Want to Have a More Efficient & Productive Field Force? Automate More!
Automation is a potent technology that massively affects your team’s growth and success. With the power of automation, you can free up time for your field force to focus on what is a real value by automating the daily, repetitive, routine tasks.
Before we delve into the power of automation and where to implement this technology, let’s get you started with a brief intro to what automation is and why companies have been adopting it for decades.
Intro to Automation
Early on, it wasn’t until the early 19th century that automation began making a noticeable impact on the manufacturing industry, where many companies started the implementation of automation in the industrial machinery.
In 2021, the automation market reached about 12.7 billion dollars globally, indicating that many companies have realized the crucial role of automation in reducing the pressure on employees and giving them more space for creativity.
Automation isn’t thought of as a luxurious option anymore, more companies are now opting to the different applications of automation to save time, effort and focus on what really matters.
As the time passes, automation is becoming more polished and versatile than ever, with a bunch of software options and technology trends to choose from.
Is It Really Worth Trying?
Imagine if the repetitive, mundane, manual tasks could be simply done, freeing up time to pour the attention on what grows your business and brings more value to it.
In the past few decades, more companies decided to invest in automation to reduce the time wasted on doing menial tasks. Other than that, automation allows going beyond the traditional data management by the proper implementation of an advanced system that is capable of integrating with applications.
Now let’s get back to our question, is automation really worth trying? Here are some automation statistics you must know:
- 2020 Sales Automation Statistics: Automation can reduce marketing costs by 12.2%, help in closing 30% more deals, and boost productivity by 14.5%.
- 2020 Marketing Automation Statistics: Automation is utilized by about 67% of marketing leaders around the globe, 74% of marketers reported that automation saved them a great deal of time, marketing departments in multiple companies witnessed conversion increase by 77%.
- General Statistics: 69% of employees reported that automation has significantly reduced the wastage of time, 59% of them spared 7 approximate hours per week when they started using automation to get daily mundane tasks done.
- Without automation: Professionals reported taking about 18 minutes approximately to locate a document manually, which is somewhere between 20% to 40% of their time.
More Efficient Field Force with Automation
In a nutshell, any growth-oriented company or organization needs to implement automation to achieve the following outcomes:
Reduced Operating Costs
It’s no-brainer that executing tasks manually can be a significant waste of time and resources. With the power of automation, cost of operations reduced, thereby increasing revenue. Resources are wisely employed and wastage is lowered to the minimum.
Centralized Data Management
Locating a document or retrieving data can be a nightmare when done manually using traditional documenting and archiving methods, which results in higher error rate and time-wastage. You can eliminate all possible errors by the implementation of automation to increase employees’ efficiency by leap and bounds, share data securely, and grant access to key information from anywhere within seconds.
KPIs & Growth Metrics Tracking
Tracking how good your field force is performing can be overwhelming when done manually or using paper-based or static documents. At Repzo, we believe that: “You can’t track what you can’t measure”, automation tools improve visibility through customizable dashboards where KPIs can be set, tracked, and easily measured at a glance for multiple aspects/employees/ or departments.
In-depth reports can provide insights into areas that need improvement, automation can also facilitate transparency which encourages accountability and keeps your field force informed in the real time with the latest updates and assignments.
Greater Management and Better Visibility
Automation helps you keep track of all your business aspects, including sales, marketing, performance, and revenue. This can’t be done without a unified and centralized platform where all metrics, data, and updates can be found.
Streamlined Communication
Your field force members are prone to stress due to poor communication with their leaders, co-workers, or other departments. Automation improves communication and eliminates unnecessary communications by offering automatic reminders, comments, forms, schedules, and live chat that brings all employees together in one place.
Where to Apply Automation?
This technology can be applied to any type of business, department, or sector. As the statistics above indicate, many companies decided that automation is the best practice they can do to improve performance, productivity, and revenue.
Here are some industries in which automation can be a great benefit:
FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods)
Running a business in the consumer goods industry is one of the hardest industries to mange and keep track of, and for this very specific industry, automation is a peace of mind and highly effective solution. Let’s sum up how you can utilize automation in the FMCG industry:
- Automate field tasks such as orders, invoicing, payments, store check, inventory management, and merchandising.
- Track field employees’ locations in the real-time by the GPS tracking
- Centralize data and grant access to key information from anywhere and from any authorized device.
- Customizable reports and insightful information to track visits, coverage, inventory, sales orders, clients’ satisfaction, etc.
- BI dashboards for better visibility and on spot updates.
- KPIs tracking and growth-driven metrics.
Pharmaceutical Industry
Doctors, pharmacists, and medical specialists can employ automation to schedule visits, calls, and digitize item status, prescription, and services. While many healthcare providers are still utilizing traditional methods, automation can be a game changer when it comes to efficiency and productivity.
Medical sales reps can track inventory, leave comments using their smartphones, and fill out forms that marketers and managers use to collect data and study the latest market needs and trends.
Maintenance and Services
This is another industry that is highly demanding and can’t easily be managed if you don’t utilize the proper technologies to prevent duplication, avoid missing any visits, and eliminate any paperwork by adopting a more reliable solution.
Field service providers can rely on the power of automation to schedule visits, assign maintenance requests, and receive work orders. Additionally, they can follow preventive maintenance practices, check parts availability, and create inspections and checklists all from one platform.
What Does Repzo Have to Offer?
Repzo offers a full suite of features especially designed to serve the FMCG, Pharma, and Field Service industry. Features include live photos, in-field sales orders, stock audits, store check, sales analytics, and many other tools for merchandisers such as planogram and before/after photos.
The best part about Repzo application is that it enables sales reps to check their schedules, leave notes, fill out forms, all from a simple and user-friendly mobile application.
In terms of compatibility, Repzo mobile application is compatible with both iOS and Android, and can be connected to a printer via Bluetooth technology.
We did not forget about admins; they are provided with the latest technologies and tools to track sales reps in real-time using our GPS tracker and measure performance using intuitive BI dashboards, reports and KPIs.
Long story short, Repzo offers the following:
- Simple and easy-to-use mobile application that supports both English and Arabic
- Real-time GPS tracking
- Retail execution tools
- Options for merchandisers
- Accurate and detailed reports and analytics