AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Kris Oldland

A staggering 3.1 billion has been spent on fixing or replacing broken gadgets in the last five years, a new UK study has revealed, which whilst focussing on the consumer sector should highlight the fragility of consumer grade devices for field service organisations..

Mobile phones are the item most likely to meet an accidental end, with 8 million of the fragile gadgets damaged in the last five years.

A survey of 2,000 homeowners revealed that, across British households, 5.3 million laptops and PCs and 4.1 million cameras have also fried at the hands of their uncoordinated owners in that time.

Water damage is the greatest phone-killer, accounting for 23 per cent of mobile phone and 7 per cent of laptop claims.

Kat Robinson, Head of TSB Insurance, who commissioned the research, said: "Now more than ever we rely on our gadgets to get through the day, so it’s unfortunate when they are taken out of action unexpectedly.

"The time and expense of dealing with smashed screens, sizzled monitors and defective equipment is a major gripe that many of us are needlessly suffering through because of having no insurance or picking inadequate protection."

 

But the research revealed more unusual ways to destroy your digital appliances. One unlucky respondent had their phone consumed by a hungry horse, while another had it slip out of their hands and into the toilet bowl while trying to take a selfie in the loo.

An over-enthusiastic fan totalled his phone at a football game after Gareth Bale scored the winning goal for Tottenham at White Hart Lane, and another had their TV destroyed when it was struck by lightning.

The study also revealed our typical 'walking wealth' – the cost of the gadgets we carry around with us on a daily basis – at an average of £288 per person.

 

When asked to choose which gadget they consider most precious to them, a third chose their mobile phone, while just over a quarter chose their laptop or PC.

Almost a fifth of mobile users have experienced a smashed or broken screen. In the event of ‘the dreaded drop’, one in ten immediately returned to the provider they were insured with to get the screen fixed, while 6 per cent powered through with a broken display.

 

Kat Robinson, Head of TSB Insurance, continued, "When it comes to insurance, having a flexible policy that works for you can really cut down on the hassle should you ever need to claim.

"Whether you want to protect the bricks and mortar of your home, the contents, or your latest piece of tech, it’s important to pick insurance cover that protects you and adapts to your needs."

 

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ACK Transport, based in Wollaston Northamptonshire, is using a unique mobile app from routeMASTER for remote monitoring of its general haulage fleet.

As a long-time customer of AGM, ACK Transport is eligible to add the recently upgraded app free of charge to its existing routeMASTER fleet control system. Vehicle progress can be pin-pointed in real time and access to the routeMASTER vehicle tracking and analysis system is possible from literally any location.

Managing Director Andrew Kevan has quickly taken to the new application: “We use the system to keep a check on vehicle locations and that’s handy when, for example, customers need to know an accurate ETA. It’s a good management tool which not only lets us monitor the vehicles but also enables us to check time sheets remotely. The app is easy to download and really simple to use. Always having my mobile to hand means I can access a host of fleet information from the minute I get up to last thing at night!”

 

ACK Transport runs an extensive curtainsider fleet and provides a nationwide general haulage service, including building products and electrical goods transport.

“With so many vehicles on the road and with multi drop delivery points,” adds Andrew” it’s also important to keep vehicle idling to a minimum. The routeMASTER system allows us to monitor each tractor for any excessive idling, which helps to keep fuel bills down and ticks a box for the environment. The cloud-based software has, for a while, played a key role in the efficient running of our fleet. This new app just makes it a little easier.”

 

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Berg Insight estimates that global cellular M2M module shipments increased by 19.4 percent in 2015 to a new record level of 96.0 million. A somewhat higher growth rate is expected for 2016.

Until 2020, shipments of cellular M2M devices are forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.7 percent to reach 256.0 million units. East Asia, North America and Western Europe were the main geographical markets in 2015, accounting for around 75 percent of the total demand. The regions are similar in size measured by volume.

Berg Insight projects that the relationship in relative market shares between the three regions will remain relatively stable in the coming five years. The latest 3GPP standards for LTE – Cat 1, Cat M1, and Cat M2 – will contribute substantially to growth in the next coming five years.

