Enterprise Mobility and the Gift of Time

McCall, Idaho - Winter Wonderland
I was standing next to a grizzled old man (definition: anyone older than me that can grow a beard), at the coffee shop today.  He said he had been standing in lines all day.  I said, "Makes you appreciate smartphones, doesn't it?"  He agreed and added they save me so much time!

That comment is a perfect example of "blogger's inspiration!"  I said, "What do you mean by - "It saves you so much time?"  He said his work is closely tied to the weather.  He runs snow removal services in beautiful McCall, Idaho.  As a result, he must carefully monitor the weather including wind direction, precipitation forecasts and the beginnings and endings of storms.  He can now do all of this precisely from his smartphone.  He said he is absolutely more productive.

He went on to say, "I want to start working at the tail-end of a storm to maximize my productivity and customer services."  If he starts work too early his work will be covered by snow and he will have too remove it again, adding expense and delaying his work for other customers.  If he starts too late, he will have dissatisfied customers."  He uses his smartphone constantly in the winter to maximize his productivity.

Enterprise mobility solutions can provide all kinds of "gifts of time" to employers and employees.   From simple collaboration with colleagues, prospects and customers using your smartphone for voice, SMS, Skype or Google+ instead of traveling to a face-to-face, navigating quickly and accurately to a destination or to collect data in the field that is integrated with back-office systems.  There are all kinds of ways time can be saved by utilizing mobile technologies.

In recent decades productivity gains in manufacturing have been driven through better processes and process automations, automated data collections, advances in SCM (supply chain management), logistics and ERPs.  Today, there are even more productivity gains to be had in each of these areas by using mobile technologies to improve real-time visibility into events, processes, statuses, locations, resources and snow fall!

Have you reviewed my new Mobile Solution Directory at http://mobilesolutiondirectory.blogspot.com/?

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant
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Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Video Interviews: Regev Yativ

I had the privilege of interviewing Regev Yativ, the CEO/President in the Americas of Magic Software this week.  Magic Software is over 30 years old, which gives them a unique and interesting perspective on enterprise mobility and what makes a good solution and mobile strategy.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uAWK2RlZPQ&feature=share



*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant
View Linkedin Profile
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Satellites, GPS Tracking, Artificial Intelligence and Mobile Technologies

My good friend J.D. Axford, a civil engineer and hero of all ducks for his wetlands work, sent me a very interesting (if you are into GPS tracking, GIS, mobile technology, artificial intelligence, accelerometers, etc.) article he wrote on how the physical is meeting the digital in the world of construction and engineering today.  I am including it here for your pleasure and education.

Compaction, in heavy construction, is the application of energy to soil, crushed rock, or asphalt to increase density by driving out air, which enables the finished, compacted material to support buildings, roadways, and other structures. Compaction is specified as a percentage of the maximum dry density determined in the lab.

During construction, compaction is most often measured using a nuclear densitometer. Other reliable methods include the use of sand cone (ASTM D-1556) and rubber balloon (ASTM D-2167) methodologies; less formal tests used in the field include soil probes (a pointed steel rod pushed into the ground to gage penetration resistance and therefore estimate compaction), proof-rolling with loaded dump trucks while observing deflection, and even boot-heels. These all are necessarily spot-checks; consistency is sought by controlling the compaction process.  This requires the roller operator’s ability to track speed and passes over each section while estimating compaction, leading to both over- and under-compaction. Near-constant inspection is usually needed, and even so, compaction is a frequent source of job site disagreement.


Intelligent compaction (IC) is a system growing in use which combines on-board GPS, computers, and axle-mounted accelerometers to provide continuously-controlled compaction. The accelerometers measure stiffness, and indirect measurement of density, and feed that information to the computer, which uses GPS to produce a color-coded map of the working area; the colors are used to provide an intuitive depiction of areas already meeting specifications, and those needing more compaction. For asphalt work, IC systems (there are approximately eight US equipment vendors developing and selling IC), infrared sensors measure (and the computer maps) the asphalt temperature, a critical data set in ensuring timely compaction as the material cools.

As is normal, a test zone is compacted at the start of the overall compaction effort to determine the number of passes and speed the material requires to meet specifications. That information is entered into the on-board IC system as the baseline against which future work areas are compared and mapped. This eliminates guesswork, eliminates overwork, and improves the homogeneity of the finished product, saving money for the contractor and improving the service life of the compacted product.

Intelligent compaction, requires mobile technologies, GPS tracking and artificial intelligence to calculate all kinds of accelerometer and speed data, location and project requirements.  This is another example of how the physical is meeting the digital and improving processes.  You can learn more about how artificial intelligence is being integrated into field services by ClickSoftware here.

*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant
View Linkedin Profile
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Using Artificial Intelligence in Health Services Requires Real-Time Enterprise Mobility

I am intrigued by the increasing use of artificial intelligence in areas like field services management and home healthcare services.  I read a use case (http://www.clicksoftware.com/Collateral/Documents/English-US/KinCare-Case-Study.pdf) this morning about KinCare and ClickSoftware in Australia.  KinCare provides all kinds of home and healthcare services across a wide geography in Australia.  They are one of the largest providers of in-home care and assistance in Australia and they get paid by providing documented services compliant with government regulations.  There are designated fees for each service and there are little to no margins for errors. It is very easy to screw up and to lose a lot of money in this kind of operation.

Let me provide an example of KinCare's services:
  • Nursing care
  • Personal care
  • Domestic assistance
  • Social support
  • Respite care
  • Transportation
  • Case management
Some of their clients need all of these services.  These services are often provided by different people at different times.  Let's image tens of thousands of clients, care givers and service providers located all across Australia.  All of these participants and their appointments must be scheduled and coordinated.  Does that sound like a big enough challenge for you Mate?

The only way to run this kind of operation efficiently is to make sure the care givers and service providers are connected (via mobile devices) to an intelligent software system (using artificial intelligence and context aware systems) to understand how to most efficiently provide and schedule hundreds of thousands of services.  In addition, must also make sure each care and service provider is qualified, available and in close proximity.  Also it is important to note that these services are critical to a persons health and welfare.

The mobile devices are used as mobile data collection devices, sensors (GPS) and reporting systems in the service delivery process. Mobile devices feed real-time data to the real-time analytics and artificial intelligence systems that schedule all parties across the country.  Since all of these participants are mobile, it takes very careful and fast analytics to ensure all parties can meet in the right places, deliver and receive services efficiently, document services and invoice for those services.

Smartphones and tablets, broadband internet connectivity and ultra-fast artificial intelligence capabilities integrated with human resource, talent management, scheduling, case management, patient and service management, billing and dispatch systems are all required to make this work.  Wow!  Speed and artificial intelligence systems are revolutionizing these kinds of operations today.

When I am out teaching mobile and SMAC strategies to large companies the topics of speed, context aware and artificial intelligence comes up every time.  These are the game changers today.



*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant
View Linkedin Profile
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Video Series: Romeo Elias

I had the privilege of interviewing mobility and BPM expert and the CEO/President of Interneer, Romeo Elias on their company's products and strategies for providing a cloud based enterprise mobility solution.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwygz5F80nI&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw


*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant
View Linkedin Profile
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

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