Mobile Management By Laura Hills, Vice President of Marketing, CyberShift
As today's work force increasingly becomes mobile, employees will accrue more travel expenses. Luckily, through automated work-force management systems, employees can now perform tasks such as filing expenses and time and attendance reports - all from a mobile device. To further address this technology, VSR spoke with Laura Hills, vice president of marketing at CyberShift, a global provider of work-force management and expense management software and solutions.
VSR: Please explain the importance of work-force management as related to the SMB community.
Laura Hills: For most businesses, labor and employee expenses such as travel and entertainment are the top two largest controllable costs. We find that businesses of all sizes are challenged when it comes to managing their work force. In fact, many are still tracking time and attendance on paper, or using outdated spreadsheets. Manual processes contribute to excess labor costs, expose risk to payroll errors and compliance violations, and limit the ability to effectively address labor issues and staffing requirements. Converting to an automated work-force management system enables a business to control labor and employee business costs as well as dramatically reduce errors and violations, improve bottom line performance and increase employee satisfaction.
VSR: Please discuss the current opportunities available within the channel as related to workforce/expense management.
Hills: The way in which software is delivered has changed dramatically over the past few years. Currently, we're seeing a movement toward the Software as a Service (SaaS) model, which is also referred to as on-demand service.
VSR: How far has the market for work-force management technology come in the last few years?
Hills: Perhaps the most notable advancement in work-force technology has to do with the rise in numbers of mobile and remote workers. As this segment of the work force continues to increase, companies are searching for tools to help them stay connected with their employees. Likewise, mobile workers are in need of solutions to help them be productive and efficient while they are on the road.
VSR: What are the major benefits of incorporating a work force/expense management software program?
Hills: Essentially, an organization's success is dependent upon the productivity of each employee. Businesses must utilize the right person in the right place at the right time to ensure maximum productivity. Real-time insight into worker availability and production demands allows managers to react quickly to unexpected changes and have greater flexibility and responsiveness in planning and scheduling.
VSR: Please discuss some of the technology/product opportunities that CyberShift offers specific to the reseller community.
Hills: CyberShift works with a variety of companies to ensure that our products and services address our clients' needs. Through CyberShift's Partner Program, we've established a network of strategic business relationships with other industry leaders in the work force and expense management fields. One of our partners is Accu-Time Systems (ATS), which offers solutions for time and attendance, payroll, and security access.
CyberShift's Workforce Management 3G solution can be accessed via ATS' Optimus terminal as well as the entire Global Series of products from ATS. With our combined solution, the time capture transaction is transported and linked to the work-force management solution and ultimately to payroll to streamline the processing and the accuracy of recording time and attendance transactions related to tasks, jobs, roles and responsibilities. Managers gain real-time visibility to time and attendance data resulting in improved employee scheduling. The combined solution enhances control by making processes much more efficient. Time, attendance and scheduling data and supporting documentation can be routed through the desired control processes instantly and simultaneously, a critical requirement of Sarbanes-Oxley legislation.
CyberShift has addressed on-demand services by integrating its work force and expense management solutions with the BlackBerry smartphone. With CyberShift's mobile solutions, employees can manage their expenses and time capture, employee self-service, labor distribution and management approvals from their BlackBerry device, increasing productivity and improving the workflow process.
