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At its annual business conference, Telogis, A Verizon Company, announced that it is partnering with John Deere to enable construction companies to derive key data and insights from their connected John Deere equipment to help drive cost savings, efficiency and productivity.

Through this alliance, Telogis and John Deere will enable existing and future mutual customers to leverage John Deere construction equipment's built-in connectivity. Customers will benefit from access to a richer data set that will help to eliminate manual data entry and generate deeper insights into customers' operations.

Customers also benefit from the ability to connect back into JD Link™ to order parts and service or contact local John Deere dealers for questions, appointments and equipment troubleshooting. They will also receive more accurate equipment maintenance records that can help lead to better uptime and lower total cost of ownership.

Customers can also take advantage of the Telogis Mobile Resource Management (MRM) software platform's comprehensive feature set, such as jobsite utilisation alerting and reporting that features engine hours, whether equipment is being fully utilised, fuel consumption and details on diagnostic codes. Customers' cost structures are also optimised by leveraging the John Deere telematics devices that come built into the equipment from the factory or installed aftermarket at an authorised dealer.

 

"Telogis' successful track record working with both off highway and on highway customers gave us great confidence that this is the right strategic relationship to bring these mission-critical technologies and services to our customers," said Jena Holtberg-Benge, Director Worksight Solutions at John Deere.

"By working in tandem with Telogis, we're giving businesses the ability to run their entire mobile equipment business on one comprehensive software platform with one login for all their vehicles and equipment – whether it's John Deere or a mixed fleet."

"Equipment – not just vehicles – represent an enormous investment for mobile businesses, and it's more important than ever to ensure that equipment is running safely, and that it's out there earning money and delivering value and ROI every day," said Jeff Cohen, Vice President, Asset and Security Solutions at Telogis, A Verizon Company.

"By understanding how the equipment is being used, how many hours it's running and where there are opportunities to maximise uptime and utilisation, customers can identify opportunities to drive cost and time savings, plus productivity and efficiency in every aspect of their mobile businesses."

The offering will be available to organisations of any size through connected John Deere equipment or through authorised dealers through the end of 2016, and each new piece of equipment will have access to both JDLink and Telogis.

 

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IFS, a global enterprise applications company, announced recently at the IFS World Conference 2016 the launch of IFS Mobile Workforce Management version 5.8.

Among the enhancements in the new version are:

• Automatic shift generation—The new version supports automatic shift planning and rostering for individuals or groups based on constraints such as number of work hours, number of work days, and permissible shift patterns. With only one click, the solution then automatically plans shifts that are optimized for the company’s requirements and constraints.
• Self-learning scheduling—Leverages an extended data archive to allow for more educated and informed scheduling decisions based on historical data. The solution automatically learns to produce more accurate work schedules by analyzing a broad range of data including average job duration by activity type, customer and contract.
• New cloud deployment options—Features such as capacity planning and target-based scheduling can now run in scalable, multi-tenant Microsoft Azure environments to support occasional users and ensure maximum system availability for the solution’s Dynamic Scheduling Engine (DSE).
• Big data optimization—The new version offers even better support for large datasets, including support for aggregation and de-aggregation of planning data, extended options for filtering tasks and time-slicing as well as intelligent support for allocating processor time.
• Enhanced visual insights—A new cockpit view empowers users with customizable key performance indicators for quick and easy data access, driving efficiency and a positive user experience.

IFS product director for service-, asset-, and project-based solutions Jørgen Rogde added, “The new version of our dynamic work scheduling solution represents a major product investment aimed at helping our clients streamline and automate their scheduling processes while maintaining and enhancing the flexibility of the solution through new options for cloud deployment and big data management. It will help our customers use their resources more effectively, ultimately saving them time and money.”

 

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Fire protection specialists Surefire have found a ‘surefire’ solution to their service management software needs: Tesseract...

Surefire Services is a UK company that sells, installs and maintains fire protection systems, including fire alarms, gas suppression and sprinkler systems, extinguishers and dry risers. Presently, its sales, installations and maintenance departments rely on three separate management systems involving basic software and spreadsheets. The company has decided it’s time to move away from paper, update its software and bring its three departments under one umbrella.

