As per a study conducted by Microsoft, there are more than two billion people who are engaged in desk-less task-oriented roles and are frontline workers. These frontline workforces are employed across diversified industries such as transportation, manufacturing, utilities, public safety, retail, hospitality, etc. Yet, managers across these mentioned industries face one of the common fundamental concerns ineffective communication among workforces working on the field across different geographies.
Employees being hired as a deskless workforce by an organization spend major of their time on the field to achieve their operational goals every day. Not only do the on-field workers face the sun but also encounter extreme weather conditions such as snow, rain, high wind, etc. in specific industry use cases. It becomes paramount for such organizations that operate with field workers to establish an accurate and effective information-sharing and instant communication system.
Push-to-Talk apps in the era of smartphones and rugged devices
The on-field employees have utilized two-way radio devices as a communication tool to serve the purpose of connecting and communicating with the on-site managers over the years. However, the advent of smartphones has digitally transformed several work sectors, including the ones that function with a field force. Moreover, the limitations of using the legacy land mobile radios (LMRs) and other time-consuming methods of communications such as voice calls, direct messaging, and e-mails through smartphones are becoming apparent.
In modern times, smartphones are widely being accepted and utilized by on-field teams for their day-to-day chronological tasks, no matter if that smartphones have been deployed by the organization or are falling under a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy.
However, the smartphones used by consumers could be a huge misfit when it comes to on-field employees working in hazardous and harsh environmental conditions such as low pressure, vibrations, shock, and dust as they are specifically not designed for such mission-centric purposes.
Organizations are now utilizing rugged mobile devices as a replica of traditional walkie-talkie devices installed and integrated with Push-to-Talk (PTT) applications to leverage instant PTT communication among employees. Most of the Push-to-Talk applications also empower the workforces with capabilities such as integrated multimedia sharing, instant messaging, and clock-in/clock-out shift schedule as a productivity and communication suite.
What are Rugged devices?
It is an established fact that most of the workforce management, collaboration, and communication can be done through smartphones integrated with Push-to-Talk (PTT) applications by the organization. However, since most of the field workers operate in harsh terrains, their mobile phone devices have to be ruggedly built to withstand the daily hustle.
While mobile device manufacturers are now manufacturing smartphones that are water-resistant to some level, yet rugged or ruggedized devices are specific business-purpose mobile phone devices built to meet the tough, extreme, and hazardous working environments such as mobile phone devices dropping from a height, vibration, extreme temperatures, and low pressure that can handle situations more than a few bumps or spills.
Why is a Push-to-Talk solution a must?
Push-to-Talk (PTT) applications are eliminating the carrying of bulky traditional walkie-talkie devices by replicating the PTT functionality in rugged devices with a low latency period.
In the event when an on-field employee encounters a field emergency, there is a prime need to escalate the concern to the right team members at the earliest possible and by utilizing the most efficient and instant method of communication possible.
Traditional communication methods that can prevent the process of complex communication protocols such as typing the incident in text messaging applications, or opening a mailing app and type a formal email, or even opening a dial pad and search for the contact and wait for the call to be routed and connected is paramount.
An application should be utilized that has a user-friendly interface wherein the barge call can be broadcasted live as and when received in a hands-free and eyes-free manner so that the mission-critical communication is never missed. The PTT application should also enable the on-field workforces to easily locate the PTT button without getting distracted from the operational tasks and connect to the right people on demand. Most of the Push-to-Talk (PTT) solutions also enable the IT admins to create private and public channels or groups so that the communication can be quicker, convenient, and better than it was in the traditional Land Mobile Radio or walkie-talkie devices.
Rugged and PTT – The benefit to the organization
Through the Rugged Push-to-Talk smartphones, organizations can streamline effective communication along with directing and tracking the mobile personnel on the go. Moreover, organizations can also leverage Rugged Push-to-Talk smartphones to improve the efficiencies of on-field employees and reduce operational costs. Other benefits that the organizations can avail are listed below:
- Unify devices and networks
Rugged Push-to-Talk smartphones over hand-held Land Mobile Radios enable the on-field workforces to not carry two devices (corporate-owned smartphone/personal smartphones and LMR handheld devices) to establish instant corporate communication. With Rugged Push-to-Talk smartphones, the on-field personnel can simply carry a rugged smartphone device integrated with the Push-to-Talk app and communicate with the workforce. This unification of rugged smartphone devices with a Push-to-Talk app enables the organization to reduce the hardware costs incurred over purchasing the traditional walkie-talkie devices.
- No restrictions on geographical boundary
Land Mobile Radio networks work on limited radio frequency and are restricted to a small geographical boundary. With Rugged Push-to-Talk smartphones, organizations can utilize cellular data or WiFi to communicate with on-field workforces without the restriction of geographical boundaries.
- Rugged device more than PTT
Rugged devices that are available commercially in the market provide the organizations with features over and above the Push-to-Talk (PTT) solutions. With a rugged device, not only can the organizations establish instant Push-to-Talk (PTT) communication but also leverage additional features such as cellular voice call, instant text messaging, cellular data, and GPS capabilities, etc. Moreover, on-field personnel can also utilize integrated cameras in the rugged mobile devices as an on-the-go barcode scanner for logistics and delivery industry mission-centric purposes.
- Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)
When it comes to deploying organization-owned rugged smartphone devices to the on-field employees, the IT admins should be capable of provisioning those deployed devices centrally through a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution like Scalefusion to secure the system access and organizational data. With EMM, the IT admins can use MDM as an interface to push mission-critical applications and content on rugged mobile phone devices through a single console. The organization can also wipe the organizational data through factory data reset over the air so that the assurance of corporate data not falling into wrong hands or getting compromised can be prevented.
Closing lines…
The usage of rugged Push-to-Talk smartphones is crucial for establishing instant PTT communication among the workforces, particularly in industries where operational and service continuity is dependent on productivity and uptime of on-field employees. Rugged devices can also empower enterprise mobility initiatives across the organization as well as minimize the risk of corporate data compromisation. Rugged Push-to-Talk smartphones are built keeping durability in mind for the on-field workforces working in tough and extreme environments and can eliminate the operational costs of the organization by eliminating the purchasing of traditional walkie-talkies.
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