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MobileDataforce Announces a Reseller Agreement with Abox for Mobile Software

MobileDataforce announces today a reseller partnership with Abox . In this agreement Abox will resell MobileDataforce's mobile software, the PointSync Mobility Platform in Spain, Portugal, France and many areas of Africa. We are very excited about this relationship. This will help us provide our customers and sales prospects with localized sales and technical support across a significant geographical area for our mobile software solutions used on handheld PDAs and Smartphones. MobileDataforce's market for handheld PDA and smartphone software has been growing rapidly around the world with offices in North America, Sydney, Australia and Den Bosch, The Netherlands. Our channel partners are the key to our success. They provide localized business knowledge as well as vertical expertise.

MobileDataforce Announces a Reseller Agreement with Sybase South Africa

MobileDataforce today announces a reseller partnership with Sybase South Africa for delivering mobile handheld PDA and smartphone applications. In this reseller partnership, Sybase South Africa will be reselling MobileDataforce's PointSync Mobility Platform to companies and government agencies interested in field mobility including, inspection software, work orders and asset management on handheld PDAs and smartphones. Interest in MobileDataforce's mobile software solutions is growing rapidly and we have a significant sales pipeline in South Africa that reflects an expanding market for mobile applications. We are very excited to work with Sybase South African. This partnership will enable MobileDataforce's mobile solutions to be supported locally with the highest level of professionalism and attention.

Airlines and PDAs

NEW YORK (CNN) -- From cell phone use to high-speed Internet access, the connected life is spreading to the skies. In January, Emirates airline plans to launch mobile phone usage in its planes, making it the first airline to allow passengers to make cell phone calls on its flights. And Australian carrier Qantas plans to start evaluating technology that lets fliers use their cell phones and PDAs during flight early next year.

10 Steps to a Successful Mobile Software Deployment on Handheld PDAs and Smartphones

Tim Cerami, a brilliant Mobile Systems Architect here at MobileDataforce , did us all a big service by documenting his thoughts on how to conduct a successful mobile software deployment on smartphones and handheld PDAs in the following article. Introduction: Companies around the globe are looking for ways to do more with less. Many recognize that their mobile workforce is being managed inefficiently and extending business process automation to mobile field workers is becoming a priority. The following 10 steps identify how you can get started automating and mobilizing these business processes. Step 1 – Understand the ROI/Scope of the Project and Plan Ahead “What’s the number one reason a mobile project fails?” is a common question we get asked. The answers are that many companies don’t put enough upfront thought into defining the requirements, scheduling testing resources and planning a deployment strategy. The results of these deficiencies are project scope creep, cost overruns, misse

Mountain Tragedies & Modern Mobile GPS & Data Solutions

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This last week I have been captivated by the tragic mountain climbing accident that took place on Mt. Hood in Oregon. Three experienced mountain climbers were caught in 100 mph winds and temperatures below zero on the very top of Mt. Hood at over 11,000 feet. It took over a week to find the snow caves that the climbers had used. Tragically it appears that they all may have succumbed to injuries and the cold. One of the climbers had been able to make a mobile phone call asking for help, but then went silent. As a person involved in the mobile data collection software industry, I began to think about the software tools and technologies that could be used to help find missing climbers, hunters, hikers and other outdoorsman faster. Today, many mobile Smart phones can be purchased with GPS receivers built in. Software companies like MobileDataforce can easily create data collection applications that would automatically report the location of the user at specific time intervals, distance co

Phi Data Announces Partnership with MobileDataforce

For all of you who speak and read Dutch - This is an announcement of a reseller partnership we formed with Phi Data in The Netherlands. We are working together on a number of interesting projects in the Benelux region. Even further down the blog article you can see a translation of this press release that was done with the translation software from Babel Fish . Altijd en overal mobiel met MobileDataforce & PHI DATA BV 19-12-2006 Woerden, december 2006. Recent heeft PHI DATA met MobileDataforce een amenwerkingsovereenkomst afgesloten voor de PointSync Mobility Suite. PointSync is een uitermate flexibel platform voor het creëren van betaalbare, prestatiegerichte mobiele oplossingen voor field data collectie, inspecties en werkorder management. PointSync kan in alle mobiele devices geïntegreerd worden die PHI DATA levert (Intermec, Symbol, Datalogic etc.) PointSync is specifiek geschikt voor toepassingen in de Field Service & onderhoud, gezondheidszorg, beveiliging, agrarische be

