AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Kris Oldland

In the first part of this feature we looked at how the arrival of the driverless car is imminent with tests being held in open roads across a number of countries including the UK. Now in the second part Kris Oldland looks at how the technology could have a much more disruptive influence than in just the fleet sector…

Indeed with numerous national tests being undertaken it is surely just a matter of time before the first commercial driverless vehicles roll out. In fact further promising news for the approaching future of driverless cars was recently unveiled by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles which stated that only four of its 48 driverless cars participating in tests have been involved in accidents.

Google’s fleet of around twenty cars has now completed nearly a million miles without human intervention since the project started six years ago, said Chris Urmson,  the head of Google’s self-driving car project, .

Of the four licensed driverless cars in the state of California that have been involved in minor traffic accidents since September, Google’s cars played a role in three of the accidents. Two of these incidents occurred when the cars were in self-driving mode, while the other two happened when the person required to stay behind the wheel of the automobiles was in control.

 

It has also been reported that all of the accidents occurred when the cars were driving at speeds below 10 miles (16 km) per hour. In a written statement Google stated that its driverless cars have had “a handful of minor fender-benders, light damage, no injuries, so far caused by human error and inattention.”

Google first sent self-driving cars out onto public streets about six years prior to when the state offered its official permission. Google has said three additional accidents occurred in that time period. So whilst there may be an initial fear response to such news the truth is that since 2009, the company has said its cars have travelled more than 700,000 miles in self-driving mode.

This is an impressive statistic that plays well for those companies seeking to develop driverless vehicles who have attempted to establish belief that driverless vehicles and not only a safe option but a safer option. They claim their cars' cameras, radar, and laser sensors, among other features, are superior to human awareness.

However, whilst the safety of self-driving cars has been emphasized, some experts have also warned that those driverless vehicles could be particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks with concerns about the safety of driverless cars have been raised by politicians in the US and elsewhere.

One such warning came fromthe FBI who warned that driverless cars could be potentially used as lethal weapons, predicting that the vehicles "will have a high impact on transforming what both law enforcement and its adversaries can operationally do with a car”

 

Whilst this is of course a scary scenario, it is important that we don’t become so worried about the potential dangers that we don’t explore the potential opportunities that driverless cars could bring.

One such possible opportunity was highlighted by technology entrepreneur and Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales who discussed the topic of driverless cars in his keynote speech at the recent IFS World Conference in Boston.

“I think it will be ten years max before we see driverless cars somewhere in the world. It could be faster than that but of course this an area where there are regulatory concerns and so forth” he began before outlining why he believes the impact of driverless cars reaching way beyond the automotive industry.

“The way to think about this is don’t think about the first order of what happens, think of what happens next” Wales explained “One of the first things I came up with when I first started thinking about this was pizza delivery” he added only half joking

“Why cook pizzas in a restaurant to then send them somewhere so they are getting cold on the way? Why not cook it in the car? The answer is of course you can’t put a pizza oven in a car with a driver?” he explained before continuing “but now you could have a driverless car that cooks the pizza on route, delivering you a super fresh pizza to your door”

 

Of course such an idea would have a number of obstacles to overcome, and I don’t think we will see Wales tackling the Pizza Delivery sector in the near future, but it is a great example of the wider benefits such transformative technology as driverless cars could have beyond their initial direct marketplace, when we combine it with imaginative thinking.

And if we turn back to field service then again the potential for driverless cars to change the way we operate are numerous.

For a start there is the obvious benefit of an engineer being able to work in between jobs, this could be a huge time saving factor if your engineers have even a moderate amount of reporting to be completed on each job.

One obvious benefit is an engineer being able to work in between jobs. But how about we apply some further imaginative thinking and combine driverless cars with IoT with 3D printing with field service scheduling?

 

Our engineer’s daily schedule could be programmed into his vehicle based on data provided by the devices he’s set to fix. His job list is optimised based on geography and urgency of the repair.

On the way to each repair he is able to analyse the data and look through suggested potential issues so when he arrives on site he has the best possible chance of finding a resolution swiftly. All the while the 3D printer in the back of his vehicle quietly prints any parts that need replacing automatically as the IoT enable devices provide data as to what parts are required at what job.

Let’s be honest if first time fix rates didn’t increase in this scenario there is something wrong.

However, not everyone is on side as yet, with many in field service being cautious of such a significant change, even seeing this leap forward as technology for technology’s sake.

Recent research by Masternaut actually revealed that professional drivers stated that If they had to work with autonomous vehicles in the future, 15% of professional drivers said that they wouldn’t like it and change jobs, whilst almost a quarter (23%) said that wouldn’t like it but stay in their job.

As David Kalimoff a Senior Field Engineer for Viable Med Services commented recently in the Field Service News linkedin group “When a driverless car wants to impress me, have it haul my tools, test equipment and replacement parts from the parking garage to the 6th floor of the hospital where the system is, in a blizzard…”

Whilst Kalimoff may have been a bit tongue in cheek with his comment he does make a valid point there is only so much that we can expect from driverless vehicles.

