Solution in Poor Connection Area: Hybrid Mode

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Field agents juggle various responsibilities and are almost always on the road. That’s why many companies have invested and relied on workforce management app for field agents to manage their day to day business.

Workforce Management System, or what we here in Advotics called Workforce Management System, digitalize all activities for field agents. From better navigation, automatic data collection, to smart scheduling. It also helps companies to better manage field agents as well as monitoring their location at all times.

The Challenge of Working in a Poor Connection Area

When you already invested in a system, one thing you don’t want is any downtime. The software runs fully over an internet connection. All your information is stored online via the cloud. The system allows its users to access information, such as sales orders, inventory levels, market surveys, maintenance reports, from anywhere and anytime.

However, no one can ensure that your field forces won’t lose their internet connection. They can be in remote places, in basements, or even in high rise buildings. Imagine a field agent was at a client site and about to file in a sales order in their mobile application . Then without warning, his internet connection just disappears. So what happens now?

Losing connection is not a minor disruption, a field agent entire day would be at risk. One delayed visit would be a domino effect on the others. It also defeats the purpose of having an automatic system if the field agents still need to write down the sales order on papers. You could lose time, money, as well as loyal customers.

Workforce Management System: Hybrid Mode

Hybrid mode in the workforce management system is a software solution for areas that have limited bandwidth or poor internet connection. Using a hybrid mode means that you get all the benefits of using the cloud but with a better backup plan if your internet suddenly stopped working.

Hybrid system helps to carry out work even with no internet connection. Unlike the regular Workforce Management System who relies only on the cloud system, in hybrid mode, information is stored in both local phone storage as well as in the cloud.

So let’s say that a field agent is on a client site about to file in inventory level and suddenly the internet stopped working. They can still input all data and carry on to their next task while the data will be saved into their internal storage.

Whenever they get connected back online, new and updated data will be fetch and synchronized to the mobile device along with its timestamps. Timestamps are important to indicate whenever information is being created or changed or deleted.

Another benefit of using hybrid mode is battery savings. Since data is not synchronized as often and internet connection aren’t always on, phone battery lasts longer.

The Trade-off of Hybrid Mode

However, not connecting to the internet continuously means losing a couple of features. For supervisors, they can’t live-track/monitor their field agents in real-time anymore, because location will only be updated once field agent gain a connection. For field agents, they would still need an internet connection for morning check-in/attendance, and a couple of other tasks.

Ultimately, you should consider which mode is best for your company. Keep in mind to consider your employees, your clients, and your business priorities before making the decision. At Advotics, we will customize your solutions based on your business’s specific needs. Keeping them maintained and up to date, as well as ensuring the highest level of security.

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