Palm Treo & Otterbox for Ruggedized on the Cheap

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The Palm Treo is one of the most popular smartphones now days. Palm's Windows Mobile 5.0 version enables enterprises that have standardized on Windows OS to extend that support out to their mobile workforce. Otterbox builds ruggedized cases for the Palm Treo . We have one in-house that we are very impressed with. I think the list price for one of these cases is around $139. Many of my sales teams are using the Palm Treo 700 W these days, and the case seals it up very nicely and will provide adequate protection from most casual accidents such as dropping it on the floor and using it in the rain and protecting it from blowing sand and dust. Nearly all of MobileDataforce's customers use handheld computers, laptops or Tablet PCs for field data collection, GPS, RFID , barcode scanning, etc. In all cases protecting the hardware investment is a critical issue. Otterbox has created some very useful cases for protecting Smartphones and PDAs that are not ruggedized on their own

Symbol MC35 Handheld PDA - More Smartphones

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I have been hearing rumors about a new Smart Phone from Symbol. If true, this would continue the trend started by Symbol when they released their MC70, MC50 and soon MC35. Symbol has historically been known for their large industrial grade devices used in retail stores, warehouses and other industrial environments. This new trend seems to point toward the business user. It is also worth noting that Motorola is in the process of buying Symbol. It should be finalized in January 2007. Motorola, of course, makes consumer handsets. It will be interesting to watch how these two companies merge their product lines and strategies. Here are some links to other blog articles on the MC35: http://www.howardforums.com/archive/topic/1047847-1.html http://mobile14.com/?p=2784 http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/11/17/symbol_preps_mc35_pda/

RFID on Mobile Handheld PDAs Not Quite Ready for Vendors

We have implemented several very nice RFID projects this year using mobile handheld computers and various PDAs for tracking assets, but these customers seemed to find us, we did not find them. I have tried several times this year, with various online ad campaigns, to find a market for RFID related software products . However, when I ran my ad campaigns they seemed to generate a large numbers of PPC (pay-per-clicks), but the online visitors were only interested in reading not buying. I found this article today that seems to support my findings: Frost & Sullivan recently reported that the total North American RFID market for manufacturing and logistics is predicted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 20 percent over the next six years. Yet, about 75 percent of the technology companies responding to a CompTIA survey earlier this year said there are not enough people trained in the field. Eighty-percent said they believe that a lack of talent will hinder RFID adoption. S

Mobile Handheld PDAs, Inspection Software and The Journal of The American Society of Safety Engineers

I was sent an interesting article today from the Journal of The American Society of Safety Engineers . It is called Best Practices - Audits & Inspections:Improving Efficiency with Technology By Rob Retzlaff. In this article it identifies MobileDataforce's PointSync Mobility Platform as a key mobile software solution for developing inspection software applications for handheld PDAs that are used for "improving efficiency" when it comes to inspections and audits. Inspection software on handheld PDAs just makes so much sense. Many inspection companies are relatively small and the inspector himself is often the person re-typing the inspection data at the end of the day into a report. Using a handheld PDA the data could be quickly collected and fed directly into an inspection report without any re-typing. MobileDataforce develops many custom inspection applications for companies.

Symbol MC50 - More Smart Phones

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Smart phones are becoming more and more powerful. The MC50 from Symbol provides phone capabilities in a semi-rugged case with the power of Windows Mobile 5.0. Field service teams can choose to carry one device that acts as a database centric mobile enterprise database communicator to send and receive dispatched service orders, plus receive phone calls from the wife asking you to stop at the grocery store and pick-up a loaf of bread. What more can a guy want? The MC50 is not made to drop in the pond or from the 6th floor scaffolding, but it fills a void in the mobile handheld world. It provides a semi-rugged device for only a few hundred dollars more than a consumer grade device.