 

However, whilst the arrival of driverless cars is seemingly inevitable, and also fast approaching it is the savvy field service organisations who start thinking now about how they can harness such technology to their advantage. Also much like they have had to evolve closer working relations ships with operations management, IT professionals may well see them selves building even closer ties to their colleagues in fleet management as yet another area of field service begins to merge with IT infrastructures.

With a throw away commenting Wales may have just given someone the key to disrupting and re-inventing the pizza delivery industry forever. The question is who is going to come up with the equivalent game-changer in field service?

 

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In this exclusive series written by Field Service News Publisher, Kris Oldland, we’ve seen how a number of emerging technologies could change the way our field engineers work in the not so distant future.

In part one we explored smart watches, in part two we looked at smart glasses and drones. In the third part of this series we looked at one of the simplest emerging technologies in NFC and one of the most exciting and futuristic in 3d printing.

However, in this the final instalment of this series we look at the technology that could underpin the way field service operates entirely in the not so distant future: the Internet of Things.

The Internet of Things

Now, unlike mobile 3D printing, the final inclusion on this list is here-and-now, already being actively utilised by field service companies although widespread adoption has yet to appear. However, given the recent announcement of an agreement between PTC and ServiceMax bringing the first connected field service solution to market, this may well soon change.

What exactly is the Internet of Things? Well, very simply it does what is says on the tin : it is an Internet specifically for the use of non-human things.[quote float="left"]IoT takes the concept of communication and brings it to all manner of devices.

 

We talk about smartphone communication a lot; well, essentially IoT takes the concept of communication and brings it to all manner of other devices – from washing machines to generators powering the national grid. Each of these devices is capable of communicating, of sending data about how it’s operating, so that we can remotely monitor its performance and condition.

Again the implications for such a technology in field service are phenomenal. Let’s take a simple example of a coffee machine. One of the sensors on a smart coffee machine could simply be monitoring the temperature of the water it delivers.

If the water temperature begins to move out of accepted parameters this can be communicated to the coffee machine’s manufacturer triggering an action. That action could be sending an engineer out to rectify the problem before it escalates to the point where the coffee machine stops functioning.

The benefits of such preventative maintenance can be felt by both the field service company who are able to schedule this work alongside other work in the vicinity making them more productive and also by the customer who have the benefit of no downtime on that machine.

The other benefit of IoT is that this is not a one way street.

Remote diagnostics is powerful, but there is also the potential to remedy many issues for many devices via remote maintenance whereby certain issues can be corrected by simply logging into a device and making amendments through the software.[quote float="right"]Maintenance could even be automated so that engineers are only sent out to those maintenance and repair jobs that truly require them.

 

Such an approach could further reduce the need for engineer visits with, again, massive cost-saving potential for field service companies.

Further still, much of this remote maintenance could even be automated. Corrective measures are incrementally taken as a first step, which could resolve an issue without the need for an engineer, so that engineers are only sent out to those maintenance and repair jobs that truly require them.

Also the relay of such data also makes it possible for jobs to be clearly prioritised. In fact the opportunity to implement connected devices into a field service company’s processes are truly numerous and each can have an impact on the efficiency of the company’s workflow.

The other key facet of the Internet of Things is that we are able to collect vast amounts of data from our devices which can be fed back not only into our field engineering teams – for example a best set of settings for optimal device output - , but also back into our R&D teams. Perhaps there is a very common fault that could be rectified in the next device iteration – again easily flagged up by the data recorded by our IoT-ready devices.

So there is great value in this data we are capturing, and the interpretation of this data, as well as the potential streamlining of workflow, is why IoT is envisioned by many as being the bedrock of future field service operations.

 

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Driverless cars have been on the horizon for a number of years now, however it seems the shift from exciting prototype to functional reality is coming ever closer and at ever-greater speed. Kris Oldland reviews developments in  a two-part feature.

With the UK government sanctioning trials on public roads this year in Bristol, Greenwich, Milton Keynes and Coventry, that functional reality is now becoming highly tangible here in the UK , especially as UK ministers have now ordered a review of the UK's road regulations to provide appropriate guidelines.

Indeed driverless vehicle production is seen by the British government as a major area that can help continue to drive the UK economy away from the austerity path undertaken in the last five years. Former Business Secretary Vince Cable revealed the details of the new plan at a research facility belonging to MIRA, the automotive engineering research organisation based at Nuneaton. He commented that the manufacture of driverless vehicles is “putting the UK at the forefront of this transformational technology and opening up new opportunities for our economy and society".

However, whilst Britain may feel it is in pole position to take advantage of this technology the truth is that the UK is behind not only other countries in terms of development but also behind their own schedule as well. The Department for Transport had originally pledged to let self-driving cars be trialled on public roads by the end of 2013 but concerns about legal and insurance issues restricted driverless cars to private roads until the recently announced trials.[quote float="left"]Manufacture of driverless vehicles is putting the UK at the forefront of this transformational technology.

