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Here’s why email doesn’t cut it for field employees
Field employees: these folks do their work outside of an office and not at a desk in an office. These can be construction workers, repair workers, site maintenance, lawn care professionals, and more.
They respond to a central project or site manager but don’t sit at a computer all day. Below, we answer the question: why isn't email a good fit for field employees?
Rethinking Email: Reasons why it falls short for field employees
Email isn’t the best solution for reaching your field employees, from higher expenses and security risks to the urgency factor. Take a look:
It Can Get Pricey
Using email isn't free. If you use something like Microsoft 365, it costs $6 for each person every month. That adds up to $72 for each person for a whole year. So, if a company has 100 field workers, it will cost them $7,200 every year just for email.
Scams and Nasty Emails
Sadly, scams targeting work emails are at an all-time high. If your field workers use email, they could get fooled by these. In the US, about 3 out of 10 people will open a scam email, and more than 1 out of 10 will click on the malicious link.
What’s more, to ensure field workers don’t fall into these traps, they’ll need training—more time they don’t have and you can’t afford, all to get the information they need to do their jobs effectively and efficiently.
More Work for the IT Team
More email use means more IT work to ensure everyone can log in, keep things secure, and help with any (potentially endless) email problems.
Lost Time to Login Headaches
Using email securely means field workers need to follow a "two-step" login protocol, which is a hassle and can be confusing when they're already busy working.
Missed Messages
If workers use their personal emails for work, messages from their boss can get lost among notes from friends or spam, which means they might miss important info when they need it most.
The Urgency Factor
Perhaps most important, urgent messages on safety, site shutdowns, and more can’t wait for outbox glitches, or any of the million other reasons a field worker may not open their email during their workday. So how to reach them when it matters most, without a 1980’s-style phone tree?
There is a better way.
Email isn’t the best choice for communicating with field workers, who need something simple, direct, and secure to get work messages when they need them.
Secure apps like MindForge let companies securely send messages straight to workers' phones without all the headaches and risks of email. For a small company, it's way cheaper at $3,000 yearly for all the messages they need to send than the $7,200+ they stand to spend on email systems, IT support, and more.
Reach out to the MindForge team to learn more about how our secure messaging app can help your team communicate more efficiently and effectively.