 

These new standards are designed to be less complex to limit power consumption and are priced more favourably to address the mass market and make it viable to connect entirely new applications.

The results of Berg Insight’s latest cellular M2M module vendor market share assessment show that the three largest module vendors have 72 percent of the market in terms of revenues. “Annual module revenues for the three largest market players Sierra Wireless, Gemalto and Telit increased by 12.5 percent to US$ 1.12 billion, with the total market value reaching approximately US$ 1.6 billion,” says Johan Fagerberg, CEO at Sweden-based M2M/IoT analyst firm Berg Insight.

Sierra Wireless leads M2M module revenues, followed by Telit and Gemalto. SIMCom Wireless leads in shipments for the first time in 2015, but is only in fourth place in terms of revenues.

 

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Based on its recent analysis of the workforce management (WFM) solutions market, Frost & Sullivan have recognised Teleopti with the 2016 EMEA Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Value Leadership.

Teleopti's pioneering work in the WFM market, backed by the outstanding customer value of its full-featured product set, has earned it an eminent position in the market. Its commitment to product innovation is highlighted by the richness of its features in all areas, from forecasting and scheduling to performance management and agent enablement.

Teleopti was an early mover in the WFM market, and is now one of the last of the pure-play WFM providers, allowing it to focus on improving WFM and not spread resources over the other areas of agent performance optimisation (APO). It has a powerful, flexible, versatile, best-of-breed WFM solution that meets the diverse needs of European and global markets. Its solutions are available on-premise and in the cloud, allowing companies of all sizes to choose the option that best fits their budgets.

"Being able to deliver its solution on-premise, the company has an advantage in countries that are reluctant to move to the cloud. However, as with the rest of the industry, Teleopti provides cloud-based alternatives as well,” said Frost & Sullivan Principal Analyst, Nancy Jamison. She added, "Teleopti mainly sold cloud to smaller companies, but in 2015, its cloud business won many more enterprise customers, including large centres with thousands of agents."

 

Being headquartered in Sweden, in a region with numerous countries and various labor laws, has given Teleopti knowledge of specific needs across different regions. For instance, for the Middle East market, Teleopti created a prayer planning function within its product that inserts breaks at the required times. The agent screens also accommodate differences in language — including reading from right to left — and regional calendars.

The company differentiates itself through its consulting model and staffing tenured consultants with expertise in contact centres.

Customer engagements start with pre-installation analysis, but a critical component of the engagement is that the consultant sticks with the customer for the first half year after implementation, before handing off to a post-sales support team. This model tends to be expensive, but it has paid off for Teleopti by ensuring long-term customer satisfaction.

"Teleopti has been successful in its attempts to deliver top-class ownership experience, as evidenced by 9 out of 10 of Teleopti’s customers recommending the solution to others," noted Ms. Jamison. "Furthermore, customers have come to expect speed of innovation from the company. In the past 18 months, it has released six new feature modules, ranging from product integration with third-party suppliers to features that directly affect the agents, such as a notification system, talent management, advanced training planning, and overtime availability."

 

The company also places due emphasis on employee satisfaction, providing easy-to-use and visually appealing access for agents on mobile devices, supporting shift trading or requesting time off no matter where they are. Gamification is another key area designed to keep employees motivated and engaged.

Significantly, the company’s offerings have attracted notable partners, including system integrator and value-added reseller partners normally found in the ranks of well-established contact centre players. Longstanding partnerships with companies such as ZOOM International, ASC, and Telstrat enable Teleopti to go head-to-head against the more entrenched WFO suite providers.

Overall, strategic partnerships and a rich product line have ensured customer loyalty and profitability for Teleopti, making it a name to be reckoned with in the EMEA WFM market.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in implementing strategies that proactively create value for its customers with a focus on improving the return on the investment that customers make in its services or products. The award recognizes the company's inordinate focus on enhancing the value that its customers receive, beyond simply good customer service, leading to improved customer retention and, ultimately, customer base expansion.

Frost & Sullivan’s Best Practices Awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for outstanding achievement in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research.

 

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Company:

Intimus International Group is a leader in the Information Security industry.