MobileDataforce Launches PointSync Mobility Platform 4.0

MobileDataforce Launches PointSync Mobility Platform 4.0 for Rapid Mobile Software Application Development for Handheld PDAs SYNOPSIS: New Version Features Visual Debugger, Data Mapping Wizard, Support for Hosted Environments, SQL Builder and 220 Pre-built Mobile Application Functions Boise, Idaho—December 12, 2006 – MobileDataforce® today announced the release of the latest version of the PointSync® Mobility Platform, the next generation of the company’s award-winning rapid application development solution for mobile software development environments. This major release includes over 150 new features, innovations and enhancements to PointSync Developer, PointSync Manager, PointSync Server and PointSync Mobile. This is a very significant release in MobileDataforce’s 7-year history,” said Kevin Benedict, CEO of MobileDataforce. “PointSync Mobility Platform 4.0 will change the way mobile solutions are developed and will reduce the time it takes for our customers to recognize a return on

Palm Treos and Grabba Card Swipers

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We are working on a very cool smartphone and mobile software solution at this time. It involves Palm Treos using the Windows Mobile OS and a Grabba Magnetic Card Reader . This allows mobile sales people and route delivery personnel to take credit and debit card orders as they walk through crowds of shoppers, concert goers, delivery routes and outdoor venues. My team is using MobileDataforce's PointSync Mobility Platform to design, develop and deploy the mobile software solution.

Smart Phones and Enterprise Database Applications

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Nearly everyone in our company has a Smart phone now days. By Smart phone I mean a phone with an operating system like Windows Mobile 5.0 or Windows CE and typically includes a touch screen. These operating systems give you the ability to run powerful database centric applications that can synchronize with your company's business software and enterprise databases. This is important when you consider that 30-40% of the workforce is mobile or works remotely. For the past 40 years companies have been investing in software for automating their business processes and operations. The problem we have today is that most of these investments have been to improve operations within the 4 walls of the office, warehouse or plant and they do not extend to the millions of mobile or remote workers. Smart phones, however, make it possible to utilize these 40 years of internal IT investments and extend them out to the mobile workforce. My PSO (professional services organization) spends all their ti

HVAC Service Orders on Handheld PDAs

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In the last few weeks we have delivered 4 HVAC applications. The image attached is a recent application that was created using MobileDataforce's PointSync Mobility Platform and delivered to a Dutch company. The ROIs found from automating work and service orders are easily defined: Daily service orders can be wirelessly dispatched directly to the service technician in the field. Schedules can be dynamically changed on the handheld Driving directions can be included and wirelessly dispatched to the handheld and integrated with numerous GPS navigation systems available on PDAs Customer history and equipment warranty information can be included in the work order and dispatched to the handheld device Parts can be ordered on the application and wirelessly synchronized with the office Parts inventory levels and shipping status can be queried on the handheld device Completed service orders can be invoiced and printed on a mobile printer and left with the customer for fast payment Completed

NFL Scout's Job - Watching, Measuring, Assessing

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I read an article on a plane last week about how NFL Scouts do their job of finding talent for their football teams. Bob Morris spends much of the year traveling (20,000 miles per year) to different games, practices and workouts to analyze and evaluate players. The picture in the above right shows Bob carrying a reporter's notebook to collect this data. He evalutes over 500 players each year and records huge amounts of information on each player. Of course - from my perspective as CEO of MobileDataforce , I believe he should be collecting all of this data on a handheld PDA or a Tablet PC so this information can be instantly sent back to the team's database for analysis, comparisons with other players and past data from each player. The process of data collection that Bob Morris is using is not so dissimilar to many organizations that still collect huge volumes of inspection data and field tests on paper tablets or forms. MobileDataforce has developed 2 complete suites of data

Mobile Service Orders for Furniture Repair and Delivery

The July edition of Integrated Solutions magazine has a case study called, Real-Time Mobile Computing Saves Time In The Field . This case study describes how Kane's Furniture saved 32 man hours per day by converting from a paper based service order system, to using mobile service order applications on handheld computers. Their solution was designed, delivered and deployed using MobileDataforce's PointSync . The solution included the following components: Daily Service Orders sorted by Service Truck Description of tasks or service orders Customer location and driving directions Status of service order (completed, incomplete, pending parts, etc) Digital signature for customer to sign on the completed work order These features are synchronized with the main service order CRM system at the office. If you would like a personal demonstration of MobileDataforce's wide range of work order and service order applications please contact MobileDataforce .

