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As more and more industries deploy mobile workforces, the need for travel risk management strategies is becoming more and more important.

Journey management has long been required for industries in the resources sector including mining, gas oil and – most recently – renewables industries.

But more and more industries are using mobile workforces in the modern era, with staff operating at remote locations, moving between decentralised locations and using a range of travel methods to move about.

This means that journey management and travel risk assessment is becoming critical to a range of new industries, as well as those that have traditionally had mobile workforces.

With workers travelling between job sites and other destinations, potential risks need to be assessed, proper mitigation of these risks needs to be undertaken, education and training needs to be supplied and measures need to be put in place to mobilise emergency support as required.

As more industries head towards mobile and remote operations, the rise in journey management and travel risk management services is also set to grow.

Market research has shown that the global market for travel risk management services is set to grow by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.1 per cent over the coming years.

This is largely because not only are many industries having more mobile workers undertaking company travel but because the risk of an accident occurring would be extremely damaging.

 

The global mobile workforce is rising more and more every year

 

The global mobile workforce was 1.52 billion in 2017, which made up 39.3 per cent of all workers.  According to IBM data, that is set to balloon out to 1.87 billion workers by 2022 – a rise of 23 per cent.

There are many reasons for this, including:

Improvements in technology: Mobile devices are getting more and more powerful, allowing for workers to operate remotely more effectively. It is forecast that 10 billion mobile devices will be used worldwide in 2020. 

More flexible workplaces: Many employers across a wide range of industries are recognising the value of a remote workforce, with lower overheads, greater productivity and staff enjoying a better work/life balance.

More decentralised workplaces: Ever since the first office was assembled in London in the 18th century, we have been accustomed to work environments in a centralised location. That is rapidly changing, with more and more industries moving away from this model.

Access to better talent: By having a static workforce in a centralised location, the talent pool available becomes limited. By having remote locations that can be spread out all over the world, you can tap into the best workers.

The industries expected to increase mobile workplace participation

There are a number of traditional industries that are taking huge strides towards moving to deskless operations and having more mobile and remote workers in the field including:

Agriculture (858 million workers)

 

This is a number that is set to rise starkly in the coming years as the world’s population increases. Research has shown that global agricultural input will need to increase by 70 per cent by 2050 to meet the demand for food.

The agricultural industry has already embraced technology to improve efficiencies and operations, with the Internet of Things allowing for sensors that can manage water use, determine technological failures before they occur and monitor the quality of the soil.

With more and more people working in regional and rural areas in agriculture, the need to use technology to monitor their movements and their safety will also increase.

Retail (497 million)

 

This may come as a surprise to some, given that retail has traditionally centred around brick and mortar operations.

But retail workers are increasingly moving to deskless operations, especially when it comes to management.

Improved mobile technologies and apps mean that managers can monitor operations, staffing and scheduling remotely and deploy workers, manage supply chains and other functions from a remote location.

With multiple working parts to the overall operations and an increase in the number of workers doing their job remotely, retails has to consider travel risk assessment as well.

Manufacturing (427 million)

 

Technology has also greatly influenced manufacturing operations which have traditionally required heavy-duty, onsite processing power for design purposes and skilled employees to use it.

Now that this processing power can be housed in the cloud and manufacturing operations can be managed on a simple mobile device, we are seeing a spike in skilled workers operating from remote locations.

IoT sensors also allow for early prediction of failures allowing for the mobilisation of field technicians before a problem occurs. 

This means more workers operating remotely and moving between home and job sites, or between multiple job sites.

Construction (265 million)

 

Journey management and travel risk management has always been important in construction, with many workers travelling between multiple job sites.

But construction has also experienced a heavy shift towards deskless operations, with management and administration aspects handled remotely.

Education (226 million)

 

A large reason why education is moving beyond the traditional desk and classroom environment has been the rise of e-learning.

E-learning use by companies rose 900 per cent between 2001 and 2017 and it is tipped to be a $325 billion industry by 2025.

Transportation and logistics (189 million) 

 

This has always been an industry where journey management and travel risk assessment has been crucial as the job involves company travel as a standard function.

Healthcare (148 million)

 

There was a period of time where the days of the house call from the local doctor appeared to be over.

The number of healthcare professionals offering home visits dropped dramatically in favour of centralised clinics and practices – but that has all changed in the modern age.

Healthcare companies and allied health professionals are increasingly seeing the value in offering mobile services to people’s homes as it drastically cuts down the cost of overheads.

It also helps accommodate the growing needs of an ageing population, with the number of people across the globe aged 60 and over increasing over twofold from 382 million in 1980 to 962 million in 2017.

Healthcare services are increasingly being delivered directly to the patient which means more and more professionals, workers and drivers on the road.

This exposes them to greater risk – especially in rural and remote locations – and requires strong journey management and travel risk management practices.

Hospitality (122 million) 

 

This is another industry which might not leap off the page as one that would support mobile and remote workers.

And while this may ring true for those providing the services directly to customers, a range of positions are being taken out of an office and on the road or at remote locations.

These positions include traditional roles like sales agents and managers and business development managers as well as more modern roles like e-commerce and digital marketing.

Automating journey management to improve the safety of workers behind the wheel

 

Identifying and understanding the risks workers could be exposed to is the first step in the effective journey and travel risk management.

Another key pillar is ensuring that all vehicles are properly serviced and maintained to prevent failures and malfunctions while staff are operating them.

Establishing company policies surround safe work travel and ensuring all workers are educated and trained to understand company best practice is also critical.

And restricting travel during dangerous periods, like when bad weather is expected or common fatigue times including early morning, late afternoon and during the night will also help drive safer company travel operations.

But one of the most critical pillars of proper journey and travel risk management is knowing where your people are and being able to send support and assistance in a timely fashion.

This is where JMS becomes your essential safety tool for employees that are required to drive as part of their job function.

JMS automates the entire journey process, establishing checkpoints and time periods where drivers are expected to reach them.

If the driver does not reach these checkpoints, the app will automatically send alerts via SMS, email and mobile audio to management.

The app uses the built-in GPS of the mobile device as well as phone reception to ensure these alerts are triggered in areas of low mobile signal as well.

You will always know where your people are while they are moving around for work and be able to instantly deploy emergency support if an accident or mechanical failure occurs – especially in a rural or remote location.

And when the work journey is complete and the driver has reached their destination, the app automatically disengages.

Get started with a free trial of JMS today