless in today's world where no one bats an eye at a 14 year old playing with a £450 iPhone on the train, but out in the field, expensive, sensitive kit isn't always the best plan. Would you rather your roofer drop a £35 Nokia off the roof or an iPad? So it's crucial that any communication method you use works with cheap and cheerful mobiles - SMS does.
Also, SMS can be easily integrated into existing back end systems including some of the big field force management systems like SAP and Salesforce.com. Anyone or any system that has the ability to send an email can have this delivered as an SMS to a phone.
SMS can also allow two-way communication which allows lone workers, for example, to respond to a request about their well-being. The ability to check if the message was delivered to the handset adds another level of checking.
Businesses could overcome the need for field engineers to return to base at the end of the day or between jobs to submit time returns. They could simply do this using SMS, and the foreman could even respond with authorisation. Similarly, you could send the next job by SMS so your field force were utilising their time. OK - I hear you when you say most companies have sophisticated ruggedised kit that hooks up to massive field force management systems to do all of this. But what about the smaller companies with only a few field employees. SMS is compelling for these guys.
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