It’s no secret that technology in general – and mobile devices in particular – are revolutionizing business. Smartphone apps have become mission critical and there’s a new acronym in the books: Mobile Process Improvement, or MPI. Get to know and love it, as it is quickly emerging as a key asset to enhance productivity, revenue – and your competitive standing.
How MPI Can Help You
MPI investment by US businesses is forecast to grow by 100 percent in 2015. By the following year, 45 million employees are expected to use smartphones, priming them for MPI integration. For businesses like UPS, Amazon and the US Army, the collective savings as a result of utilizing MPI technology have already exceeded $15 billion a year.
Here are three ways you can capitalize on this trend:
Managing Field Employees
Today’s forward-thinking companies are tying their field teams together into a huge mobile grid that’s supported by their employees’ own smartphones.
- Manage field employees with a third-party app installed on everyone’s phones. Data is sent back to your managers, who can monitor and record activities through a Web-based browser page. Data may be used to generate activity reports that are valuable for analysis purposes.
- Rolling out MPI requires effort and communication, but it’s worth it. When you deploy MPI technology, you’ll need to retrofit it into your existing IT infrastructure. Also, some employees may misunderstand your use of “geo-tracking” services on them, so at the very least, you’ll need to implement strict privacy policies. But if you effectively address these considerations, your investment will pay for itself many times over.
Boosting Efficiency
Having all the information you need to do your job, right at your fingertips, enables your team to significantly improve efficiency.
- One electronics manufacturer uses smartphones to monitor and control its facilities via operator interfaces and user and group accounts. Access permission and operator rights are assigned to employees based on their jobs, departments and other criteria. The company uses smartphone technology to pull information from HVAC systems, compressors, pumps and manufacturing equipment – monitoring energy consumption, temperature and humidity in two buildings.
- Smartphones augment PC-based interfaces. They don’t replace them. The right combination makes essential information and control capabilities immediately available to all who need them.
Improving Inventory Control
QR codes were originally invented by Toyota Company in the 1990s for tracking parts that were running out of capacity. Smartphones are the latest part of the QR inventory control equation. Instead of using scanners, your employees can use phones to track inventory items.
- You can add QR codes directly to shelf items. Using MPI, employees simply walk down your warehouse aisle and scan items. The related app links to an inventory management system, resulting in faster counts, theft prevention and improved analytics. A back-end dashboard allows management to see exactly how much inventory is left. Back orders can be automatically created and, last but not least, costly miscounts are eliminated.
- UPC barcodes also can be scanned with smartphones. Of course, QR codes can incorporate much more information, but if your inventory is already UPC labeled, you can still take advantage of the new technology.
Your workforce development partners at Premium Staffing can keep you abreast of the latest developments to keep your business current and competitive in today’s rapidly-changing global marketplace. Read our related posts or contact us today to learn more.