Christmas at the Mobile Gourmet’s house was saved this year by the Roto-Rooter man. He rode in literally on Christmas morning to clear a main sewer line block due to cold pipes and other related ‘stuff.’ But what got interesting was when the tech completed the job.
The tech, Willie, was a very nice and patient guy probably in his 50′s. In all likelihood he has seen it all in his line of work, but what seemed to challenge him the most was when the job was done and he had to close the job on his BlackBerry. He sat in his van for probably 20 minutes carefully entering in data with the tip of his pen one key stroke at a time with reading glasses on. He had to refer to a paper list of service codes occasionally and periodically wait for the app to update and refresh. On occasion he said that he has had to wait as long as 30 minute for the app to make one single update, and he couldn’t do a thing about it but just wait.
Clearly there are benefits for the mobile app: real-time updates to the dispatching system, integrated billing with connectivity to a wireless credit card reader and printer, and enforced uniform data entry. However, for Willie he didn’t see the value for himself. He had been using the app for almost a year and still he was very deliberate and careful when entering in data, compared to when he simply did things on paper. Overall, the mobile app may be saving Roto-Rooter money or making them more money, but as he put it, he didn’t see the benefits in his paycheck.
What we have here is a classic case of disconnect between those who implement the app and those who use the app. I’m not saying that all the techs are like Willie, but surely there are other techs – perhaps younger and more tech savvy – that still would find the app to be challenging. It’s obvious that a larger form factor like a tablet would be better and having the ability to enter in data without having to wait for real-time data synchronization or screen refreshes would be vastly more efficient. For someone like Willie, it seemed he would rather clean out the gnarliest pipe than deal with that mobile app.
So, the lesson for any of you implementing a mobile app is to include a cross section of users in the upfront design of your apps and follow up with periodic analysis of app usage in the field to continuously improve upon it. These concepts may seem obvious, but there are still plenty of companies and vendors that take short-cuts for the sake of getting the door our quickly or saving a few bucks. Mobility is a long-term investment in your business and you should treat it as such to ensure that your people are making the most of it.
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Tags: Jason Wong, Mobile Gourmet, Usability
Jason – I do the same thing – chat with the cable guy and the gas man to see what mobile apps they are using! One of the most sophisticated was used by a sales rep in the UK who came to my house to install window blinds. He input the order to the factory and printed the receipt right at the kitchen table. It was very impressive – and that was at least 5 years ago. In that case, the rep loved the app because it was simple to use, it made him look smart in front of the customer and it made his job easier.
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