Automotive Services and Asset Management on Handheld PDAs

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MobileDataforce has designed and delivered some of the most advanced automotive solutions for handheld computers that you will find anywhere. This image shows you an inspection form that allows the handheld computer user to identify any repairs or maintenance that needs to be completed on the interior of a vehicle that was returned from a lease contract. Once the inspection is completed the cost of the maintenance or repair can be factored into the final contract settlement. The repair work can also be scheduled and dispatched as well. This is just one example of the multitude of automotive applications we have developed and delivered around the world. Additional blog articles on mobile applications for the automobile industry can be found here: http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2006/11/automobile-lease-return-applications.html http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2006/11/automobile-work-order-solution-for.html

Field Inspections on Handheld PDAs

In the past I have written about the advantages of conducting inspections using handheld computers and a mobile software platform. In most of my articles I have focused on the efficiencies from collecting data once, and then synchronizing the inspection data directly to a central database. In this article, I would like to highlight the advantages of synchronizing historical inspection data on the handheld computer. I was recently working with a state agency responsible for inspecting professional licenses and premises. In order to perform their tasks, they were required to drive into the main office, rummage through paper files, remove these paper files and load them into a box to take with them to the inspection sites. They would use a carriage with wheels to transport this box to their automobiles. Let's pause a moment to think of the costs and inefficiencies of these task. They do the following: Drive to the main office where previous inspections are stored Sort through file cab

Digital Images and Annotations on Handheld PDAs

I would encourage readers interested in using digital images in work orders and other data collection applications to read this blog article. It talks about how to create a mobile application that allows you to take a digital photo, draw on it and make notes on the photo and then synchronize this edited photo into a central database for record keeping. I have seen this request from companies doing job estimates on handheld computers. They want to take a digital photo and highlight the problem areas. This information gets sent back to the office where a supervisor can review before delivering a final job bid.

Mobile Solutions for Government & Public Works

MobileDataforce is now involved in so many public works and government mobility initiatives that I felt this area deserved its own blog. The new blog is called, Mobile Solutions for Government & Public Works. The primary focus of this blog is to share information from mobility projects and initiatives in these arenas.

Washington State Mobile Technology Conference - Dec. 1st

MobileDataforce is participating in our 4th Mobile Technology Conference in the past few months on December 1st in Tacoma, Washington. This series has been very popular with government agencies, utilities and field services companies (.i.e. anyone working outdoors). We have participated in this series in Boise, Salt Lake City, Baltimore and now in Tacoma. They are fun, informative and fast paced. For more details on this upcoming Mobile Technology conference please follow this link . 8:30 am - Registration and continental breakfast 9:00 am - Opening Remarks - Kevin Benedict 9:15 am - Keynote Presentation - Enterprise Mobility - Mission Critical Brent Felker Americas VP, Mobile Solutions,Psion Teklogix 10:00 am - Panel Session 1 - What is Field Mobility? Who is Mobilizing? Where is the ROI?Panelist - Microsoft, MobileDataforce, Palm, iAnywhere, Psion Teklogix 11:00 am - Break - Exhibitor Demos 11:15 am - Latest Developments in Enterprise Mobile Software Solutions 11:45 pm - Micros

Data Collection & Data Integrity

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Paper based data collection processes have problems. One of the biggest is the inability of a paper process to ensure that the data collected is relevant, accurate and appropriate. Recently I spoke with a person involved in a data collection project that consisted of 17 data collectors. At the end of the project they reviewed the data on the paper forms and much of it was missing, inaccurate or irrelevant. The project was a complete failure. The screen shot above shows an example of a data collection application with pick lists and database queries. The data collector is limited to selecting pre-designated service categories. Once the category is selected, then a database query is performed that presents only the services related to that category. There are many techniques for ensuring the validity of the data collected, but this example shows how you can limit the selection to at least relevant answers. The other problem the failed data collection project experienced was their inabili

The Automobile Whisperer - Handheld PDAs Communicating with Vehicles

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His name is Tom Booker. His voice can calm wild horses, his touch can heal broken spirits. That is from the back cover of the book, The Horse Whisperer. I can't do that, but we can talk to cars, trucks and vans and they can talk back to us. We have had the opportunity to work with a company in Vancouver BC, that I have written about in an earlier blog article , that had a requirement to communicate with the vehicle's engine computer. The image to the right shows a cable connection, but we have also connected to the vehicle's engine via bluetooth. What was the purpose of this project? Our customer was converting conventional delivery vans to "hybrid" vans. So during and following the conversion the company was using handheld computers to monitor the engine diagnostics. The mechanics and engineers now can walk up to a car and survey its vitals without lifting the hood. Analysis software on the handhelds can use the data to make recommendations to improve performanc

