Gaming has become a fundamental part of our daily lives. More and more companies are incorporating game logic into their services to offer a simple, friendly and familiar way of keeping users connected and, above all, performing the actions necessary for the business.
The closest example today are the rewards programs incorporated by credit cards, which according to payments on time, higher volume of purchases and other desired actions, give their users a certain benefit, always in the long term and based on small mini-rewards.
One thing we also know for sure is that we work better when we are happy and feel at ease, so increasingly, smart companies are investigating how to take advantage of the rise in popularity of games and the smart devices people use. Is there a way to combine the two and apply them to work to make it easier and more enjoyable? The answer is yes, and it's called gamification.
The term "gamification" has been around for quite some time, but in recent years it has been successfully adopted by companies in various fields with the aim of increasing the collaboration, commitment and motivation of their employees, as well as providing training and supporting task management. And this is perhaps the key point: through this method, all the tasks that an operator must do are injected with gamification techniques, becoming a reward for those employees who perform them on time and accurately.
But at this point we must make an important clarification: gamification does not mean turning something into a game, but implementing fundamental game mechanics.
Thus, gamification techniques take core game mechanics such as a timed challenge or a clock-paced scenario, and apply them to better engage and motivate users to achieve certain objectives.
Gamification application in field service companies
For companies that provide field services and are willing to invest budget and time in incorporating these systems, gamification provides many long-term benefits.
In fact, organizations that use gamification in their task management increase employee engagement by 48% and reduce turnover by 36%, according to a study conducted by Aberdeen Group.
Gamification strategies are a way to shape the behavior and work habits of field service technicians and administrative workers. According to the Aberdeen report, best-in-class field service companies are more than twice as likely to have a gamification strategy in place for their service team, 32% above the industry average (14%).
For example, companies in the renewable energy, telecommunications server IT maintenance and air conditioning industries can make use of gamification in their field service software to optimize time and reward those employees who perform their tasks in the shortest possible time, directly impacting the company's productivity and efficiency through the actions of the employees.
For technicians who have accomplished multiple tasks for the first time, the company may award more points. Accumulating points can lead to greater rewards in the future, such as salary bonuses, higher ratings in an annual review, or other rewards.
It is important to note that gamification techniques not only help companies internally, but also provide external solutions to maintain customer satisfaction. Thus, another application of gamification in field service companies is related to customer service and the possibility of customer feedback through scores.
This allows companies to identify who is performing well and reward top performers according to their results. The key here is to ensure that employees receive sufficient feedback and commensurate incentives to participate in the system where the strategy is implemented and work together with them on both their individual goals and the overall goals of the company.
The challenge in Geo Management companies
In companies where a central back office function coexists with a field team that carries out scheduled tasks, it is very easy to create division between the two. Unifying and ensuring that everyone follows the same procedures can be much more difficult than in other types of businesses where the roles and responsibilities of employees are not highly diversified.
However, leveraging common ground can be an excellent way to bring a company together. And this is exactly where gamification is expected to excel.
If we consider some of the common tasks to be performed on a daily basis such as recording routings, expense entry, record keeping tasks, contingency sheets, etc., many of these tasks are routine and tedious. Many of these tasks are routine and tedious, but what if you incorporate a competitive element that elevates the appreciation and feeling of reward when performing these tasks?
The business benefits of gamification
Gamification aims to apply people's natural tendencies for motivation, learning, competence and achievement to the benefit of their work environment and task flow. The implementation of an optimal gamification system takes advantage of these natural tendencies, empowering employees to support the company's business objectives.
We must understand that every human being has three underlying requirements that support and affirm his or her behavior: motivations, skills and triggers. And here comes the important part: to drive any behavior, these three factors must coincide.
Let's see in detail how they interact with each other to achieve the greatest stimulation.
Motivation: positive behavioral reinforcement (commonly carried out through quick rewards) is an external agent that increases productivity and concentration in people.
Skills: these are internal agents that require the user's aptitude, time and mental acuity to be developed. In this sense, if we want to increase their capacity, we can introduce reiterative practices, the use of techniques that improve learning and the division of tasks into simpler subtasks that preview the progress of results. Thus, the user will be fulfilling small objectives to achieve a larger goal.
Triggers: this is a warning or notification that tells the user when to carry out an activity at a specific time.
The challenge for companies is to achieve an effective design that incorporates this gamification system in order to keep employees engaged with business objectives.
How to achieve it? Let's take a look at some tips below, focusing on field service companies.
Impact of gamification in the automation of services
One of the challenges that field service companies face on a daily basis is the incorporation of software solutions that aim to reduce time and costs through process automation. The inclusion of these systems is often complicated, since usually the commitment of employees is tied to a specific interest. Thus, what we need is a way to generate engagement and interest in a way that stimulates employees. For this, gamification is an optimal tool.
It is very easy to incorporate gamification elements in the workflow to achieve team involvement. The important thing is to include these three behavioral aspects and establish ways to carry them out and measure them. Here are five actions that can be easily implemented in a gamification strategy.
KPIs for motivation:
At this point, it is important to set performance indicators (KPIs) aligned with the objectives to be pursued. Each company and team will determine whether they are weekly, monthly or annual KPIs, what matters is that they are clear and marked from the beginning, since having well-defined objectives is fundamental for any behavioral modification to achieve results.
In turn, the creation of a reward system is vital. Points, badges or personalized awards, what this achieves is to foster a momentum of continuity, which leads employees to remain stable in the fulfillment of their objectives. Rewards serve as micro-motivators that both in the short and long term benefit both the employee and the company.
Results tables to enhance skills:
The inclusion of leaderboards are key to a gamification system, giving employees the ability to visualize their performance in comparison to other users, providing a view of model employees who represent the goals and values that the company stands for. This is a very valuable tool to keep employees motivated to improve their skills and performance over time.
Reward points for ongoing training:
Employees using enterprise software tend to focus only on the functions that are most essential to their daily work. This can mean that some of the features that are critical to good management are overlooked. The inclusion of gamification techniques helps to incentivize and persuade employees to stay up to date and trained, as this will help them earn reward points which will unlock other benefits for them.
Smart notifications to trigger actions:
The management software must intelligently notify employees when and how to use it. In a field automation environment, this could be, for example, when the employee checks in on their assigned task. The notification should remind the employee what their goals are and the number of activities they need to complete to get the maximum points associated with that task.
Why include gamification in a geo-management software?
As we have seen, using game mechanics through gamification techniques allows us to easily turn mundane tasks into pleasant and enjoyable activities. This is achieved by always providing positive feedback that increases motivation levels and enhances the skills of employees.
But we must not forget the implementation aspect, which is essential to achieve a successful gamification system. And a good implementation involves thinking of good exercises that encourage employees to undertake the best course of action, repeating actions until the set goal is achieved, classifying and comparing achievements with others and providing daily alternatives to improve skills and performance.