Kevin Benedict is a TCS futurist and lecturer focused on the signals and foresight that emerge as society, geopolitics, economies, science, technology, environment, and philosophy converge.
Business Analytics and Mobile Handheld PDAs
If your company provides a defined list of services, it is easy to include a feature in your "mobile work order" application that will record the start and stop times on a service. Let's say you have 100 field service technicians all performing the same list of services. It will not take long to understand the average length of time it takes to complete that service. Your job estimates will become increasingly accurate, your planning and scheduling processes better defined and accurate and the individual performances of your field service technicians can be monitored based upon your analysis of the time it takes to complete each service that you offer. You can pay bonuses or give raises to service technicians that have above average service performances and that generate above average profits for the company.
These business analytic features can be included in just about any mobile software application for use on handheld PDAs developed on the PointSync Mobility Platform.
Inspection Software for Mobile Handheld PDAs, Service Requests & Asset Management
- A mobile handheld computer is used to perform an inspection on the condition of a building (company asset)
- The information collect from the conditional assessment inspection is synchronized to the enterprise Asset Management system so it can be documented, analyzed and work and budgets assigned to maintain it.
- A service request is dispatched to the handheld computer or PDA of the service technician. The service technician completes the work that was dispatched to him/her and the service request is closed and synchronized with the enterprise Asset Management system
Inspections, Asset Management and Service Orders often go hand-in-hand. All three of these functions benefit from the use of mobile handheld computers and PDAs. The data that is collected is in the field, the company's assets are located in many different areas, the work that is performed is also done in many different remote locations.
MobileDataforce's PointSync Mobility Platform is designed specifically to support all of the enterprises connectivity between the enterprise's database applications and mobile field workers.
This link goes to a document that can be downloaded called "28 Reasons to Mobilize".
Mobile Handheld PDAs and Inspection Software
Mobile Inspections on Handheld PDAs and the Web
Most if not all of the field inspection software applications that MobileDataforce have worked on synchronize data from mobile handheld PDAs to a database back at the office. Often we are asked to create web interfaces to this data so project participants and management can quickly login and review the collected inspection data from anywhere in the world via a web browser. We customize a series of reports that display the data in relevant and helpful formats for quick and efficient viewing and understanding.
Mobile Inspection Software on Handheld PDAs
Mobile inspection software solutions are the topic of the week. Why? Many of MobileDataforce's largest global customers are in the inspection services business. In addition, rarely are inspections done in an office cubicle. They are most often completed somewhere away from the office and often out-of-doors. My engineering team has been developing and enhancing the PointSync Mobility Platform for many years specifically for companies that have a need to use a wide variety of different inspection applications and other mobile applications in the field.
The image in the upper right corner of this blog - is a screen shot of the PointSync Developer. This is the application companies use to develop each customized inspection. Once the mobile application is designed, developed and deployed the work can begin.
Because the inspection services industry covers such a wide variety of inspections, MobileDataforce created a mobile inspection platform to support the requirements for quickly changing them. Here is a list of a few of the common inspection applications:
- Building Inspections
- Power Pole Inspections
- Substation Inspections
- Stray Voltage Inspections
- Power Generation Plant Inspections
- Pipeline Inspections
- Health & Safety Inspections
- Scaffold Inspections
- Mold Inspections
- Fire Safety Inspections
- Conditional Assessment Inspections
- Auto Inspections
- End of lease vehicle inspections
- Quality Assurance Inspections
- etc...
The list is endless. No one would buy a separate mobile application for each of the thousands of different possible inspections. Companies want an mobile inspection platform that can support all of these possible scenarios. That solution is the PointSync Mobility Platform for Inspections.
Off the Shelf Mobile Applications vs Customized for Handheld PDAs
Mobile Inspection Software for Handheld PDAs
Mobile Software Solutions for Handheld PDAs and Integration
Mobile software solutions for handheld PDAs have limited value, unless they are synchronized and integrated with business applications back at the office. To that end, MobileDataforce's mobile software applications are integrated with many of the world's most popular database applications including:
- Sybase & iAnywhere
- Quickbooks
- Microsoft SQL
- Microsoft Navision
- Microsoft's Great Plains
- Microsoft Dynamic
- Microsoft Access
- Oracle
- AS 400/DB2
- MRO Maximo
- Many more...
The integration with these database applications enable bi-directional database synchronization between the mobile handheld PDAs and the office business software applications. This empowers the mobile handheld user to have the same kinds of visibility to enterprise data as someone sitting in a cubicle in the office. In addition, the office can receive near real-time data from work being done in the field. The efficiencies that are available through mobilization can be enormous.
Hawaii & Mobile Software for PDAs, Smartphones and Handhelds
Greetings Folks,
I am back from a wonderful and relaxing family vacation/holiday on the Island of Maui, Hawaii. I tried to forget about mobile software, PDAs, handhelds and smartphones for a few days, but alas, there are people carrying mobile handheld computers everywhere I go!
Let me give you an update on some of the mobile software solutions my team has been working on over the last few weeks:
- Paintless Dent Removal - mobile auto/vehicle inspections, services and repair business solutions
- Bridge inspections
- Mobile work order management applications for ATM service technicians
- Electric Utility - mobile inspection & work order applications
- Building inspection applications for a county government
- Clinical trials - mobile applications for healthcare service providers
- Asset management/conditional assessments and preventative work orders
- Much more...
The key value propositions for many of these solutions are the following:
- Accountability of work and workers in the field
- Accountability of company assets and inventory in the field
- Efficient use and dispatch of field service technicians
- Documentation of work completed in the field
- Efficient and timely synchronization of field data to the enterprise database
- Fast processing and invoicing of work completed
- Inspections and documentation of inspections - for just about everything
- Faster and better customer service leading to happier customers and greater profits
Toilets and Mobile Handheld PDAs
This is a first - MobileDataforce is developing an inspection software solution for inspecting toilets using handheld PDAs. Our team in Newcastle, England is working on a project called WaterSmart. This application is for Water Utility companies to use to help homeowners conserve water and save money.
This is how it works:
- Inspectors swarm into a homeowner's bathrooms and start flushing their toilets, using their showers and filling their bath tubs.
- They measure outputs, water pressure, and the overall water use of a house.
- They use handheld PDA applications to collect all of this data and synchronize it back to headquarters
- The data collected results in recommendations for the installation of water conservation equipment in the home, which kicks-off a work order process
- The work order is dispatched to a service technician that travels out to the home and installs things like; balloons in the toilet to reduce the water in the tank, shower heads that reduce water volume to a dribble and many other clever things...
These mobile software applications are used for mobile inspections, data collection, work order dispatch and synchronization. These are very interesting projects and they allow us to play with cool new handheld PDAs and other mobile gadgets.
Interviews with Kevin Benedict
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Futurist David Espindola’s new book has just been released, "Soulful: You in the Future of Artificial Intelligence." Alex Whittin...
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I had a great time participating in the filming and development of a 10 minute film on digital twins recently. Last week was its premier at...
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In this deep dive with Munich Re (Groups) cybersecurity expert Bob Parisi, we learn how the insurance and reinsurance industry develops poli...