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Mobile workforce scheduling and management specialist Skedulo announced the launch of a newly designed app featuring a faster, more streamlined interface.
Skedulo X, available for iOS and Android, allows workers to interact with dispatched job and appointment information regardless of whether they have an active cell phone connection.
“People use smartphones for every aspect of their lives today and its extremely common for consumer applications such as Uber, Instagram and Yelp to coexist with the apps people use to get their work done in a professional capacity,” Matt Fairhurst, CEO at Skedulo, told eWEEK. “When we looked at the workforce in general, we saw significant disparity between the quality of the user experience between consumer and enterprise apps that, a lot of the time, led to an overall dissatisfaction when using the apps and tools to get work done.”
Fairhurst said the company knew that getting high levels of satisfaction through quality user experiences was critical in ensuring Skedulo users would get out of bed in the morning happy and positive about opening the app and starting their professional day.
“This leads to far higher levels of user adoption in the workforce, which is a big deal for our end customers, the businesses and companies that our mobile users contract or work for,” he said.
Offline support provides a full-featured approach to working when the user doesn’t have cellular service, Fairhurst said.
In addition, mapping and location capabilities and intuitive travel features allow users to navigate their day with real-time, traffic-sensitive insights into expected trip duration on the road.
When users begin their journey to an appointment, they can choose from navigation apps such as Google Maps, Waze or Apple Maps—or even request an Uber or Lyft—right from the Skedulo workflow.
“The convergence of mobility and the on-demand economy, as well as the breakdown of the line between a desk job and one that can be delivered on a device, has changed the way people manage their personal lives and professional responsibilities in a major way,” Fairhurst said. “Like it or not, the days of waiting to sit at your desk or arrive on site to start your working day have largely disappeared.”
He said as soon as people wake up the collaboration, organization and planning of their day or week has already begun. Having information and functionality related to work and personal life in the palm of your hand or strapped to your wrist means we’re constantly moving between ordering your groceries for the week and completing work tasks in apps like Skedulo, he said.