Many companies encounter difficulties in carrying out their field inspections. Among these difficulties, we can identify the waste of time related to the filling of paper forms, data input sometimes not consistent and therefore not very reliable as well as communication problems between the field and back office teams.
Thinking about using a digital solution to optimize your processes during your field interventions can be an excellent strategic choice for your organization. Discover how by reading this article!
Standardize the way field teams conduct inspections
In general, we do not always have the same perception of a situation and our ways of describing what we see are different from one person to another. This human reality leads to different ways of reporting what the field agents observe in the field, which does not facilitate the processing of the collected data and can be problematic when the anomalies observed require the organization of maintenance operations.
A digital solution makes it possible to restrict the choices of answers thanks to drop-down menus and specific answer codes. It also allows you to set up a work "workflow", i.e. a sequenced list of tasks to be carried out from which you cannot deviate.
Finally, a digital solution frames the structuring of the inspection to make it better. It creates a uniformity of reports, thus guaranteeing the relevance and quality of the information entered, while reducing the risk of human errors or omissions.
Improve interactions between field and back-office teams during inspections
During a field inspection, the agent takes several notes during his tour, which results in the use and production of a lot of paper. Then, he re-enters all the information collected when he is back in front of his computer. There are many risks involved: the risk of making mistakes, skipping steps during the inspection, making mistakes when copying... not to mention the loss of time that this re-entry entails. This situation sometimes makes it difficult for the back office teams to understand the reports produced, to monitor the achievement of objectives and the performance of field teams.
The use of a digital solution reduces risks and optimizes inspection time. This time saving results in significant savings during inspections. The reports generated from an inspection performed with a digital solution are more comprehensive and more in line with the expectations of the back office team. In addition, it can allow the back office team to get real-time information from the field and measure the performance of each agent. This allows for timely adjustments to the work performed by the teams and avoids ending up with unmet objectives at the end of an inspection.
Seamless interactions between field and back office teams avoid friction between them and improve collaboration and work.
Bring more comfort to the teams in the field
Writing down observations on paper about different situations, then taking care of copying them to a file in the computer is tedious.
Equipping a field team with a digital solution with adapted workflows gives them the possibility to accelerate their note taking and to do it only once. Field teams are thus relieved of certain tasks and can focus more on their core business.
Reports are automatically enriched with the collected data. The most important thing is to provide an easy-to-use application to its teams, train them and make them aware of the interest that this solution will have for them first of all.
Once this solution is adopted by the field teams, the comfort it provides will make them more efficient.
Conclusion
Using a digital solution to perform reliable field inspections has many advantages. This choice is an important decision that can optimize your operational efforts and investments. As a strategic decision, it needs to be informed and follow specific steps both in terms of solution selection and team training, you can also read our article on How to prepare for software implementation: a guide for managers, to learn more on the subject. Keep in mind that the solution you choose must be modular to adapt to your needs, which may be evolving, and it must also be easy to use for your teams.
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If you are interested in a digital solution to help you optimize your field inspections and make them more reliable, please fill this form. We will be happy to assist you in this digital transformation.
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