 

California, Nevada and Florida in the USA, plus Japan and Sweden are all undertaking tests and there is a veritable who’s who of the automotive industry joining the race to develop driverless cars alongside the much hyped Google Car.

Most experts predict that we will see driverless cars potentially in the five to ten years.

Mark Fields, CEO of Ford, has estimated that fully autonomous cars will be available by 2020. Elon Musk, Tesla CEO also agrees with this, stating: “Five or six years from now we will be able to achieve true autonomous driving where you could literally get in the car, go to sleep and wake up at your destination.”

However, Musk also added that there would likely be a further 2 to 3 years for regulatory approval.

Meanwhile luxury brand Jaguar has admitted that autonomous driving for them will be a reality by 2024 with similar claims from Audi, Daimler, Nissan and many others also in the offing.

Of course the label "driverless vehicle" sounds like an incredible leap forward but technologies such as cruise control, autonomous tic braking, anti-lane drift and self-parking functions are already built into many vehicles offering a certain degree of autonomy.

That said there are still a number of additional technologies that are key to driverless vehicles being successful.

One such innovation is Lidar (light detection and ranging), a system that measures how lasers bounce off reflective surfaces to capture information about millions of points surrounding the vehicle each and every second. This type of technology is already used to create online maps used by the likes of Google and Nokia.

Yet another complimentary technique is "computer vision" - the use of software to make sense of 360-degree images captured by cameras attached to the vehicle. This can help warn of hazards like pedestrians, cyclists, roadworks and other objects that might be in the vehicle's path.

Then there is global-positioning system (GPS) location data from satellites; radar; ultrasonic sensors to detect objects close to the car; and further sensors to accurately pinpoint a vehicle's orientation and the rotation of its wheels, to help it understand its exact location.[quote float="right"]A number of additional technologies are key to driverless vehicles being successful.

 

And it’s not just automotive companies getting involved in the development process.

Leading Swiss telecom provider Swisscom has reported on the first test-drives of an autonomous car equipped with sensors, computers and special software. The car is being trialed around the streets of Zurich with two human passengers on board.

However, Swisscom claim they are not trying to gain a share in the auto-making market but instead want to understand how to apply the innovations of digital communications network in this sector.

“Swisscom is not turning into a car manufacturer. But future innovations in the automotive industry will centre on networking with the environment. For this reason, the driverless car is a prime example of digitisation and therefore of great interest to us,” said company official Christian Petit in a statement.

The software developed by Swisscom is used to give driving instructions and analyze data. The board computer powers, steers and brakes the car. Radars, video cameras and laser scanners are used to detect nearby vehicles and pedestrians. Germany's AutoNomos Labs, which has run similar tests in Berlin, has also participated in the project.

Look out for the second part of this feature where we reveal Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales’ suggestion on how driverless cars could revolutionise the pizza delivery industry (and probably field service too!)

 

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Marathon Data Systems, a leading provider of cloud-based field service management and fleet management solutions, announced today that it acquired Foxtrax GPS, a cloud-based leader in fleet tracking technology. The company also announced it is changing its name to WorkWave™  to reflect its transformation into a leading solution provider for businesses with significant mobile workforces and to reinforce the tight integration of its cloud-based platforms for marketing, office management and fleet management. 

“The Foxtrax products, customer base and team round out WorkWave’s mobile-first portfolio,” said Chris Sullens, CEO and president of WorkWave, formerly Marathon Data Systems.

“Foxtrax is well known for its excellent service and functionality. By integrating Foxtrax’s cloud-based solution with Viamente, our leading cloud-based route planning and optimization solution, and our proprietary smartphone apps, we can now provide our 7,000+ clients in the field service and ‘last mile’ delivery verticals the most powerful, intuitive and cost-efficient solution available in the marketplace. Everything our clients need to gain full visibility into their field operations will be conveniently available in one place.”

 

In conjunction with this acquisition, Marathon Data Systems has changed its name to WorkWave, reinforcing the tight integration of its cloud-based platforms in marketing, field service management, route planning, and optimization and GPS. “This is a huge step in our corporate evolution,” added Sullens. “Unifying our messaging and product portfolio under the WorkWave brand reinforces how our product offerings connect every aspect of our clients’ businesses, providing an unprecedented level of insight into their office and field operations, enabling them to truly delight their clients and supercharge their business performance.”

WorkWave offers an integrated suite of cloud-based business management and fleet management solutions for the field service and “last mile” delivery verticals, including:

WorkWave Fleet, formerly Viamente, is a comprehensive cloud-based route planning and optimization platform that leverages a proprietary optimization algorithm, an intuitive user interface and a robust set of APIs to provide ”last mile” delivery companies a simple, dynamic and powerful solution for planning, tracking and analyzing their delivery routes.