Automobile Lease Return Applications on Handheld PDAs

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MobileDataforce has become experts and authorities on the subject of mobile handheld computer solutions for the automotive industry over the last 2 years. In the past few months alone we have been contacted and contracted by numerous companies seeking our expertise to develop customized mobile solutions for the following solutions: Vehicle lease returns for commercial companies Vehicle lease returns for the military Mobile automobile repair services Automobile detailing and appearance work Mobile autobody repair shops Mobile bumper repair and replacement Mobile headlamp restoration businesses Mobile windshield repair Let's discuss just one of these areas in this blog article - Automobile lease returns. What is required in these solutions? Barcode scanning of VINs (vehicle identification numbers) to uniquely identify the returned vehicles. The VIN is often found on the door jam or the dashboard. The handheld computer must be able to barcode scan these numbers, identify the vehicle a

Business Processes on Handheld PDAs for Automotive Services

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I have written a number of times about the ability to automate business processes in mobile software applications. This screen shot demonstrates another simple example. In this screen, an estimate of the costs of detailing and repairing an automobile has been determined. The next step is the service provider's manager must approve and enter his/her initials, the technician that completed the estimate must enter his/her initials and then the auto dealer's manager must sign their name approving the services and cost. These 3 approvals complete the business process that is required in order to start the work and to get paid for the work. This is a simple but important example. If you try to submit this work order without the proper authority, a warning message will pop-up asking for the handheld pc user to complete the business process before continueing. This is another method of helping new users remember how to appropriately complete their work. You can build guides, training

Automobile Work Order Solution for Handheld PDAs

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My customer support team has been busily working with one of our customers, Teph Seal to mobilize and automate their business operations on auto dealers' car lots. The mobile application is very powerful and is being rolled out to auto dealerships in many locations across the USA at this time. It consists of both mobile applications and a website application that management uses. The environment - mobile work stations on auto dealers' car lots. The purpose - Teph Seal is contracted by the auto dealers to prepare new and used cars for the showroom floor. They detail and repair automobiles so they are ready to show. •Mobile Form Factor: PDA •Vehicle services operation •Mobile Application: work orders, invoicing, mobile printing, time clock, HR module, remote synchronization •Web Site: customer management, invoicing, employee management, services management, reporting •Technologies: vehicle barcoding, Ethernet cradle, bluetooth printing, signature capture •Products: MobileDatafo

Automobile Inspection Software for Handheld PDAs

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My professional services (Mobile Application Developers) team has rapidly evolved into experts on mobile applications for the automotive services industry. They have developed and delivered a wide range of mobile applications for: Automobile lease return applications on handheld computers Automobile auction software for handheld PDAs- designed to estimate the value of a vehicle at an auction. Damage and repair costs can be estimated instantly on the handheld PDA Mobile automobile repair services - windshield repair, bumper repair, headlight restoration, dent repairs and much more all documented, managed and invoiced on handheld PDAs Automobile cleaning and detailing applications for handheld PDAs at auto dealerships Automobile vehicle location applications for large dealer lots I have written in more detail about some of the specific applications we have delivered in this article . All of these mobile automobile services software applications were delivered using MobileDataforce's

Mobile Software Platform Thoughts

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The above diagram represents a mobile software platform called PointSync from MobileDataforce. The concept of a software platform in this discussion means a software application that has many pre-built functions and supports many mobile project requirements out-of-the box. Many components of a mobile software application should be provided in a mobile software platform, not as a custom development task. Components and functions such as: support for GPS support for multiple screen sizes support for digital images support for synchronization via wireless networks support for RFID support for various button configurations on handheld devices support for various security configurations support for bluetooth support for disconnected applications support for Tablet PCs, laptops, Windows CE.NET, Windows Mobile etc. support for audio memo capture support for various bar code scanners support for odbc database integration support for data validations support for various business logic Again t

