Repsly recently released its first Mobile Worker Global Activity Report, which consists of activity data derived from 5,000 field representatives using Mobile CRM and Data Collection software in 44 countries over a one-year period. The findings can be utilized as a baseline for organizations to see how they measure up to competitors in their respective geographical regions of Asia/Pacific, Latin America, Europe, Africa, or the United States.

The report analyzes six key metrics that provide great insight into areas such as efficiency, productivity, and accountability, among others. In this post, we will explore the metric of Efficiency Index, which can be defined as the ratio between the time field representatives spend with customers and the total workday time.

The Numbers

Our data indicates that the geographic region with the highest efficiency rating is Asia/Pacific, where field representatives spend 88.5% of their time on-location. Next is Latin America with an efficiency rating 78.3%, followed by the United States with 75.3%. African field representatives are on-location 72.3% of the time, while this metric for Europeans is 43.4%.

This metric can be broken down further to analyze how many minutes on average field representatives from each region spend visiting clients over the course of a year. We can refer to this portion of the efficiency rating ratio as “productive time.” This year in the Asia/Pacific region, field representatives were on-location for approximately 52 million minutes. In Europe, that figure is 22 million minutes, and is 17 million in Africa. The United States follows with field representatives spending 16 million minutes on-location. Finally, Latin American field representatives were on-location for 3 million minutes this year.

Takeaways

When armed with the knowledge of how efficiently field representatives are using their time throughout the workday, managers are able to adjust business processes accordingly. Additionally, organizations that employ mobile CRM software with a time tracking functionality can develop efficiency ratings for individual representatives, which can be used to compare differences across a team or changes over time.

It’s important to note the discrepancies that can occur between productive time and efficiency rating. For example, field representatives in Europe spent more minutes visiting clients annually than representatives in other regions, yet their efficiency rating was significantly lower than the rest. A subpar efficiency rating could be the result of several factors. One thing to consider is the amount of time representatives devote to performing administrative tasks. Being bogged down by paperwork could prevent representatives from maximizing their time spent with clients.

Another consideration is an organization’s territory management or lack thereof. If one representative is scheduled to visit clients located in close vicinity to each other, such as in an urban city, and another is visiting clients whose locations are more spread out, there will be disparities between those two representatives’ efficiency rating. Such could be the case for the dramatic plunge in Europe’s efficiency rating compared to the rest of the world. Yet another determinant is the training procedures that an organization has in place. It’s plausible that certain field representatives will need more targeted coaching than others to meet their daily goals.

Having an understand of their efficiency ratings is a way for organizations to take their temperature, so to speak. While managers can’t control where clients are geographically located, they can devise the most direct routes possible for their field representatives. Although administrative duties are essential to making an organization run smoothly, organizations can implement modern tools to curb the amount of paperwork and other time-consuming tasks that representatives have to complete in a given day. Roadblocks that curtail representatives’ time with clients is inevitable, yet managers can provide the necessary support when problems in the field occur. If field representatives aren’t spending a large majority of their workday servicing clients, this should be a red flag for change.

Access the full length Repsly Mobile Worker Global Activity Report right here.