They offer information security products that include everything from industrial paper shredders to high security and large capacity data destruction machines. Intimus operates in multiple countries across Europe and manages processes and workflows across multiple divisions.

They offer comprehensive solutions throughout the value chain in terms of innovation, development, manufacturing, sales and post-sales services.

Challenge:

“Intimus International wants to be the leading global supplier of security solutions for data management and cash management systems. We have over 11,000 customers in Benelux, and it is our mission to provide them with best-in-class service,” said Gunther Dehaes, General Manager, Intimus.

The company offers service contracts to repair and maintain its product line and the profitability of these service contracts depends on how efficiently the company can meet its obligations.

Working across multiple countries and following a merger and acquisition, Intimus found there were a number of bottlenecks with their existing workflows.

 

They needed to more efficiently coordinate communication between the back office and field engineers and wanted to be able to streamline the workflow as well as how they captured and processed data to and from the field.

“Our problem was the time it took to coordinate, communicate and process everything that happened in the field,” explained Erlyn Grevelt, Supply Chain Manager of Intimus. Dispatchers were having to have lengthy, often complex phone conversations with engineers for every service request. With each call taking up to ten minutes and more than 50 engineers in the field, the calls alone consumed more than 100 hours a week.

Then, as engineers completed service calls, they filled out the job details on paper, which were taken back to the office to be input manually. A team in accounting then reviewed all completed jobs before invoicing, so the entire process to bill a customer took a full day on average.

Operational improvements:

Having recently implemented Netsuite, a leading ERP system, to streamline and simplify their accounting practices and resource planning, Intimus wanted something compatible to improve their operational service, they turned their attention to field service management software.

“We knew from the start that we would need to extend our service needs and NetSuite has a strong partner programme and through that programme we found FieldAware,” explained Grevelt.

 

“FieldAware has a very simple mobile app for engineers and at the same time, it gives me a huge amount of complex information. When an IT solution can offer me that, I’m very pleased.”

Intimus selected FieldAware because of the deep integration with Netsuite, ease of implementation and ease of use for the schedulers and engineers.

The implementation of both Netsuite and FieldAware took just 40 days and with quick and high adoption from their field engineers, the positive impact was immediate.

Together, NetSuite OneWorld and FieldAware transformed the field service workflows in the company’s service operations and accounting, dramatically accelerating the job completion rates and invoicing processes.

Results:

The newly automated processes save considerable time for customers, dispatchers, engineers and back office staff alike. Engineers use FieldAware mobility software to schedule their own time based on customer location and availability.

FieldAware saves 80 hours each week for the dispatch team, and reduced the time required to generate invoices from one day to less than a minute.

“With FieldAware we are more efficient now,” said Peter Gils, Service Manager, Intimus “An engineer’s tablet has a complete list of the workflow he has to do, he can plan his own route without calling the office, we drive less miles which saves us money, and the customers are happy with the shorter response time.”

FieldAware optimised communications between dispatchers and field service engineers, so now dispatchers enter details of each service order into NetSuite, which instantly transfers them to technicians’ tablets. Engineers contact the customer and schedule jobs themselves. The press of a button tracks the service call and FieldAware automatically sends this data back to NetSuite for invoicing and management reporting.

 

“Results have been staggering and the outcome impressive”, said Grevelt. “Most importantly, FieldAware has taken the pressure off the coordination team.”

“In the past, we had to have multiple conversations to be able to service our customer,” added Grevelt.

“Now we have a direct line of communication to the customer through the engineer in the field. We only have one conversation, and that’s the only conversation that matters, and that’s the one with the customer.”

 

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Mobility is helping transform field service organisations. To download FieldAware’s new white paper – ‘Making the Move to Mobility: TheDigitalisation of Field Service’– please visit http://www.fieldaware.co.uk/movetomobility

 

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According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of insurance telematics policies in force on the European market reached 5.3 million in Q4-2015 and 6.3m in North America. 

In Europe, annual growth rate (CAGR) is predicted to be 37.2 percent, with the number of policies expected to reach 25.8 million by 2020. In North America, the number of insurance telematics policies in force by 2020 is expected to grow at a CAGR of 45.8 percent to reach 42.1 million in 2020.