WorkWave GPS, formerly Foxtrax GPS, is a cloud-based telematics platform that offers real-time vehicle tracking, comprehensive driver behavior alerting and tracking, and satellite-based asset tracking for companies in the field service, ”last mile” delivery and other fleet-based industries.

WorkWave Marketing, formerly Marathon Marketing Services, offers a full suite of website and lead generation services for the field service, automotive and other industries. This rapidly evolving, integrated marketing platform allows companies of all sizes to cost-effectively enhance their brand and drive leads into their businesses by leveraging WorkWave Marketing’s in-house website design, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), social media and reputation management offerings.

WorkWave also offers industry-leading solutions for the pest management industry, the general field service industry and the lawn and landscape industry through its PestPac, ServiceCEO and QXPress brands respectively.

 

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As we continue our series of features looking at the emerging technologies that could appear in the not so distant future we turn our attention to NFC and, perhaps the most futuristic of all,  3D printing.

If you missed the earlier features in this series you can read part one here where we looked at smart watches and part two here where we looked at smart glasses and drones.

Near Field Communications

If the falling price of drones makes for a compelling argument for their inclusion in the future field engineer's tool kit, then the next item on this list is pretty much a no-brainer for a large number of Field service organisations.

That is NFC or near field communication tags.

NFC tags can be bought for as little as 30p per tag and with most modern Android and Windows smartphones and tablets supporting NFC communication they can be a very cheap means of making the field engineers workflow that much smoother.

Basically an NFC tag can be written to trigger an action on a device by simply tapping it against the tag.[quote float="left"]In theory, pretty much any action your engineer needs to take on an app can be incorporated into the script for a NFC tag.

 

A couple of quick examples…

A tag in the engineer's van could be written so that when the engineer places his smartphone against it, it opens up a dedicated mobile workforce app and logs his journey start time, plus also opens up a routing app such as Google Maps or TomTom.

The tag can also be written to include a toggle feature so when the engineer completes his journey he can again tap the tag with his device and this could log his journey end time, close his routing software, and open up the job details in his dedicated mobile workforce app.

Finally an NFC tag could be placed on the device which contains the notes of any previous engineer visits. This quick overview could be very useful in giving the engineer quick and easy access to the devices history and again similarly when the engineer updates his notes on the maintenance work he has carried our it is possible for him to include this information on the tag ready for the next engineer all with a simple tap.

And these are just three very simple ideas: in theory, pretty much any action your engineer needs to take on an app can be incorporated into the script for a NFC tag. There are also a number of apps that make the process of writing actions into a tag very simple for the lay person to do.

As I mentioned earlier the hallmark of a good technology is the ability to simplify our workflow and again NFC certainly ticks these boxes and given its low cost is another technology I think is worth considering when we look at how we can further empower our engineers.

3D Printing

The next item on my brief list is for me the most exciting and certainly the one that has the most futuristic feel about it. That is 3D printing.

Whilst we haven’t quite yet got to the point where we can instantly conjure up an earl grey tea hot like Jean Luc Picard might, the printers are still able to create physical 3D products from seemingly out of nothing just like the replicator devices seen in Star Trek.

 

However, 3D printing isn’t a particularly new concept, it actually dates back to the early eighties. So the devices we are seeing today are the product of over 30 years' worth of refinement.

This has resulted in 3D printed parts becoming robust enough and reliable enough to be used by companies such as Ford, General Electric and Boeing. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, for example, has over 30 3D printed parts; there are Leap jets and RAF Tornadoes flying around with 3D printed parts; and recently Ford printed their 500,000th 3D printed part – an engine cover for a Ford Mustang.

The fact is, 3D printed parts are out there being used more than we might think.

At the same time consumer 3D printers, much smaller and more mobile devices are becoming more readily available and at much more accessible costs.

Companies such as MakerBot and Stratysys are straddling both sides of this growing market. Is it that big a leap to envisage a meeting of these two approaches - that is,  a device with the smaller more mobile size of a consumer device capable of delivering industrial grade 3D printed parts?

When we consider the potential widespread use of the devices surely not.

Imagine it… instead of an engineer diagnosing the issue but having to delay a repair until the right part is sent to the site he could simply head out to the back of the van and print the part on site. First time fix rates would be dramatically improved.

Then there is also the benefit of not having to have stock parts kept in an engineer's van.

By removing this need a company would be able to instantly improve their cash position on their P&L as well as avoid the danger of potential loss of stock through theft.

Whilst 3D printing hasn’t quite reached this standard as yet, given the competitive nature of this growing industry and the potential gains it is hugely feasible that such developments may be made within the next five years. So I’d firmly put this into the technology-to-watch-closely category.

Look out for the final part in this series where we look at perhaps the biggest potential game changer field service companies must embrace…

 

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Haulage telematics platform specialist Microlise yesterday made the move into the field service arena with the launch of new product Clear, a product designed specifically for the field service and fleet sectors..

Clear empowers drivers to improve performance, delivering safety, cost reduction and environmental impact benefits, whilst also providing fleet compliance and comprehensive task management functionality.

