You may think of a Field Rep as someone who works for a utility company and comes to your house to service your cable box. However, Field Reps are common in many other industries; think mechanics, roadside vehicle service providers, public transportation agents and quality control/maintenance teams.

When Field Reps carry mobile devices, their lines of information and communication drastically open up in many ways. For example: you call your cable company for a service call. They give you an approximate time between 9am and 3pm that they might stop by, and when they arrive, they have to keep calling their headquarters or office back to get information about your account.

We have all experienced situations similar to this, but Mobile devices are now affording mobile employees a variety of benefits:

Instant Research and Information

Mobile devices give Field Reps access to a world’s worth of research on the go. They can gain insight into their customers and future leads, reflecting better on their company. Additionally, Field Reps working for organisations like energy companies and cable companies will be able to pull up important customer account information at the drop of a hat. Inventory, warranties, and numerous other documents can be at their fingertips. They won’t need to contact their call centre, and their customers won’t need to dredge up paperwork.

Information Gathering

With a mobile device, Field Reps can quickly input or update a customers email address, phone number and other data. This also allows for fast follow-ups. Mobile employees such as roadside vehicle service providers can send a quick email or make a call from a mobile device. As companies grow and start to become more data savvy, Field Reps are gathering more data on their customers every time they meet, which allows companies to provide even better customer service.

Real-time data collection is extremely useful to companies because it provides up-to-date information that can be shared throughout an entire organisation in seconds. Energy and utility company reps, for example, are able to record meter readings, upload photos of the assessed damage, etc. effortlessly and seamlessly. Real-time data entry ensures that information is recorded more efficiently and more accurately.

GPS

When mobile devices are equipped with location services, customers can know almost exactly when their Field Rep will show up. The mobile device can send a ping to the customer when the Field Rep is on their way, so they will always feel prepared and have a more accurate time estimate. On the other side, Field Reps will be able to more quickly and accurately find the place they’re going with simple GPS capabilities. Imagine if all quality control and maintenance teams used this method.

Real-time Communication

Customers and mobile employees can communicate seamlessly–imagine customers never having to phone into a call centre to be connected to their rep. If customers can connect directly with their field rep through text, chat or another messaging service, they will be impressed with their reps’ fast response times.

When you equip your Field Reps with mobile devices, it’s crucial to keep them secure and charged up. Several businesses use our charging stations so that their Field Reps can check out a charged device at the beginning of a shift, spend the day on service calls using a device, and return the device at the end of the shift. Store your Field Feps’ mobile devices with a PC Locs storage device; learn more here.