How electronic data capture with a proof of delivery system can help you make smarter decisions

Do you have access to all of the data you need to efficiently manage your mobile workforce? Can your office-based staff make informed daily decisions based on what is happening in the field? Do you have detailed historical data to measure and drive profitability in your home delivery or field service operation?

With paper-based data capture systems, field data often doesn’t make it back to base in time to affect daily mobile workforce management or help your staff deliver on your customer service promises. In addition, the large amount of manual data entry required to digitise paper delivery notes makes reporting and long-term strategic decision making challenging.

However, capturing data electronically gives you easier access to the information you need to make smart decisions, in both the short and long term. With an electronic proof of delivery system field data is:

• Available in real-time to support more informed daily decision making
• Easily collated to enable long-term reporting and strategic decisions

Real-time data for daily decision-making

An electronic proof of delivery system provides real-time communication between office-based and mobile teams throughout the working day. Operational data will vary between organisations but typically you will want to collect information such as job status updates, proof of delivery details, vehicle checklists, location data and exception alerts. Providing your office-based staff with access to this information in real-time means that they can quickly make decisions based on what is happening in the field.

For example, in the case of a delivery vehicle breakdown, your office-based teams will be able to use all of the available data to identify another driver that could finish the aborted route. Using location data they will be able to track down the closest drivers and then cross-check with progress updates to find drivers that are close to finishing their daily route or are ahead of schedule. The additional jobs can then be transmitted to the new driver to ensure all planned customer deliveries can still be completed. A proof of delivery system helps your staff understand what is happening out in the field and empowers them to make sure all of your delivery promises are fulfilled.

Reporting data for longer-term strategic decision-making

All of the data recorded by your mobile workers using a proof of delivery system can be collated into downloadable reports, or accessed via customisable reporting dashboards. Having data about your mobile workforce operation available to compare and query can provide insights to help you make strategic business decisions, enact changes to your operational processes or remove gaps in your current service. For example, when viewing historical data, you can view success and failure rates across your operation, allowing you to set targets for individual teams. Or, if a specific depot is underperforming, you could invest in further driver training in that location. A proof of delivery solution can also help you analyse trends over the year in order to make smarter decisions regarding seasonal peaks.

An electronic proof of delivery system increases data visibility, ensuring that you and your team have greater control over your operation and are able to implement changes based on accurate data. Electronic transmission of real-time field data helps your office-based staff make informed daily decisions to control customer service and manage mobile teams. And, automatic collation of reporting data enables more strategic business planning for long term efficiency and service improvements.

For more information on how a proof of delivery solution could provide the data you need to make actionable decisions, get in touch today.