Microlise recognises that driver engagement is crucial in achieving strong return on investment from telematics. Clear provides drivers with the insight required to understand and improve driving performance, using the Microlise Driver Performance Management mobile app, available on both iOS and Android operating platforms.

With this information readily available, drivers are able to improve their own performance, whilst management can manage by exception, with any debriefing or training resource directed where it will have maximum benefit.

The Clear solution is also designed to deliver compliance and fleet safety, with built-in vehicle walkaround checks ensuring vehicles are maintained and any issues flagged to the relevant teams within the organisation. A comprehensive reporting suite provides management with insight on compliance in terms of work patterns and HMRC requirements, where private vs personal mileage can be tracked.

This reporting suite also gives managers valuable information on fleet utilisation and productivity, delivering additional operational benefits, whilst real-time vehicle tracking gives fleet managers the insight to understand the location and operational status of every vehicle in the fleet.

 

“Clear will deliver huge benefits to organisations operating fleets of vehicles” said John Mills, Head of Mobile Workforce Telematics at Microlise. “The product has been developed with the specific needs of these organisations in mind, and we’re excited to be working in such a dynamic space.

“Whilst telematics solutions are traditionally centred on vehicle tracking and driver performance, Clear comes complete with a range of other features that will help organisations to be compliant in terms of HMRC reporting, DVSA regulations and in-house vehicle safety standards. Comprehensive task management and communications further enhance efficiency and service levels.”

The launch of Clear was marked yesterday with an exclusive event at Millbrook Proving Ground, hosted by transport industry lobbyist Quentin Willson.

Delegates were given  the opportunity to drive the Millbrook Alpine Circuit in vans provided by event sponsor Hertz, with the top drivers on the day experiencing a Hot-Lap with former ‘Stig’ Ben Collins, who also gave delegates feedback on their performance in the Vans and discussing good driving practices in general and his career experiences.

Find out more about the day plus how Field Service News Editor Kris Oldland fared as a van driver in the next issue of Field Service News.

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The debate around which devices are best suited to a field service engineer is a long, complex and ever changing one...

Arguments can be made for rugged devices or for consumer devices. Equally arguments can be made the various different form factors that are on offer. Is a tablet, smart phone or a laptop best suited to your aiding your engineers workflow? Then there is the growing trends of convertibles (part laptop, part tablet) to consider or even the next evolution of this idea:  the detachable.

Of course there is no hard and fast rule here: each case is different and different devices are suited to different companies and applications. However, in what is becoming an increasingly competitive market it is important to understand the strengths of both various form factors and also of individual manufacturers and devices.

To help you navigate your way to finding the device that is right for your field workers, Field Service News is launching a news series that will give you a closer look at some of the options available to you as we see just how the devices stand up to the manufacturers' claims.

In the first instalment of this we take a look at the Motion F5m rugged tablet.

What the manufacturer says:

Motion describe the F5m as being “built for demanding environments that require robust enterprise software compatibility” and claim the tablet offers “the durability and functionality you need to seamlessly go from the office, to the vehicle, to the field – all while staying connected and secure.”
Motion has also given the F5m series a significant upgrade on its predecessors that delivers high-end, lasting processing power.

The addition of the 5th Gen Intel Core processors, including the highest performing Intel i7 vPro processor, provides the power to quickly move through computation-intensive applications, while increasing overall power efficiency.The tablet also comes with options for ultra-fast 4G XLTE mobile broadband connectivity that should make light work of sharing large files and images easy. Also with the promise of over eight hours of battery life and a hot-swap battery feature, the F5m should be able to last throughout your field engineers shift with ease.

First impressions

The first thing that strikes you when viewing the F5m is that this is very much a tablet designed for industry. With it’s  handle  built-in and moulded into the actual design of the casing,  Motion  demonstrates it is not shying away from this device's intended market nor its heritage - it's evolved from its cousin the C5 which was aimed exclusively at the medical sector.[quote float="left"]The practicality of the handle soon becomes apparent and a much welcome additional feature.

 

With other rugged manufacturers such as Panasonic and Getac and and even other offerings from Motion such as the R12 moving towards a more consumerised appearance for rugged tablets, the handle does give the F5m a slightly dated look, but lets be honest: when it comes to selecting a device for  field engineers a modern aesthetic look  should be quite low down on the list of desirables.

And actually whilst it might seem a touch ungainly , even cumbersome at first, in reality within a very short time of carrying the tablet around the practicality of the handle soon becomes apparent and a much welcome additional feature. It's one which would certainly be appreciated by many an engineer using the device.

In particular,  the placement of buttons just to the side of the handle that act as triggers for either the optional Barcode scanner or RFID reader means the inclusion of the handle adds to functionality by making the use of these features far more accessible than the more traditional tablet form factor.

Also the handle doesn’t actual add to much weight to the tablet. Weighing in at 3.3 lbs the Motion device comes in just a shade lighter than Getac’s 10.1 inch rugged tablet the E110 which is 3.5lbs although it is some way off the 2.2 lbs of either Panasonic’s Toughpad FZ-G1 or Xplore’s Ranger X both of which offer similar screen real estate despite their slimmer physique.

