Experts believe that mobile applications can increase workplace productivity. Mobile tech is changing the way do everything online. While some employers may frown upon workers being on their phones at work, successful businesses are taking advantage of the fact that mobile apps can improve business productivity.
Today’s employees are more mobile than ever. The technology from smartphones, tablets, and watches have features that are more advanced than computers, allowing us to touch the screen, view the information on our screens both vertically or horizontally, watch videos, and view images. Companies are relying on mobile solutions more and more with each passing day.
Workforce Management Systems
Mobile apps don’t just increase productivity for freelancers and the self-employed. Businesses are becoming increasingly more mobile, some with entire virtual workforces. A mobile app development company can help companies improve their productivity with a mobile workforce management system.
Workforce management systems, or WMS, are the most commonly used apps by companies. WMS typically include applications for managing payroll, employee benefits, time management, and attendance—human resource systems. While WMS is typically used to monitor productivity and staffing needs, they require employees to input accurate information for their own personal benefit, i.e. getting paid.
Features to Look For
Every workforce management system is different and serves different company needs. They all have different features because each workforce is different. A top mobile app design company will know and understand this while working with you to create the best app for your company and employees. Before selecting a WMS, first understand what it is your business needs. A WMS mobile application typically comes with:
Mobile Time Tracking
Eliminate lines at the punch-in/swipe-in clock and reduce paper waste with mobile scheduling. Whether your employees work in an office, home office, or on the road, being able to clock in from wherever you are working. A mobile WMS app with a smart clock feature helps reduce error, saves time, and helps prevent fraud with GPS management to confirm that employees are where they say they are when they clock in while ensuring you have the right resources at the right location.
Scheduling
Mobile scheduling should allow employees the ability to check their schedules from their mobile phones instead of having to crowd around a bulletin board with a paper schedule, sifting through their coworkers’ schedules to find their own. Managers can create a schedule from a template and save time and paper. Schedule employee breaks without overlapping or allow your employees to schedule breaks with your approval.
Alerts and Notifications
If there should ever be a need for extra help, work, unplanned absences, a mobile application with alerts and notifications can help keep managers up-to-date and running their workforce. Also, a WMS with automated overtime alerts can help avoid over-over scheduling and finding missing gaps in a schedule, saving time and money.
Mobile Management Tools
Speaking of managerial tools, a mobile WMS app can help managers keep the company running while working off-site. Schedule shifts, monitor productivity, and communicate with a mobile workforce management system. It can allow employees to request a schedule or shift swap, act quickly to cover down in the case of a staffing emergency.
Employee Self-Service Portal
A mobile app developer will improve productivity by allowing employees to manage their day-to-day administrative tasks with a mobile self-service portal for employees. Empower your employees with the ability to trade work shifts, volunteer for extra shifts that may open and allow managers to approve those changes with a virtual swap board. Employees can check their benefits, their schedule, their next pay date, accumulated hours and more.
Data Protection and Security
Workforce management systems hold the employee personal data that you want to keep safeguarded. Working with the best mobile app developers can ensure that your company’s data is safe and secured. In addition to security measures, a mobile WMS can help reduce errors that manual timekeeping just cannot. Humans are fallible. Employees may forget to record their time. And managers can make mistakes as well. But a mobile WMS will ensure that company data’s integrity remains intact.
Data Analysis
Mobile apps for the workplace can be a great way to mine data on your own workforce to ensure that you are delivering the benefits and communications that your employees need in a streamlined and unobtrusive way. For instance, your mobile app could collect information on frequently asked questions and searches that employees have so that you can know what topics to better address in new hire onboarding. You can also address these concerns in articles or resources for employees.
In addition, you can collect other types of information about your workforce by using data analysis features in your mobile app. Maybe large numbers of employees are trying to schedule PTO time for the same week or you need a way for employees to submit department recommendations in a method that can be anonymized, collected, and analyzed. It is possible that your custom mobile app can do all of these things for you.
Integrated Dashboard
For employees and mobile app administrators, having access to an integrated dashboard on a single, easy to use interface is essential. Not all app users come into the company with the same level of technology proficiency. To make it easier for all users to benefit from mobile app, it is best to have an intuitive dashboard where everyone can access the information they need from the dashboard.
An integrated dashboard does not only help users that have trouble understanding and using technology. It also creates a convenient and time-saving interface for all users. No one wants to spend a lot of time trying to access commonly needed information. Having an integrated dashboard, possibly one that can be customized to each user’s needs, can make it a more pleasant experience for everyone.
Easy to Update
Over time, your mobile app will need to be updated. This can occur when technology, such as user phones and operating systems, are upgraded or when your business’s needs change. By choosing a mobile app that is easy to update, this can make it less of a hassle when it comes to making changes. While there will always be some more significant or complicated updates that you will need to hire a mobile app development company to take care of, having an easy to update interface means that you might be able to make some more minor content changes on your own.
How a Mobile App Increases Productivity
Workforce management apps aren’t the only mobile apps that can increase productivity in the workplace. Some employees use different mobile apps to help them in a variety of areas that increase their productivity at work. It’s worth it for business owners to talk to a mobile app development company about the many ways different mobile apps can improve their employee’s productivity.
Promotes and Increases Creativity
Whether in the office or working virtually, mobile apps for the workforce can help boost creativity by allowing teams to collaborate remotely. An app for video conferencing can help remote employees feel like part of the team and help get their creative juices flowing. Mobile apps that foster employee engagement equates to improved and higher creativity.
Improved User Experience
Of course, you want to find a mobile app developer who can create a beautiful looking app for your company. But you want that app to be user friendly for your employees as well. The easier an app is to use, the more it will be used.
Improved Communication and Interaction
Mobile apps like #Slack, Skedulo, and Trello are go-to apps for company and team communication and teamwork. Having a mobile app development company create an all-inclusive, native mobile app can make your employees’ lives easier by reducing stress and allowing for easier collaboration between teams and departments. Automated messaging, emailing, to-do lists and remote project monitoring capabilities will improve workplace productivity while keeping employees interconnected.
While many companies fear the use of social media may impede productivity, social interaction, virtually, between employees goes a long way toward employees taking ownership in the company they work for. Mobile apps for the workforce help increase productivity by giving employees and managers more freedom and autonomy while reducing costs and human error. Improve your workplace productivity by talking to a top mobile application development company about what a mobile app can do for your bottom line.
The first step in having your mobile application developed is to find a great mobile app development company to work with. Contact KitelyTech at (312) 254-8248 to speak with a member of our mobile app development team. We have experience working on a variety of mobile apps in various stages of development, from conceptual planning to launch. We can answer any questions that you might have about the mobile application development process so that you can make an informed decision on how to proceed with creating your new mobile app.
Call KitelyTech on (800) 274 2908 today for more information.
