Businesses that manage an on-field sales force are always looking for ways to enhance their operations. As customers are changing the way they buy, businesses are transforming their sales process. A recent report by Salesforce highlighted the modes of sales communication customers value. A whopping 87 percent of sales professionals believe it is absolutely critical for them to meet their customers in-person.

This is a strong reason why companies are working to create an agile and efficient on-field sales force. In this era, customers value interaction and transparency in it. Therefore, businesses are leveraging the latest technologies to bridge the gap between their brand and customers.

The Internet of Things has become a significant tool for organizations to manage their remote sales workforce and empower them to work with greater efficiency. By 2020, over 30 billion devices will be connected to the internet, presenting opportunities for companies to utilize this network of things [ Source: Statista ].

Field service management will also become more and more yielding, thanks to this mesh of connected devices. Let’s explore how.

How the IoT is Changing Industries- FMCG, FnB, Manufacturing:

The Internet of Things is leaving a lasting impact on all industries. An impact that is irreversible.

●      FMCG - The IoT impacts FMCG sector starting right from the goods production stage- whether in an industry or farmland. Within an industrial setup, the IoT plays a vital role in predictive maintenance of tools and devices, quality control, and automation. For FMCG, IoT-enabled field service management means no downtime and elimination of resource wastage. An IoT-integrated FSM solution for FMCG can be used to track assets, manage inventory, handle fleet, and resolve issues in outsourcing, etc.

●      FnB - The Food and Beverages industry is no stranger to the applications of the IoT. Automation of packaging lines, minimizing wastage of packaging material, analyzing perishables for quality, etc., are some of the uses of the IoT in the FnB sector. However, when it comes to improving on-field force’s productivity, the IoT helps businesses reach out to their customers directly through a solid field workforce. Manufacturers can tap the pulse of the market and gather feedback on existing and newly launched products through an efficient field force automated with the IoT.

●      Manufacturing - Organizations in the manufacturing sector witness a whole array of applications of the Internet of Things starting right from the raw material inventory. Manufacturers can save costs by stocking up relevant material predictively and proactively. On-field workforce for manufacturing companies can get in touch with suppliers and bring back useful information on pricing, quality of goods, etc.

The Internet of Things is revolutionizing field forces across industries, helping them streamline processes and work in a more productive fashion.

Proactive Field Service with the IoT:

Presently, the field service industry generally adopts a break-fix approach to repairs. When a problem surfaces, customers reach out to the concerned businesses, who then send on-field personnel to fix the issue. Thus, businesses offer service after the damage has already happened.

Welcome, proactive field service, courtesy the Internet of Things.

With the IoT working in the background, companies will be able to detect faults that have not yet surfaced in the form of disruption. Electrical appliances, for example, will be fitted with a chip connected to the internet. When a tiny glitch strikes the appliance, an alert would be sent off to the concerned company.

Thus, without the manual intervention of the customer, the company will be able to regularly monitor and detect an anomaly. This will empower service providers to react to emerging issues before they can cause a problem.

Enable Real-time Diagnostics:

Through real-time diagnosis capabilities, you can monitor complex systems and allow field service technicians to automatically analyze key metrics and health factors. Software issues can be discovered and even repaired remotely with the IoT. This facility eliminates the need to dispatch a field service technician to the site.

Pair the IoT with a wearable device, and your field technicians can take on any challenge remotely, without having to travel to the customer site. Real-time diagnostics present a massive opportunity for companies to improve field service.

Leverage Reporting Capabilities:

68% of sales professionals believe that it is extremely vital for them to have a single view of the customer across teams. However, only 17% of sales teams are satisfied with their single view of the customer. Reporting capabilities come in handy when teams operate from disparate locations or even across departments.

Presenting a single truth of the customer helps sales teams course-correct and gauge customer needs on time. With an IoT-enabled FSM solution, businesses can leverage reports and dashboards to consolidate customer information and present it seamlessly across an enterprise.

Promise 100 Percent Uptime with Predictive FSM:

If you want to become the next game-changer in your space, guarantee a 100% uptime for machines and equipment. Through predictive field service powered by the Internet of Things, you can guarantee your appliances never go down.

This means, by actively looking tracking device health, on-field technicians would reach customer location and prevent damage before it affects operation, or replace parts or entire appliances that might get affected-  so the ball keeps rolling.

Either way, the Internet of Things can help you promise complete uptime to your customers. Through a predictive maintenance philosophy, you don’t wait for an anomaly to crop up, you predict it through a bunch of parameters and resolve it before time.

Install Sensors and Gain Insights:

Need to better your product or service? Read customer insights and learn from them. Customer satisfaction ratings, product damages, on-time support, first-time fix rate, and several other parameters play a role in determining the quality of customer service you deliver.

With installed sensors and the vast potential of the IoT, businesses can gain actionable insights into customer behavior, customer sentiments, etc., and make identifiable changes to the way they deliver services.

When field service agents collect an unprecedented amount of feedback, they can extract fine-tuned insights from the data. These insights can instigate a series of improvements and enhancements that continue to take any company forward.

Reduced Error and Improved Efficiency:

Companies can improve the first-time fix rates of their technicians and empower their sales teams with effective tools to increase sales. This way, errors that arise due to miscommunication, false information, and so on can be reduced.

Overall, the efficiency of a remote sales team depends on the quality of tools and solutions made available to them. Companies can also install safety solutions for on-field workers ensuring their security and safety.

Predictive Maintenance Ensures Customer Satisfaction:

Needless to say, customer satisfaction is the highest reward for installing a proactive and predictive field service practice in any business. Using sales analytics and tech-rich solutions can help sales teams reduce inefficiencies and provide a consistent experience to customers across channels.

Wear and tear, or any other fracturing can be automatically reported to field agents, without any need for human involvement. Having the ability to learn about a small failure can help technicians prevent a huge loss.

When customers get a personalized sales experience- based on their appliance’s history,- they are more likely to become loyal to your brand. By offering them predictive maintenance services, companies can take over a load of customers and render them free from the responsibility to care about the health of their appliances.

Increase Revenue with the IoT in FSM:

As customer satisfaction improves and technicians handle all service request with expertise, businesses benefit in two ways- they gain a strong base of loyal customers and save costs of repairing damaged appliances with proactive field service.

As a result of many other factors that either save costs or bring back customers, businesses improve their revenue figures and the overall profit.

Empowering sales teams with an IoT-enabled field force management software is the best bet for businesses wanting to make operations more efficient.

Get an IoT-enabled FSM Solution:

MaxMobility is a team of experienced developers and designers that craft cutting-edge field force automation apps. Our enterprise mobility app development services for field force are just the right blend of art and science, so your field force automation app is highly usable and friendly.

We integrate IoT capabilities in your mobile app and render it indispensable to its users. MaxMobility houses a team of expert mobile app developers and UI/UX designers who can make your field force work better, in any industry.

With the sole aim to improve your organization’s overall productivity, we make sure to introduce security and robustness in your software solution.

Get a custom field force automation app developed by our proficient app developers, or learn more about our signature solution for FMCG, FnB, Manufacturing, and other industries- GoSales.

Time to empower your sales team with data, insights, tools, and technologies.