Industry News

 With increasing adoption of social media and the rise of  24/7 customer  service, the ability for employees to work “on the move” has created a new hybrid form of working. This is particularly useful for local governments where speed and reactivity are fundamental concerns.

Research firm IDC forecasts that the number of mobile workers, currently at around 1 billion, will grow to 1.3 billion people by 2015. Also, Ofcom’s annual International Communications Market Report places the UK out in front for mobile data consumption. According to the report, UK mobile users are consuming more data on phones and tablets than any other leading nation.  One-sixth of all Web traffic in the UK was on a tablet, mobile or other connected device, higher than any other country in Europe.

Whilst mobile computing has been widely adopted by commercial enterprises and central government in the UK, local governments are now beginning to leverage the power of smart devices as computing platforms. Government organizations are increasingly viewing all of their employees as customer service providers – an "everyone serves" approach that extends to field service workers.

Public sector employees in the field are the most costly resource of any government budget, often coordinated through archaic paper - driven processes. This can make them slow to respond to issues and prevents fast resolution of potential problems. Typically, this can mean anything from a fallen tree blocking the road to damaged street lights and abandoned vehicles.

These sorts of issues are primarily reported by members of the public using mobile technology. Glasgow-based KANA Software has released LAGAN Employee Mobile, designed specifically to support  the needs of local government employees in the field.

The software enables workers to easily view, accept, update and close work orders on iOS and Android devices, including smartphones and tablets. Successfully trialled in the US, the solution accommodates large amounts of text, maps and other graphical elements required to pinpointing the exact location of work sites. Field workers can remotely manage their workflow and arrive on site with extremely detailed information at hand.

“Mobility is ushering in new levels of efficiency for local government,” said David Moody, head of worldwide product strategy for KANA Software. “Never before has there been a more powerful tool to streamline work flow and collaboration. Mobility makes government workers and, by default, government agencies more productive – enabling them to do more with less.” LAGAN Employee Mobile is available now as part of the latest LAGAN Enterprise customer service suite. KANA recently hosted a complementary webinar offering an overview of LAGAN Employee Mobile. Click here for details and to access the webcast.

Date Posted

20/08/2013 00:11