Managing Mobile Software Deployments

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The screen shot above is from MobileDataforce's PointSync Manager . It is the administration screen for managing mobile users, mobile devices, mobile applications, integrated databases, database tables, mobile sycnhronizations and mobile software licenses. Why am I discussing this today? Because an application like this can save huge amounts of money for a company. Think about it - if you develop your own custom mobile application using .NET it can be powerful, colorful and useful but how are you going to do the following: Manage deployments Manage mobile application versions Manage synchronizations and synchronization errors Manage different device requirements (i.e. screen sizes, Tablet PC, Laptop, PDA, Palm Treo, etc.) Manage different user groups (i.e. managers, supervisors, field work crews, etc) Manage multiple mobile applications on each device Manage all the database integrations between mobile devices and enterprise databases Review all successful and unsuccessful synchron

Inspections & Asset Management for Government Agencies

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In the September/October edition of Public Roads magazine, a magazine published by the Federal Highway Administration, there is an article called High-Tech in the Far West . The article subtitle is - The Idaho Transportation Department taps into wireless technology for collecting and reporting data on maintenance at rest stops. This article describes in-depth the benefits the Idaho Transportation Department received from mobilizing their daily rest area inspection processes with MobileDataforce's mobile software platforms. This article focuses mostly on the benefits of replacing a paper based inspection process with electronic inspection forms on handheld PDAs. I would invite you to read the quotes and comments from the ITD personnel involved in this project. The Idaho Transportation Department mobilization project emphasizes a common theme. The majority of mobile software projects we do fall into one of the following areas: Inspections Asset Management Service Orders/Work Orde

Windows Mobile 5.0 Phones Don't Work in the Ocean

I lost my T-Mobile MDA PDA phone last week in the Ocean. I was running along the shoreline with my daughter during lowtide and did not notice my phone was missing. After breakfast, I reached for my phone to feed my addiction to email and it was gone. The tide was now up and our shoreline path was under 4 feet of water. I miss that PDA phone and the gigabyte of files on the mini-SD card. I was at the doorstep of the local T-Mobile store when they opened on Monday morning. My addiction is now fed. A few notes on the MDA. It has a slide out keyboard that is wide enough to comfortably type using your thumbs on the keyboard. When you slide the keyboard out the screen changes to a landscape view that makes it easy to read lengthy emails. It doesn't float, but serves its purpose well in normal conditions. I have used it throughout Europe and Australia when traveling and my email works seamlessly.

Maryland State Mobile Technology Seminar

I am sitting in the airport in Minneapolis as I write this blog. I am returning home from the Maryland State Mobile Technology Seminar where I was the MC for this event. It was great fun. I had the opportunity to meet electrical utility companies interested in mobilizing many of their field service activities, systems integrators looking for a RADs-ME solution to simply and speed up the development of mobile applications, and government agencies looking to mobilize a wide variety of field operations. Specifically - Sewer system asset management and inspections Snow plow vehicle tracking systems Maintenance and operations processes Asset Management We met with a company that repairs and installs ATMs. They want all of these processes to be mobilized on ruggedized handheld computers. We learned from the ruggedized handheld computer manufacturer - Psion Teklogix , that there are many new and very useful develops coming out this quarter and next. We heard from Verizon Wireless about their

Orcas Island - Association of City and County IS Professionals

I had the great pleasure of being the keynote speaker at the semi-annual conference for the Washington State Association of City and County IS professionals last week. The venue was amazing out on Orcas Island , and the audience was a lot of fun. I spoke on the subject of Government Data Collection and Mobilization. We are working with many local government agencies to mobilize their inspections, compliance auditing, service order, maintenance systems and asset management operations. I will be back in Washington State on December 1st speaking at the Washington State Mobile Technology Conference . This conference is an educational event designed to update government agencies, utilities and companies on the latest trends and technologies for mobilizing processes in the field.

