Workforce management provider Xora has been selected by West Coast Arborists (WCA), which has been providing urban forestry-management services to municipalities for more than 20 years, to supply workforce management solution for its team of 600 mobile workers.

Xora’s workforce management software is a secure cloud-based management application that can be downloaded onto mobile phones or tablets. The app can be accessed by any device with a browser connected to Internet. The app automatically collects location data for each work group and sends it in near-real time to the Xora management application where WCA’s 12 area managers can access it anytime they wish.

“We are excited to be working with such an innovative leader like West Coast Arborists to help them transform their employee and customer interactions using our software and the newest generation of tablets,” said Anne Bonaparte, Xora’s CEO and president, in a statement.

WCA, a $55-million urban forestry-management company that maintains trees for municipalities throughout California, finds that the mobile workforce management app saves time and money by automating and improving the accuracy of administrative reporting through custom mobile forms.

Additionally WCA is able to locate any one of its field teams in near-real time during the workday, eliminating the need for an expensive fleet-tracking system.

“Until now, managers have had to call crew supervisors to find out how a job was going,” said Chris Crippen, WCA’s information technology manager, in a statement. “Now, Xora updates location information about each crew every two to five minutes.”

The app also helps WCA to configure specialized timesheets, work logs, expense reports and other forms that crew members can access from their supervisors’ tablets. The process eliminates manual paperwork for field employees and manual data entry for back office personnel.

With Xora’s ability to transmit location data from mobile app in near real time, WCA also plans to phase out the use of fleet-tracking devices that currently are hardwired into the company’s work vehicles. This is much convenient and cost-effective than the in-vehicle solutions that are “super expensive.”

 “WCA is an example of how mobile technology can support the 38 million mobile workers in this country who almost never step into an office. These are the people and the businesses we serve,” Bonaparte of Xora added.

Earlier this year, Xora, in partnership with Lawn Ranger, a horticultural company that creates gardens in the summer and removes snow in the winter, participated in a national television advertising campaign from a major U.S. carrier.

The campaign highlighted how Xora's mobile solution helps Lawn Ranger schedule and deploy 250 field workers in a matter of minutes during major snow events.