Service based businesses have to make miracles happen every day. Service managers, dispatchers, operations managers are in charge of monitoring and managing the flow of work out in the field. The only thing that is constant in this environment is change. When change happens, and it will… administering this task on paper becomes almost IMPOSSIBLE.

Let’s look at a simple example.

ABC Company utilizes an office based work order scheduling application. Daily work orders are entered into this system, scheduled to a mobile worker, printed out, picked up and everyone goes out and completes their work…right?

What happens when you have last minute changes to today’s schedule? For example, a customer calls and cancels, an emergency job comes in, someone called in sick, leaving you to juggle everything and find someone to complete the work. This can be a real problem, especially without having the appropriate systems and technology in place to help.

Here are some common questions that need to be answered.
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This week we were visiting with a prospective client who collects soil samples out in the field. In addition to collecting a wide variety of different types of measurements related to the soil, they also need to collect information about the current weather. This weather data ideally is then saved along with the soil sample data. Apparently the lack of a standardized method for collecting and saving this information has lead to significant challenges for both the customers of this company as well as the office staff.
Here’s a look at what was going on:
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We had a tremendous turnout for our Facilities Management Webinar with over 100 attendees, spread over 3 different continents. Thank you for your participation!  During this hour long education session our panel of experts discussed the latest trends in facilities management, building operations and mobile business process optimization. Registrants were exposed to the benefits of mobile computing, some of the common challenges associated with going mobile and were introduced to technologies that bridge the gap between the office and the field.

In this webinar we showed our prebuilt work order management solution that’s fully integrated into Archibus, but the same set of apps could easily be integrated to any backend system you have.

Here’s a recap of what was covered:

Operations Managers, Facilities Managers, and Property Managers are charged with collecting and reporting on a wide variety of different types of data. This data needs to be collected out in the field, returned to the office, and entered into the primary back office business application. This manual collection process always creates significant operational challenges.
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Idaho National Labs has chosen MobileFrame to automate their work order management.  Idaho National Labs previously adopted a competing mobility solution in 2003 but was unable to get the solution working properly, leading them to return to paper-based processes.  After their previous experience,  Idaho National Labs realized the need for a more robust mobility solution with a proven track record and had been looking for a good solution that would work as promised ever since.  After seeing MobileFrame’s full-featured platform in action, Idaho National Labs was confident that it would meet their needs. With MobileFrame, Idaho National Laboratories will be able to utilize the latest mobility technologies to implement full-featured mobile work order applications that easily integrates with their existing Ventyx backend system. Continue reading →

As many of our readers already know, MobileFrame is all about solving problems. In this case we are solving the problem of how to deliver real time turn-by-turn driving directions to mobile workers. To address this problem we are now offering a pre-built mobile configurable application that delivers real-time driving directions. Here is the best part: this application can be integrated into any existing MobileFrame application or used stand alone.

Here’s how it works:

1. Enter the Destination Address

2. Enter Starting Address or Leverage Current GPS Position

3. Click Get Directions…

4. MobileFrame Returns Real Time Driving Directions, based upon the most efficient route.
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I love talking to prospects about how MobileFrame can solve their problems and today I had a very interesting conversation that I thought I’d share. I was chatting with a prospect who was interested in replacing an old system that they have been using for the past 3 years. I was amazed to hear that their most annoying problem is getting new devices provisioned and sent out into the field.   Apparently their current software vendor forces them to deal with 45+ different cab files! They have a different file for each device model, OS, configuration, etc.

He said it is a nightmare to look through these different CAB files to find the exact right one for the device that they are loading. He said they waste hours on this every time they go to roll-out new devices….

The good news is that MobileFrame has the answer.
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