“Frustration is one of our main motivators for changing,” says Marcus Kemp, Service Director for Surefire. “Our current system is too basic and we struggle with reporting as the software keeps failing. We are implementing Tesseract so we can speed everything up, improve cash flow and provide a better service to our clients.”

 

Surefire has opted for the cloud-based SaaS version of Tesseract’s service management software for two reasons. First, the SaaS version is managed in-house by Tesseract, which means instantaneous fixes and upgrades. Second, it keeps space free on Surefire’s server, which is home to a great deal of data.

“The reason we chose Tesseract is because their software is easy to use and reasonably priced,” says Kemp. “They also offer a sales module—the other companies we looked at didn’t. This will allow us to bring our three departments under one system, ensuring faster processes and a better flow of data.”

The plan is to launch Tesseract within the maintenance department first, followed by installations and then sales. Tablet devices will be rolled out to Surefire’s engineering team, eliminating the need for paper timesheets, worksheets and invoices and allowing Surefire to receive real-time, instantaneous data about each job. Staff will also be able to create Key Performance Indicator Reports, something they cannot do currently.

 

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Run by the University of Cambridge, in the Institute for Manufacturing, this two-day workshop is designed for engineers, managers and senior executives involved in any aspect of the design and delivery of services.

 

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Date: Wednesday 23 to Thursday 24 November 2016

 

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Overview

Making the shift to services is difficult and remains an aspiration for many firms. Arriving at a clear vision of the service offering is often the first stumbling block. What will be offered and how? What are the risks? How do we deliver and create – as well as capture – value?

Drawing on the latest work from the Cambridge Service Alliance, this thought-provoking and practical two-day workshop considers how to design the shift to services.

What you will learn

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to use tools to design new services and improve existing ones and support the successful integration of services into your organisation.

The workshop covers topics including:

• New thinking for service design
• Understanding the ecosystem – expanding your strategic horizons
• Defining the business model – focusing on your customers’ needs
• Planning your service strategy journey
• Innovating the value delivery system – aligning resources and partners
• Service emotion – identifying and managing the customer’s ‘emotion journey’
• The role of big data – optimising service delivery and designing better solutions

Find out more

See the Institute for Manufacturing website for more information and to book your place

Comments from previous attendees

[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• "A key learning for me was how to take a structured approach to fleshing out and refining a new service or existing service"
• "The collaborative work created opportunities to learn different perspectives"
• "The tool set provided is practical and useful"
• "Great overall process of understanding how to develop new business opportunities and understanding the customer perspective"

[/unordered_list] 

 

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IFS Labs unveiled a live demonstration of an innovative project using drone technology in combination with IoT designed to drive digital transformation at their recent World Conference held in Gothenberg last week... 

Designed and realised by IFS Labs, the company’s in-house think tank, the drone proof-of-concept featured live integration between the drone and IFS Applications for automatic generation of work orders when inspecting assets.

Using computer image analysis, the drone can recognize a break in a power line and automatically generate an observation that is registered in IFS Applications via the IFS IoT Business Connector. The end user can analyze and process the drone observations via the IFS Lobby interface, in which additional information such as geolocation and customer feedback is cross-referenced to help the user action appropriate maintenance and repair.

 

“At IFS Labs, we look beyond the current needs of businesses to anticipate what solutions will be required in the future,” IFS Labs director Bas de Vos said. “There is enormous potential in drone technology and by presenting this proof-of-concept, we have demonstrated that IFS is ready to help companies not only conceptualise but importantly derive value from new innovations so they can digitally transform their businesses.”

Also presented in the Innovation Area of IFS World Conference 2016 are innovative business applications leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality, wearable technology, beacon technology, and 3D printing.

IFS Labs is inspired by consumer technologies and innovative solutions in a range of industries, and applies these to IFS’s enterprise solutions. IFS Labs proves concepts today that customers will ask for tomorrow to make their everyday work more productive, efficient and inspiring.

