This story recalls an incident that happened a few years ago. It was the hottest summer of the decade and coincidently the wedding season too. Trucks and vans were swarming the streets of New York day and night carrying bridal gifts, flowers for decorations, food items, other décor material, and so on! One such van driven by Harley was delivering wedding cakes to a couple of locations in the county. The streets were almost deserted, the venues were far off, the sun was a blazing ball of fire, and Harley’s van broke down. It was perhaps due to overheating, but the van’s fridge stopped cooling and the beautiful cakes started giving up!

Panicked, Harley called everybody possible at the bakery but they all were busy on a crowded shopfloor that day. He realized he had to salvage the situation himself and started checking on his van driver buddies. Soon, Dave who was out on delivery of frozen canned foods agreed to come around and help out immediately. Being new in the region, Harley found it extremely difficult to explain his location to Dave, and Dave, not a local found it difficult to understand Harley’s instructions. Just then, realization dawned and Harley connected to his RFID controller company. He explained the situation, got the access rights of the RFID chip fitted to his van for Dave, explained the usage to Dave, and got him at his location in time to shift the cakes to Dave’s fridge and save them!! That small chip that day not only located Harley’s van but also helped Dave navigate smartly to it with ease.

Learning from this same principle of, ‘better to be safe than sorry’, Maplytics, the 5-star rated, preferred app of the Microsoft AppSource has included the valued feature of Real-Time tracking for field reps by their managers in its all-inclusive package. Maplytics integrates CRM Records with the map and extracts learnings using location intelligence to align sales territories, optimize travel routes, schedule appointments in advance for client meets, and more. The feature of Real-Time tracking enables the reps to be tracked continuously while they are on the field once they switch on the tracking process on the Maplytics app on their mobile phones/ tablets.

Discovering and Re-using deviated routes

Since their travel routes are already plotted, any change of route followed by them could also be traced and saved for future use. At a glance, a person may consider this to be a case of constant vigilance, however, when understood properly, the feature has a much deeper use. As mentioned earlier, the feature traces the deviation in the paths plotted and followed and saves both for future reference. This deviation could be a newly discovered shorter route, a well-maintained road, or a cheat route avoiding traffic blocks or construction sites. Thus, the next time, if the same rep is to visit the same place, he could save some more time and fuel by following this deviated route. In case a new rep is to visit the place, it would be easier for him too, to follow this revised, saved, tried, and tested route freely.

Being informed for decision-making

With continuous tracing available, there is a sense of safety. No person is free to check every moment of a rep’s whereabouts but the location can be checked whenever required. In case a rep doesn’t make it to a meeting on time and the client calls up the manager, the manager can quickly check how far the rep has reached and inform the client accordingly. In case the manager sees the rep stuck in traffic or other road situations visible over the map he could either postpone or cancel the appointment for the day. He could even request a shift in the venue of the meeting to a place nearest to the current location of the rep to save time and the planned appointment.

Sending a helping hand during emergencies

There could be situations where the rep has been unfortunately involved in an accident. Checking him being stuck in one place or found at a different spot like a hospital, over the map, the manager could inform the authorities, and the rep’s family, and arrange help.

Working towards female safety and security

Safety is a huge concern for female reps on the field, especially at odd hours. A sense of safety and trust would automatically prevail in these females when they are aware that their people are aware of their location all the time and can send help immediately if and when they need it. Knowing this fact, their families too shall feel secure. A rep with a broken car on a human-less road could be sent a taxi to her exact location live tracking on the map within Dynamics 365 CRM, her current location.

Accepting cancelations and ad hoc requests

Many a time, pre-planned meetings get canceled due to unforeseen situations. In such cases, the managers could quickly redirect the reps to certain other clients that are nearby and schedule appointments with them. This shall not only save the rep’s time but also utilize it for completing another task.

In case of cancelation and no client available nearby, the rep could be made aware to stop his commute and end the work day there itself. This would allow him additional time for his personal work and act toward restoring a work-life balance.
No matter how efficiently one schedules a day, impromptu requests are bound to creep in. If one such emergency ticket is raised by a client, the manager can look at the current locations of all the reps on the field, pick out the one who is nearest to the requesting client, and redirect him to visit the location with an ad hoc request and offer services. Immediate responses often aid in strengthening the relationships with the clients.

Imbibing a sense of responsibility

It is common human nature to act with extra care while being looked at. The awareness that the examiner is observing during an exam makes many students behave responsibly, be extra cautious, and in turn concentrate more on their tasks. The same behavior is observed not just among reps but also among the managers responsible for the rep’s movements. With this consciousness and responsive attitude, tasks get done efficiently and on time.

Thus, as they say, the world looks brighter if one holds the proper perspective. The potential of Maplytics and its features when understood well can work wonders for any business. To explore them further, do have a look at our Blogs and Video Library. Also, write us your mapping needs at crm@inogic.com and get a free demo and a Q/A session scheduled especially based on your requirements.

Until then,
Happy Mapping!