Processing power

Where the F5m is truly impressive though is the processing power it has under the bonnet.

The highly configurable device has three options when it comes to processors all of which involve the fifth generation of Intel Core processors with options for the I3, I5 or I7 available.

The review unit we tested had an I5 processor with 2.2 GHz 5200U plus a Turbo Boost to 2.7 GHz (3MB of L3 cache, 2 Cores/4 Threads) and alongside the base configuration of 4GB the tablet ran the Microsoft 8.1 operating system plus a number of commonly used programs without any significant issues at all.

However, if your engineers are using software which is particularly demanding then the top spec available of an Intel Core i7 vPro processor which boasts 2.6 GHz 5600U with Turbo Boost to 3.2 GHz (4MB of L3 cache, 2 Cores/4 Threads) alongside 16GB DDR3L 1600MHz SDRAM memory should be able to handle most things you throw at it with ease and compares favourably to other rugged devices such as those mentioned above.

For the operating system the tablet comes with an option of the 64 Bit Professional version of either Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.

Given Motion’s intent for the tablet to be moved seamlessly from office to vehicle to field, on the surface this seems to be a sensible choice and,  given the meaty processing power the F5m has,  it sits much more comfortably in the category of laptop replacement than many other tablets are capable of.[quote float="right"]If you take the time to learn some of its tips and tricks, Windows 8.1 can actually be a very effective and useable interface indeed.

 

However, whilst improvements between Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 have improved the interface there are still plenty of critics of the Microsoft OS. In their desire to meet the demands of both the PC and tablet market Microsoft many believe they have not quite mastered either

The regular need to move from the mobile- oriented tile interface to the more traditional desktop format is one issue often sited as being a particular frustration of the user experience, and the simplicity and fluidity of  Android and IoS, the other leading tablet operating systems, appears to be somewhat lacking.

However, I use the phrase ‘appears to be’ carefully there because in fact if you take the time to learn some of its tips and tricks, Windows 8.1 can actually be a very effective and useable interface indeed.

That said perhaps the one of the most effective tricks of Windows 8.1, especially for business users, seems to be missing from the help files. That is a function called Snap which provides the option to split screens a la Windows 7 (perhaps why it’s not included in the help files?). Although with the touchscreen interface it’s not obvious unless you know it’s there.

For those Windows 8.1 users who aren’t aware of this feature you need to keep your finger on the screen when dragging an app in and then hold the app and hover either slightly to the left or right of the screen until a black line appears in the centre and the second app will then ‘snap’ into place.

The ability to have two separate apps accessible without having to swap between them is certainly very useful when working with a limited amount of screen real estate and in a field working environment could significantly improve productivity.

 

The fact this feature is hidden away perhaps sums up Windows 8.1 as a whole.

On first glance it may not be the most intuitive of operating systems, particularly in the tablet sector, however if you spend a little time learning learning it’s secrets, it has a lot of features that can massively enrich the user experience.

The pen is mightier than a digital keyboard

Of course one of the key benefits of having a Windows operating system is the ability to work with familiar applications. However,  for those applications that require anything more than light data input, the lack of a dedicated companion keyboard for the F5m can make life that much harder.

Unlike sister devices the R12 or the CL920, Motion offer no companion keyboard for the F5m. This leaves the user with two options, either using the on-screen keyboard or the included digital pen.

As with almost all on screen keyboards text input can often be inaccurate and when entering a mix of words and texts it can be frustrating switching between the various input modes of the keyboard, so this isn’t really a great option for anything other than brief input and form completion.[quote float="right"]The user has two input options: the on-screen keyboard or s digital pen.

 

As for the pen, the handwriting-recognition algorithm was able to make sense even of my spindly handwriting and would certainly be a better option than the on-screen keyboard. However, the requirement to hit the insert button after every few words can soon become a tiresome task and, again, I would see writing a maintenance report of any length a frustrating experience.

That’s not to dismiss the benefits of the pen itself which is a comfortable in hand and feels very much like a real pen, especially when compared to something like Samsung’s S-Pen which accompanies their consumer-focused Note series of tablets and smart phones. One complaint would be that the pen’s sensitivity isn’t as good as others such as the aforementioned S-Pen or Wacom products - but that is not going to have much impact on the average field engineer's working day.

Where the pen could really be of use is when combined with the F5m’s camera powered by Motion’s own photography software Snapworks (which is designed to be optimised for annotation with the pen or touch) and has a very simple yet effective sharing mechanism. Such a tool can make a big difference when it comes to encouraging a collaborative nature amongst field engineers as well as improving an engineers efficiency when it comes to reporting.

A picture is worth a thousand words…

The primary camera on the tablet is a rear facing 8 megapixel camera which is at the higher end of the spectrum when compared to the specifications of other rugged tablets and is more than capable of taking images clear enough for reporting purposes.