The European insurance telematics market is largely dominated by hardwired aftermarket black boxes while self-install OBD devices instead represent the vast majority of all active policies in North America. Several major US providers of UBI have recently shifted to solutions based on smartphones. Berg Insight now expects a rapid increase in the uptake of solutions based on smartphones and also embedded OEM telematics systems in all markets in the upcoming years.

The insurance telematics value chain spans multiple industries. Insurers with notable presence in the insurance telematics market include Progressive, UnipolSai, State Farm, Allstate, Generali, Allianz, Intact and Insure The Box.

 

Renowned telematics suppliers active in the insurance field for example include Octo Telematics, Vodafone Automotive and LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Intelligent Mechatronic Systems, Cambridge Mobile Telematics, Modus, Baseline Telematics, DriveFactor and The Floow are also notable players on the market. Automotive OEMs are increasingly taking an active part in the ecosystem. Examples include General Motors, Ford, Renault-Nissan, BMW, Daimler and Fiat. In addition, mobile operators such as Vodafone, Telefónica, Verizon and Sprint are offering insurance telematics solutions, commonly working with telematics partners.

The insurance telematics market is currently in a phase of strong growth in both North America and Europe. “Canada, the US and Italy in particular have seen a significant increase in the use of telematics-based auto insurance during 2015”, said Jonas Wennermark, IoT/M2M Analyst at Berg Insight.

He adds that the UK is also one of the front-runners and that uptake is expected to increase in a number of additional countries in the coming years. Telematics-based insurance has already been introduced in a number of European countries including Spain, Austria, France, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Differentiated telematics offerings are predicted for a broader range of segments, and insurers are increasingly expected to embrace usage-based pricing as well as claims-related insurance telematics and various value-added services. In North America, smartphone based solutions are growing rapidly whereas Europe still largely favours device-based solutions. “We are also seeing a growing involvement from OEMs. Progressive and OnStar are about to launch what might become the first major PHYD offer using OEM data. There are also recent attempts to share OEM data through intermediaries such as Verisk and the Floow”, concluded Mr. Wennerma

 

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Optical measuring solutions provider GOM UK, whose clients include many major automotive & aerospace companies, is utilising innovative lone worker security solution, StaySafe.

The app, which tracks an employee’s location via GPS and alerts their manager if they do not check-in within a specified time, will be used to ensure that GOM’s engineers are safe whilst visiting and travelling between sites.

GOM works across a range of industries such as medical and transportation, and engineers are responsible for the maintenance and repair of GOM technologies.

The app has been put in place on the advice of health and safety consultants who flagged lone worker safety as a priority focus for the business in 2016.

 

The app works on iPhone, Android and Windows and offers a wide range of functions including a panic button, working session expiry and low battery warnings, GPS tracking, inactivity and duress alerts making it a powerful device for protecting employees working alone. User monitoring can be done in‐house via an online Hub or outsourced to one of StaySafe’s professional partners.

Tim Collier at GOM explains their decision to work with StaySafe; “Our staff are not what you would traditionally call ‘high risk’ but fully meeting our duty of care to all employees is paramount to us. We have just issued all employees with new smartphones so a lone worker solution that would work on their smartphones without the need for any additional technology really appealed. The app has been easy to set up and use and monitoring the app requires minimal resource, which is great”.

Don Cameron, CEO, StaySafe adds “The StaySafe app is a great solution for organisations like GOM who want to provide a high level of security provision for their lone workers without the expense and hassle of providing new technology. The prevalent use of smartphones amongst all age groups means that the app is cost effective and quickly becomes part of an employee’s routine”.

 

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As we continue our series of features helping you decode the jargon and terminology of rugged device manufacturers, we turn our attention to one of the most important yet potentially fragile areas of any device, the screen. Kris Oldand takes a look at what some of the key screen technology developments mean exactly when it comes to selecting devices for your field service workers ...