Mobile Forms, Mobile Applications & Mobile Business Processes

Our customers often follow a learning path when it comes to mobilizing their business. Let me identify several steps on this path: Mobile forms - replace paper forms with electronic forms on handheld computers, Tablet PCs or laptops. Evolve the electronic form to become a full mobile database application on a mobile computer Extend business processes out from the enterprise and into the mobile database applications. Replace many traditional communication methods (phone calls, faxes, web queries) with real time enterprise database queries from mobile database applications. Let me walk you through a scenario - Step 1 - Company M wants to replace paper service orders with electronic service orders on a ruggedized handheld computer. In phase 1, they are content to pick up the handheld in the morning with pre-loaded service orders, and return the handheld device at night to synchronize the work they accomplished during the day. This saves a great deal of data input and mistakes by the offic

Business Processes and Mobile Handheld Solutions

A successful business is made up of successful business processes. In business terms, in order to be successful, the business processes in use must produce overall profits. With those assumptions in place - let's discuss the following scenario: Company X is profitable, but wants to reduce the costs associated with their service order and dispatch processes. They want to reduce the time, paperwork and administration costs of dispatching, re-typing and processing field service orders. Company X determines that mobilizing their service order processes by dispatching and closing service orders using mobile handheld computer solutions that synchronize remotely with a service order management system in the central office would dramatically reduce the costs and improve profitability. The dilemma: Many off-the-shelf service order management systems don't currently have a mobile client that runs on a handheld computer, or the ones that do, don't support the "unique" busine

Public Roads - September/October 2006 Issue

In the mail this morning I received the most recent issue of Public Roads from the TFHRC . The Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) is a federally owned and operated research facility in McLean, Virginia. TFHRC is the home of the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) Office of Research, Development, and Technology . They also publish the journal Public Roads . In this journal there is a lengthy case study of how the Idaho Transportation Department uses MobileDataforce's inspection and asset management software for handheld computers. Paul Ziman, operations, pavement, maintenance, and materials engineer with the Federal Highway Administration's Idaho Division Office is quoted as saying, "We are excited about the innovative use of PDA devices for maintenance acitivies... ITD (Idaho Transportation Department) has been pleased with the performance of the PDAs. Currently, the main use is as a platform for supporting electronic forms in the field. This met

MobileDataforce's EMEA Partner Summit

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This week we conducted our first European Partner Summit in Den Bosch, The Netherlands. We had 24 reseller and alliance partner organizations attend this event. I want to thank all of our partners for dedicating their time to this event. We appreciate it! Many of the Benelux's largest systems integration companies are now MobileDataforce partners. We spent the day training our partners on how best to market, sell and implement mobility solutions. Many of our partners are building complete mobility practices around the PointSync Mobility Platform . PointSync is designed perfectly for the systems integrator. They can deliver just about any kind of mobility solution imaginable using PointSync. I wrote a detailed blog article the other day on the advantages of standardizing on a mobility platform. Here is partial list of attending partners: Modatec Hewlett Packard Palm Symbol Technologies Intermec Sybase Gap Gemini One of our partners is now working on 8 different mobility projects wi

Sharing Information & Thoughts On Mobile Solutions

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I believe that it is helpful and beneficial to share information on best practices for implementing enterprise mobile software solutions. I receive nearly daily feedback that this blog is useful and provides a valuable service. I also know our competition reads this blog so they also can learn how to run a software business. That is OK, I want their customers to benefit from MobileDataforce's shared knowledge. MobileDataforce is happy to provide speakers and consultants to help companies and organizations learn more about implementing mobile solutions. If you would like to discuss your mobility projects please contact us .

Mobile Software Platforms and Standardization

I just returned from a meeting in Rotterdam, The Netherlands where Unilever, one of the largest consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies in the world, has asked MobileDataforce to assist them on a 4th mobility project. This project involves laptops, handheld computers, desktop computers and hundreds of mobile users. The Unilever project highlights an important consideration for companies interested in mobilizing multiple business processes – should a company select multiple mobile software applications or standardize on a single powerful and flexible enterprise mobility platform. Consider the following situation with me – Company X wants to mobilize the following processes: 1. Dispatching and retrieving work orders to and from their field services teams 2. Automating and mobilizing a parts inventory tracking system (parts used for repairs) 3. Employee time cards for the field service technicians 4. Vehicle tracking system – to see the location of all field services teams 5. New product

