Phone trackers are often thought as spy ware, with justified ethical issues. Technically they can be used to spy on partners, without their knowledge, or used to monitor minors and their activity. There are arguments against and in support of installing such software, but that is a different discussion.
There are ways that your company can use the features in phone tracking software to manage projects, improve customer service and optimize your workflow.
We’ll take a look at the phone tracker software from hoverwatch.com for this example; the site has a friendly design, their product seems well documented and they are charging a reasonable price. The software only works on Android phones, but if you are providing the hardware for your employees, Android is definitely the cheapest solution.
Let’s say you have a small service business for major appliances (white goods), with three or four employees on the road, and one answering the phone and keeping track of stock. Below we’ll give a few examples on how you could use the software’s features for your business.
Geolocation
- When you get a call from a customer, you can check which employee is closest and inform the customer when they can expect someone to be there.
- Location tracking can be used for better time management – check who is working where, will all contracts be done on time or reassigning contracts if someone needs more time and the other finished earlier.
- Location history can be used to bill customers, optimize work flow or better calculate costs.
- Having an overview of the time spent on a project, plus transport times and costs can help improve efficiency and better calculate future project costs.
Call and Message recording
- Recordings can be used to monitor customer needs and satisfaction.
- You can double check on orders or complaints by just looking up previous calls and messages, regardless which employee made them.
- You can use the dashboard for better coordination between departments, making orders, complaints, contracts and technical issues visible for all departments to refer to.
- Monitoring calls and messages can also help detect security issues or tensions between employees.
- Last but not least, you can keep an eye on your workforce to make sure there is a proper balance between work and fun.
With normal office software and a little tweaking you can use these tools to manage projects, small and big, keep track of expenses and optimize the use of your manpower.
Of course there are also the obvious security features.
In case phone is stolen
- Front camera photos when the phone is unlocked.
- Continue tracking even if the SIM card is changed.
- Making the software “invisible” so that it can not be detected and removed.
It can also help if you have the extreme situation of having to monitor a suspicious employee(s).
If you consider what companies like hoverwatch charge and what similar features would normally cost elsewhere, then it is worth considering. And if you inform your employees about the installed software, there will be no hard feelings and it might also be a little motivation booster.