 

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Read more form this series here

 

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We live in the age of the touch-screen. Indeed my own son, who is now an inquisitive three and a half year old with an obsession with the word why, really struggled to understand recently why when he swiped back fore on the TV it didn’t do anything.

In a world of smartphones and tablets touch-screens have become a universally understood means of interacting with a device. Whether it is inputting data or simply navigating through an operating system, I would put a hefty wager on the fact that anyone reading this article is both familiar and comfortable with using a touch-screen device, such is the prevalence of the technology today.

Touch-screens are an important, even critical part of the user experience of almost all modern tablets and smartphones.

Also, amongst handheld computers that for many years were the go to device for field service teams, touch screens are becoming more and more increasingly common, whether combined with a keypad like the more traditional form factor, or on their own as is appearing in new hybrid products such as the Gen2Wave RP1600.

Yet at the same time, the screen is of course the potential Achilles heel and obvious weak spot in a rugged device.

 

The balance therefore between delivering a screen that is sufficiently capable of with standing drops and knocks, whilst maintaining high usability, is absolutely critical for a rugged device.

So lets look at some of the various options you may find in differing rugged devices when it comes to the screen and explore exactly what these options actually mean.

Capacitive vs. Resistive

Almost certainly the biggest debate when it comes to screen choices in rugged devices is whether capacitive or resistive screens are better suited for the task. But what is the difference between the two?

The older of the two technologies is resistive which relies on pressure to register input. This pressure can be applied by your finger, a stylus or any other object - think of the handheld computers that many delivery companies use, often covered in ink because when the original stylus is lost, the delivery driver often just uses a regular pen to collect a signature instead.

Resistive touch screens consist of two flexible layers with an air gap in between and in order for the touch-screen to register input, you must press on the top layer using a small amount of pressure to make contact with the bottom layer. The touch-screen will then register the precise location of the touch.

 

Rather than relying on pressure, capacitive touch-screens instead sense conductivity to register input—usually from the skin on your fingertip but also from dedicated styluses.

Because you don’t need to apply pressure, capacitive touch-screens are more responsive than resistive touch-screens. However, because they work by sensing conductivity, capacitive touch-screens can only be used with objects that have conductive properties, which includes your fingertip (which is ideal), and special styluses designed with a conductive tip.

Initially one of the big advantages of capacitive touch screens was that they enabled multi-finger gestures - perhaps the most obvious example is pinching or stretching a document to zoom in or out. However, resistive touch screens have also supported multi-finger input for about three or four years now also.

The big advantage resistive screens have over their capacitive counterparts is the fact that the operator can still use the devices whilst wearing gloves - as the input is dependent on pressure rather than the electrical current being completed through a conductive material such as a finger.

An additional benefit is that light touch, such as rain landing on the screen, won’t register so the devices are far better to suited to being used in the wet.

Both of these factors are of course particularly useful in a number of field service environments.

However, another key factor for rugged devices is of course reliability and durability and in this respect capacitive touch screens have the advantage - especially in heavy use applications.

Resistive screens can have a tendency to eventually begin to wear down in frequently used areas. Such areas may be prone to becoming faded and may ultimately even become unresponsive.

 

Also in terms of reliability, if a capacitive touch-screen does happen to become pierced or cracked it is still likely to function - think how many times you have seen someone using a smartphone with a cracked screen?

However, a break anywhere on a resistive touch-screen will often mean that it no longer works.

In terms of field service this is a potentially huge advantage for capacitive screens as it allows for a field service technician to continue to utilise their device until they can get the screen repaired.

Going Gorilla...

A special mention here really needs to go to Corning, a specialist materials manufacturer based in New York whose Gorilla brand glass has achieved what very, very few component manufacturers have achieved by becoming a recognised brand beyond the confines of the technologically minded.

Other than chip manufacturer Intel, can you actually think of a component manufacturer with a brand you recognise? Such is the impact that Gorilla Glass has had on smartphone and tablet manufacturing, with devices ranging from Samsung’s latest consumer flagship smartphone the S7 Edge, through to the Motion F5M by Xplore Technologies rugged tablet, proudly declaring their use of the product. In fact Gorilla Glass has been designed into over 4.5Bn devices globally.