The Magic Quadrant for Handheld Computers

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I was in Paris, France last week at Symbol's EMEA Partner Conference. While there I heard more evidence of a trend I have been watching for a while. The 2 largest ruggedized handheld computer manufacturers - Symbol and Intermec have both recently come out with small, ruggedized, full functional handheld computers. These handheld computers combine the ruggedness of larger handhelds, and include barcode scanners, GPS, phones, WiFi, bluetooth and more. Symbol says that their MC70, pictured above in PointSync Developer , has become one of their top sellers. It is especially appealing to the "field service" market. That is also the market MobileDataforce focuses on. I have also recently seen a lot of very interesting looking small ruggedized handheld computers coming out of Korea and China. These are sub $1,000 USD devices that can reasonably be used as handheld computers, phones and barcode scanners. They are a little bulky for the suit coat, but work nicely attached to the b

More on Buy vs Building Mobile Solutions, Part 3

There are always reasons and/or business justifications for wanting to mobilize a business process. Something has motivated the individual or company to march down the path of mobilization. So when considering whether to buy or build a mobile solution these additional factors should be considered: Tolerance for risk Opportunity Costs Expected ROI Competitive Advantages Let's briefly discuss each of these considerations. Tolerance for risk - are you willing to risk attempting to develop an enterprise mobile solution for the first time (If your team is an experienced mobile development team, then you can ignore this point)? It can be done, but the first time requires a lot of thought, design meetings, trial and error, debugging and above all else - time. What if the design can not scale? What if the synchronization engine that your developer made is too slow? What if after 8 months the system is still only half complete and full of bugs? Opportunity Costs - this is one of the most

More on Buy vs Building Mobile Solutions, Part 2

This seems to be the topic of the week this week - so let me add more thoughts to this topic. If your organization has .NET programmers that are available now and they have a lot of time on their hands, then yes it is possible to develop your own enterprise mobile application. Here are a couple of questions before you start: Have your programmers completed successful mobile applications before? If this is their first time there is a steep learning curve that must be considered. Is the same programmer going to code the mobile application, code the security, code the synchronization logic, code the database integration and code the business logic? If there are multiple developers/programmers involved - ask question #1 about each of them. Are these programmers going to also write your user guide and document the solution? How long will your programmers stay with your organization? What if the programmer leaves? Who will support it and maintain it? There are many parts to an enterprise mob

Buy vs. Building an Enterprise Mobile Solution? Part 1

This is a good and fair question. Let's start our discussion with a scenario - You want to monitor assets for your government agency. That means you want to track all the street signs, sewer pipes, manhole covers, guard rails etc, that your organization owns using a mobile software application on a handheld computer. You also want to mobilize your inspection processes involving these assets. In addition, you would like to integrate a "work order" management system to dispatch repair technicians when work is needed. You would like all of these processes to be mobilized on a handheld computer that synchronizes with your central databases. The problem - Often the above processes involve more than one desktop application and multiple backend databases. How would you mobilize all of these? You can't buy 1 mobile software package that will integrate with all of these desktop applications and databases. Why, some of your applications are home grown, undocumented and specif

PMM Selects MobileDataforce Software for Handheld PDAs

Last week MobileDataforce was selected to provide mobile asset management/field inspection software for a large project in South Africa. It will be used by the South African government to assess property taxes. Properties will be inspected, data will be collected on a mobile handheld device and the data will be synchronized to an enterprise database. The software application that will be used is MobileDataforce's PointSync . It will be integrated with GPS and mapping software so the exact location of all property assessments can be identified and documented.

Manitoba Hydro Selects MobileDataforce Software

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We do a lot of business in the electrical utility industry. This previous blog article identified many of the mobile utility projects we have delivered. This week we gained a new customer in Canada called Manitoba Hydro. They selected MobileDataforce as their mobile software platform for field inspections. They listed over 17 inspections that they want to mobilize (convert from paper to mobile handheld data collection). The solution will involve using rugged PDAs in the field, MobileDataforce software for the mobile inspection application and synchronization to an enterprise database.

Clinical Research Company Selects MobileDataforce

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MobileDataforce just won the contract to develop a large clinical research solution for stroke victims. This project involves healthcare providers using handheld PDAs and PDA software from MobileDataforce to monitor treatment programs and the clinical results over a number of years. MobileDataforce is becoming more and more involved in the healthcare field. We have recently delivered solutions for remotely monitoring young patients, mobile asset management in hospitals, safety inspections of hospitals and now clinical research. The clinical research project involves using handheld pdas for data collection, software from MobileDataforce , and synchronization with an enterprise database. Ease of use, flexibility, and quick application development were reasons given for MobileDataforce winning the award.