There is also a second front facing camera which is 2 megapixels which provides a good quality image for making Internet calls – again aiding collaboration between workers. When we made a test Skype call both the picture quality and audio were of good quality.

However, the test call was in a quiet location and the lack of a headphone jack could cause potential problems for making such a call in a louder environment.

A minimalist approach to I/O options

This leads us to one of the potential drawbacks of the F5m: the lack of input and output ports.With one solitary USB port (albeit a USB3 port for faster data transfer) you can’t help but think there could have been additional I/O options included.

When placed alongside some competitor models it does seem a bit sparse, especially given Motion’s claim that the device is designed to move from office to vehicle to field. Sure, we may not need that many inputs when we are in the field but what about when we are in the office?

 

An extra USB port could come in very handy, as could an external storage option such as a SD card reader or even a HDMI port should our engineer be required to give a presentation.In their defence,  Motion do offer a number of accessories including an Ethernet connector with a USB 2.0 port, a long range RFID reader and a magnetic stripe reader which all connect via the device’s docking connector, so the functionality is available. However, you can’t help but feel that some of these solutions could have been worked into the actual device itself without adding further to the tablet's footprint.

The longest day

Of course one of the most important factors of a device to be used in the field is the reliability of the battery life and here we found the F5m to be excellent. The device was fully charged within just an hour and a half and comfortably lasted an eight hour day when we tested it with a reasonable amount of use (i.e. the same we would use a laptop for in a full working day away from the office).

On top of this the tablet also boasts hot swappable batteries, so should your field workers face extra long days they are able to extend the performance time without hassle.

School of hard knocks

The F5m certainly passes the criteria for a rugged tablet. It looks robust enough and has been independently certified as meeting MIL-STD 801G, it is capable of surviving a fair few bumps. In fact the drop test for meeting this standard requires the device survives no less than 26 separate drops at differering angles from a height of 4ft (1.2 metres).

This durability is largely due to three factors: the tablet is rubberised for shock dampening, features a magnesium-alloy internal frame and a durable Gorilla Glass screen which comes either with a standard screen or the option of upgrading to Motion’s proprietary ViewAnywhere display technology, which is designed for working in the sort of brightly-lit and outdoor environments that can play havoc with readability of standard screens.

The MIL-STD 801G certification also means the device is also capable of operating in temperatures ranging from -10°C to 55°C and storage temperatures from -51°C to 71°C which should cover most working scenarios!

The other certification that the F5m boasts is IP54. The IP rating is defined by two separate criteria each identified by the two numbers. The first number denotes solid particle protection and in this instance the rating five (the second highest rating) means that the F5m is protected to a level where whilst the ingress of dust is not entirely prevented, dust must not enter in satisfactory operation of the device, i.e. the tablet is dust proof.

The second number refers to the liquid ingress protection. In this instance the rating of four denotes that the device is resistant to water splashing against the enclosure from any direction so it will have no harmful effect. In effect this means that the device should be able to function in the rain, for example,  but is not suitable for an environment where it could be fully immersed in water.

The conclusion?

In real life terms these certifications mean that the F5m is capable of dealing with all but the most extreme of environments.[quote float="right"]The F5m is a tablet that is designed for the field

 

However, the lack of a dedicated companion keyboard and only one USB port as standard does limit the device's capability to be used in an office enviroment for tasks such as writing more detailed reports or giving presentations etc. If we go back to Motion’s claim of the F5m offering the ability to go seamlessly go from the office, to the vehicle, to the field then this is a touch disappointing.

However whilst the F5m may not be the perfect device for the office, it does excel in other environments. The device is rugged,  bring powerful computing into almost any environment and when it comes to vehicles Motion also offer a very comprehensive range of in-vehicle docking solutions including dedicated vehicle mounting kits for a range of vehicles.

Essentially the F5m is a tablet that is designed for the field and,  when we consider the type of workflows it will generally be used in,  it is most certainly a good bit of kit for your field workers.

The barcode and RFID options make it a perfect rugged device for cataloguing and inventory tasks in a warehouse environment for example. Also the high quality camera, the Snapworks software and digital pen could also make life easier for field engineers who are required to include photographic evidence.

All in all the F5m is a robust and powerful tablet device. Whilst it is not the most elegant looking rugged tablet on the market, the integrated handle does actually add a lot of practicality and the F5m is both an easy device to carry around and far less likely to suffer accidental drops because of it.

The F5m is light enough to highly portable, durable enough to be put to task in challenging environments, has the computing power to be able to handle most programs expected to be run on it and a battery life that should keep engineers working through even the longest of days.

If your engineers need a reliable device, with good processing power, out of the office enviroment the F5m is definitely worth a closer look.

 

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TomTom Telematics has launched a new smartphone app in the UK and Germany that gives drivers real-time feedback on their driving style.

TomTom CURFER uses the latest developments in connected car technology from TomTom Telematics to provide drivers with visual information on how they drive – including live and retrospective feedback on their braking, cornering, acceleration and idling.

