New Opportunities

The gig economy runs on smartphones

Gig workers are all about mobility and connectivity. Contacting available workers, confirming assignments, getting progress updates and processing payments for services rendered are done almost exclusively through mobile apps. Integrating operations with secure mobile apps is critical to accessing this potential workforce and fully leveraging the benefits.

To be a player, companies need to be connected. That means FM and physical plant operations not already mobile are starting at a disadvantage. The first order of business is to connect all field operations with the enterprise asset management (EAM) system through smartphones and other mobile devices. For more than a decade, FM operations of all sizes have benefitted from mobility, saving time, saving money and continuously finding opportunities for integrating new technologies and better equipping their workforces with what they need most: not data, but timely information.

Putting the high-value information in front of workers rather than making them find it has been a game-changer for physical plant operations and management communities. The best mobile work management solutions provide employees at all levels with real-time notifications and easy access to timely information. Fully integrating mobile asset and work management with other enterprise solutions including HR, finance, document management, BIM and others was the next step in the mobile evolution. Today, the challenge becomes how to connect and leverage all field service vendor partners, from corporate-sized to the individual gig worker.

Start from big and work back to small

While this approach may at first seem counterintuitive, it makes the most sense. The biggest gain in connecting gig workers and vendors will come from those with the highest volume of transactions. The largest vendors will also be where companies can exert the most control over compliance with site procedures, including critical health and safety protocols. Once businesses have worked through their compliance needs and protocols with larger vendors, those processes can be embedded into the mobile app, making it easier to extend those regimens to independent gig workers.

That now begs the question – where does one find gig workers? Depending on where the business is located, there are typically a variety of popular websites and/or mobile apps to find available gig workers. Those sites/apps make it easy to contact the worker and book their services, but unfortunately, most will have limited capabilities for capturing details on the work performed and any related documentation.

Operation details in a separate system is low value

Even if the third-party gig services app enabled the gig worker to enter job details, it is still a suboptimal solution because the critical work performance data is not getting into the EAM system without extra steps. This generates unwanted friction in the work processes by requiring more overhead to transcribe or enter critical work performance details into the system where they become most valuable to FM teams … the EAM. The only sustainable strategy is to invest in a mobile solution tailored to the realities of working with outside vendors while ensuring all critical work performance data is pushed to the EAM without the need for manipulation, translation or secondary data entry. Importantly, any mobile solution for gig workers and vendors should always remain independent of the mobile work management solution used for employees -- no one other than a company’s own direct employees should ever have to access its data, networks or systems.

Among the goals of any FM team is to ensure all EAM asset and work order records are complete; no exceptions. That means capturing the same level of detail, and supporting documentation, for all work assignments into the EAM, regardless of whether the work was performed by an internal employee, a field service vendor partner or a gig worker.

Narrow the gap between internal employees, vendors & gig workers

Most employers already using mobile solutions enjoy full awareness of their internal employee schedules, whereabouts and assignment performance. They know precisely who is on site, and what work they have been assigned. They also know when a technician starts an assignment, when the technician finishes and exactly what has been done (or what remains to be done) by having all of those critical details attached to the asset and location records in their EAM. Full knowledge and transparency of the internal workforce, all in real-time, has been enabled in the best mobile solutions.

In the past, the only way to achieve the same results with external partners (vendors and gig workers) has been to give them access to the company’s mobile app, which means granting and maintaining access credentials for people outside the organization. IT security and risk management protocols strongly argue against that strategy.

In what has recently become achievable in the FM world, supervisors and management can now have the same real-time awareness of every person performing on-site work, regardless of whether they are internal employees or outside contractors. Everyone is working from a mobile device with information tailored to their role and relationship to the organization. All work performance information, including related photos, video, documents and reports flow back and forth with the EAM software in real-time, with no extra steps. Controls restricting cyber access are also fully incorporated, so that contractors and gig workers never access the organization’s EAM or internal network resources. For too long, most FM organizations have used something much different. Typically, vendor work records are stored separately, either in paper or electronic file cabinets, or accessed online through a vendor-provided portal.

Imagine vendors in the fully mobile operations future

What would it look like to have the same level of awareness and accountability for any member of the field service workforce, inclusive of internal staff, frequent vendor partners and gig service workers?

What would organizations need to do differently to make that happen?

Nail down vendors expectations

Many organizations still rely on email and phone calls to book vendors and gig workers and schedule related work assignments. The built-in inefficiencies of these methods lead to misaligned expectations and unnecessary friction. Using a mobile work management solution with employees sidesteps these problems.

What would it be like to enjoy the same level of confidence using mobile with vendors and gig workers as is done with internal employees?

Know vendor staff or gig worker whereabouts at all times

Mobile apps allow organizations to always know when internal field employees are on site, expected for the next shift, the next day, next week, etc. These tools are typically configured to provide real-time awareness whenever an assignment is started, ended or updated. Extending this full transparency to vendor staff and gig workers provides a huge benefit to supervisory management for staff deployment, scheduling and monitoring work execution cycles.

What would it be like to have better tools to manage performance expectations with vendors and gig workers?

Share the same scoreboard for performance

When managing vendor or gig worker performance, the missing element is typically an easily accessible measurement system that both parties agree to as part of the contract process. Team sports results are easy to follow because the scoreboard is always prominent and visible. Imagine how hard it would be if the teams and the fans were not exactly sure how they did before they left the field.

Often the relationship between operations teams and vendors is like an invisible scoreboard. Both parties lack reliable tools for tracking performance and related accountability. Having a company’s team and its outside contractors/gig workers use a mobile solution that allows everyone to look at the same performance metrics at the same time, with established service-level agreement targets for optimizing results, would clarify expectations and dramatically improve accountability.

Leverage existing EAM investment with mobile

Getting full value from the EAM requires a clear strategy built around mobility. The FM industry has been slow to adjust to these realities, with nearly half of all large-scale operations still deploying legacy work processes for many routine processes, including work order assignment and execution, operator tours, inspection and testing, lockout/tagout and confined space entry safety tracking, pre-job safety compliance, timecards, time-off requests, materials requisitions, stockroom and inventory management, and many others. FM teams not thinking through and planning a mobile strategy are missing large efficiency opportunities and falling behind in recruiting and retaining the next generation of field technicians and supervisors.

Find a mobile technology partner who also understands your business

Regardless of where on the continuum of mobility an organization exists, improvement is always just ahead. Navigating the mobile solution landscape can be tricky. To take full advantage of the opportunities and avoid the pitfalls, find an experienced partner who understands the technology, as well as the continuous cycles of FM. The path forward is unique for every organization, but an experienced partner can offer valuable insights that help bring clarity to both the strategic technology choices as well as the implementation sequencing and deployment decisions.

Gig workers, independent contractors, and small- to large-scale vendors form a constellation of field service vendor options. They perform an increasing volume of work across the FM industry and offer employers a wide range of hiring options. Getting the most from these indispensable partnerships requires FM organizations to be on solid digital footing with a plan for mobility. The advancing mobile technology removes compromises associated with mixed workforce utilization. FM organizations should seek out the advice and partnership of experienced hands, so they can stride confidently into the new gig economy.