The process developed by Corning to create Gorilla Glass is to chemically strengthen the glass through an ion-exchange process that creates a deep compression layer on the surface of the glass substrate and this layer essentially acts as “armour” to reduce the introduction of flaws.

 

Produced in thicknesses ranging from 0.4 mm to 2 mm, Gorilla Glass is positioned as an ideal cover sheet for touch-screens. It’s tough enough to handle the surface pressures intrinsic to these devices, and exceptionally thin to enable more sensitive and accurate responses.

However, a quick look at the spec sheets of some devices at the higher end of the rugged spectrum from the likes of Panasonic, Xplore, Getac, et al, will reveal that Gorilla Glass isn’t quite so frequently used amongst such devices.

One reason for this is that the whole point of Gorilla Glass is that it can deflect impact significantly without breaking and while extreme deflection seems on the surface like a great a great characteristic for rugged devices, once a Gorilla Glass touch panel is installed over an LCD and a point impact occurs, the Gorilla glass deflects and the impact is transferred to the LCD glass which could potentially break, leaving you with a an undamaged sheet of glass covering a no longer working tablet.

Visibility

Finally, whilst the ability to use a touch-screen in various conditions is important, being able to read the screen in direct sunlight is the other significant factor to consider for field service operatives - who will be often working outdoors.

The key terminology here that you will often find listed in the spec list of rugged device is a level of NIT. Basically a NIT is a unit of visible-light  intensity, commonly used to specify the brightness and it is the crucial the number to look for in device specs for devices that are used outdoors.

On average, your general consumer device will offer something between 300 and 400 NITS, which as anyone who will has tried to watch a movie on their iPad (iPad 4 is specced to 364NITS) at the beach will attest is not bright enough to use in direct sunlight. By comparison, the ultra-rugged Xplore XC6 boasts 1300 NITS, whilst Panasonic’s Toughbook 20 and Getac’s V110 convertible laptop both offer 800 NITS, which makes the devices far more usable in the direct sunlight.

 

Also, in addition to improved NIT levels, many rugged manufacturers also offer their own enhancements to improve visibility such as Xplore Technologies’ ‘View Anywhere’, Getac’s ‘sunlight readable technology’, or Juniper Systems’ ‘Sun-to-Shade’ solutions.

Of course, as with all other considerations around device selection for your engineers, an understanding of their workflow and working environment should be considered. Are they likely to be working in direct sunlight for example or are they likely to be wearing work gloves?

Such questions should shape your requirements when it comes to the type of touch-screen you require in your field service engineer’s devices.

 

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Wireless charging advancements by global technology leader Laird have the industry poised for significant growth as major automotive and mobile device manufacturers look to incorporate Laird’s technology into the daily lives of drivers and passengers.

Laird engineers have created the next generation of wireless chargers, which Guido Dornbusch, Laird’s Vice President of Product Management for Connected Vehicle Solutions, said “are highly efficient” and “have virtually no extra losses compared to cable connectors.”

[quote float="left"]“By integrating NFC, wireless charging technology also can be combined with authentication, which opens up many more possibilities for use in the connected car,”[/quote] Laird is the leading global provider of end-to-end automotive connectivity services with solutions including antenna coupling and telematics control units as well as smart device integration products such as wireless charging.

Dornbusch says Laird’s latest white paper titled “Removing Wires, Increasing Performance: Wireless Charging – An Automotive Expectation,” illustrates how Laird is incorporating wireless charging technology into several European and American automobiles. The white paper also talks about the future of wireless charging, the struggle to find a common industry standard, and Near Field Communication (NFC).

“By integrating NFC, wireless charging technology also can be combined with authentication, which opens up many more possibilities for use in the connected car,” Dornbusch explained. “Some examples are using smartphones as a key, especially helpful for car sharing applications, or automated payment processes.”

Earlier this month Laird announced plans to expand its connected vehicle research, development, and engineering operations. Earlier this year the company opened a new facility in Brazil and acquired Germany based automotive electronics supplier Novero. In 2014 the company also opened a new manufacturing site in Shanghai China.

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