 

“This new aftermarket solution brings the benefits of our advanced, cloud-based, fleet management technology to all drivers and passenger cars," said Thomas Schmidt, Managing Director, TomTom Telematics. “It also demonstrates the opportunities the TomTom LINK 100 and its OBD.connect SDK offer third-party developers for creating mobile apps that make use of real-time vehicle and driving data.”

 

The TomTom CURFER app works in conjunction with the TomTom LINK 100 dongle, which plugs into the vehicle’s OBD port to connect car and smartphone via Bluetooth.

In addition to gaining real-time feedback, drivers can share information on their individual driving style with friends over social media networks, monitor long-term trends and earn digital badges and similar recognitions. This allows them to compare their performance behind the wheel and compete with one another to achieve the best possible driving performance.

While the product itself doesn’t include GPS, to protect the location privacy of drivers, the TomTom CURFER app also includes an optional car finder tool that will navigate users directly to their parked vehicles.

TomTom CURFER is available on http://tomtom.com/curfer from £79.00.

 

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In the first part of this exclusive interview with Paul Massey, IFS, Managing Director we looked at where he felt the recent announcement of IFS Applications 9 sat against previous milestones within the Scandinavian company’s history.

Now in the second part of this interview we look at Massey’s thoughts on the Cloud and IoT, plus whether he was ready for the reception to the most talked about new tool in Applications 9 – the lobby function…

Head in the Cloud

One of the big announcements at the recent IFS World Conference was the launch of a fully managed cloud. However, many of IFS’s existing clients have already invested significantly within the infrastructure to run previous iterations of the ERP solution so is this a platform that is geared towards winning new business I asked Massey.

“From a marketing perspective of course the managed cloud is going to be aimed at winning new business. It’s a good coherent and deliverable Cloud story.” He began

“But in terms of the uptake I think it’s going to be out to our customer base quicker. Obviously there is a big customer base to shoot at and we only bring in so many customers each quarter.”

“So whilst an increasing proportion of those will be on cloud the bigger potential market for us is obviously the existing customer base. As part of an upgrade proposal we can try to convince them to go to the managed cloud and I think actually some of the benefits and return on investments are actually more tangible for the existing customer base than they are for new customers because they understand whats involved in running IFS, deploying new releases, managing the application, managing the database. They already know the importance of resilience and uptime so potentially it’s a very easy sell for us.”

“So I think in terms of the uptake the momentum will be generated from the existing customer base. But that in itself will obviously provide us with more references for the business.”

The managed Cloud solution is a direct result of the IFS’s close partnership with Microsoft. Which of course leads to questions around yet another disruptive technology on the horizon namely The Internet of Things. Whilst there has been a lot of discussion around IoT and Field Service it’s not really been as embraced as fully as some may have thought by now. Perhaps partnerships such as IFS and Microsoft could be the next stone to that wider spread adoption?

“I think so” Massey replies when I put the question to him “Its certainly ticking a few more boxes that actually facilitates some of the benefits of IoT because with a hosting platform like Azure behind it that provides a lot things from the reliability and scalability, the security of data, and all those things that people are sometimes a bit frightened of when people talk about automating”

 

“Having data moving around between machines and the cloud, those are real life concerns that classical ERP and companies using ERP in that classical way are very frightened of.” He adds

“It’s not just to do with the IoT but the whole security of Cloud computing is approached the same. But just the fact that it’s Microsoft if you engage with them they’ve got a really good story about security which does take a lot of the potential concerns off the table I think it’s another facilitator effectively in terms of IoT meaning something tangible to people.”

The killer app?

As we return our focus to the Announcement of Apps 9 I reflect that the biggest buzz in the break after the initial sessions was all around a new solution called Lobby which allows individual users to have all of the data they need for their own specific roll or project in one easy place. It’s easily configurable, and a first initial look suggests it could be a powerful tool.

So what were Massey’s thoughts when he first encountered the idea, was it always a case of knowing that this would be the ‘killer app’ that would resonate so well with his customers or was he taken back by the overwhelmingly positive response?

“I think to some extent we’ve had similar technology in the past and through portal technology but because its’ now much more embedded in the application and it’s easier to set up and quickly show some real practical use of it” he explains.

 

“Yes I do think it will be the sort of headline feature that we are pitching it to be as one of the perennial challenges in selling ERP applications is presenting to the prospect the potential of all the information being at their fingertips. There is always a myriad of data in an ERP system it’s just a matter of getting at it in a useful way. So I think it’s a really graphical and hopefully relatively simple way of demonstrating that there is so much data that you can choose what data you want and how you present it .” he expands

“As a way of attracting attention to the depth of functionality beneath it in the ERP application I think it is really good and hopefully the technology in how to deploy it and customise it is straightforward enough for people to understand that it is easy to get it up and running.”

Look out for the third part of this exclusive interview as we turn our attention to the impact of consumerisation on enterprise applications…

 

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