Friday 16 August 2013

Field Force Automation

Field force automation is a process to utilize your resources efficiently, to increase business productivity and better service to customers by providing relevant access of mobile application to the field sales team.

Field Force Automation provides following benefits:
  • Improves workforce productivity
  • Increases business revenue
  • Quick customer service
  • Improvement in customer service levels
  • Provides way to track field force
  • Inventory control
  • Reduce cost
  • No paper work
  • Ability to work in offline mode / without network connectivity

This involves the use of technology, typically with the help of mobile phones or tablets to carry out the tasks at the customers place as well as to track the field sale people. The transactional data is transferred to back office systems through wireless connectivity (Wi-Fi, 3G, satellite or GPRS). This instant transfer of data reduces time delays, avoids data errors and enhances field force productivity. From operation point of view, it helps to plan the delivery schedules, to reduce the inventory and to monitor and to control the field force. The biggest challenge in mobile field force automation is in developing a simple, but user friendly, user interface for the hand held device /smart phones/ mobiles having ease of use with great features.

Android mobile SFA developed by SPEC INDIA achieves this by providing user friendly and rich GUI. It has following features:
 • Route Assignment
Routes can be assigned to the distributor and from the distributor to the field force, by this way indirectly assigning distributor to the mobile field force team, thus smoothing route assignment and avoiding multiple sales persons working on the same route. So if in case, such a business scenario occurs then multiple sales persons can also be managed to assign on the same route. It solely depends on how you want to configure it according to your business.

• Start / End Route Info
Whenever sales person starts working, he can perform start route operation. His “Route start” information, route number, attendance, vehicle information can be noted and whenever he ends route, route end time and attendance end time will be noted. Moreover during end route, sales person need to deposit collections, specify reason for not serving some customers as well as to provide the end kilometer information too.

• Customer data Management
Incase if the customer master information has changed then sales person can edit or can create a new customer on fly in the field. This edited information can be easily sync with back office when transferred.

• Order/Sales
This is the most vital feature provided in this application. Sales person can take orders from customers and instantly upload it to back office. So the user at back office can arrange for the required packaging of the order & can verify its item stock. Besides these order/sales, return is also possible and managed similarly. Sales person can generate on field instant printed invoices.

• VAN stock management
Based on the sales / return, VAN stock will be calculated in the mobile application.

• Client Survey and Feedback
Again important feature to know the customer feeling about product and service, there is a special feature to take the customer feedback during daily sales activities as well as take surveys, get customer responses to different promotional offers etc.

• Customer scheduled and sequence change
In device, all the customers, which are scheduled to be served for the selected route or service date will be listed in customer screen, guiding mobile team to serve customers. Sales person can also change sequence as per his convenience and upload it to back office so next time customers will be listed in the correct sequence as per geographical location and other dependent parameters.

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