Read more about IFS Labs’ past and current projects here: www.ifsworld.com/corp/solutions/ifs-applications/ifs-labs/

 

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IFS announced yesterday the launch of IFS IoT Business Connector, a new product that is designed to shorten the time from ideas to tangible benefits for customers’ IoT initiatives by providing an end-to-end architecture and the ability to turn IoT discoveries into actions.

The product which was first announced yesterday during CEO Alastair Sorbie's  keynote and demonstrated this morning by Dan Matthews, CTO IFS at the IFS World Conference 2016 currently running in Gothenburg, Sweden.

IFS IoT Business Connector has been designed to de-risk and accelerate IoT initiatives in areas such as predictive maintenance, service management, asset management, and manufacturing. It provides the ability to harness data gathered from products, assets and equipment to identify actionable observations that trigger user-defined, automated or semi-automated workflows in the IFS enterprise software. IFS IoT Business Connector provides plug-and-play connectivity with the Microsoft Azure IoT Suite for device communications and data analytics, alongside open APIs to connect other IoT platforms or specialized IoT discovery applications.

IFS IoT Business Connector bridges the gap between analysis of IoT data and using the output from such analyses to execute maintenance, service, and manufacturing more efficiently. It adds the ability to turn an investment in IoT connectivity and data analytics into savings through process efficiencies, and into new revenues through service innovation.

The key components of IFS IoT Business Connector are:

• IFS IoT Controller, determining what actions to take when IoT data analysis reveals observations relevant to the business. It also handles a range of practical issues that occur when mapping operational technology (OT) into IT and business applications.
•  IFS IoT Gateway, enabling secure communications between the cloud-based discovery and analytics of IoT data, to the on-premise or cloud-based IFS products.
• IFS IoT Discovery Manager, providing additional management and monitoring capabilities when using the Microsoft Azure IoT Suite as the discovery platform.

The IFS IoT Business Connector is currently being implemented at early adopter customers Songa Offshore, an international midwater drilling contractor, ATS, a leading provider of factory maintenance and IT services based in the U.S., Anticimex, an international pest control company, and Hecla Mining, the North American precious metals mining company.

“We decided to join the early adopter program because we understood the enormous impact that IoT technology can have on our business,” ATS Automation Director of IT Christopher Lebeau said. “By connecting our field service value chain we are able to automate our processes in a new way and use the insights to make smarter business decisions.”

Anticimex CEO Jarl Dahlfors said, “The IFS IoT Business Connector allows us to take control of the data generated by our range of digital pest control devices, improving both the service to our customers as well as providing them with the information they need.”

IFS CTO Dan Matthews added, “By working with our customers and partners we are able to connect the dots so that investments in IoT not only yield piles of data and pretty charts, but result in real actions that are co-planned and executed in an optimal way together with everything else that is going on in a business. For our customers it means an easier way to get started with IoT, lower risks, and faster time to realized value.”

The IFS IoT Business Connector will be released to market in early 2017. Find out more: www.ifsworld.com/iot.

 

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Nearly two-third (60 per cent) of van drivers believe they are made a scapegoat for perceived poor driving standards on UK roads, new research has revealed.

According to a study¹ by TomTom Telematics, fewer than one in ten van drivers (nine per cent) have been involved in a road traffic collision in the last 12 months.

In addition, more than half (54 per cent) have their driving performance monitored by their employer and more than a third (34 per cent) receive driver training.

The findings challenge the views of British motorists revealed in a study earlier this year, in which van drivers finished bottom of the list when it came to which road users are considered the safest or most careful.

“The traditional ‘white van man’ stereotype may no longer be a fair one with a great deal having been achieved over recent years to help raise driving standards among LCV operators,” said Jeremy Gould, VP Sales Europe, TomTom Telematics.

“Developments in telematics technology, such as our advanced WEBFLEET fleet management solution, have enabled drivers and managers to work more closely, empowering them with actionable insights and performance feedback for continuous driving improvement.”

 

Gould’s view is supported by Freight Transport Association (FTA) Head of Vans, Mark Cartwright, who added: “Van drivers are often unfairly maligned and, in some quarters, continue to shoulder an undeserved reputation. Initiatives such as the FTA Van Excellence scheme have been embraced by the industry, demonstrating its commitment to improving standards and increasing best practice awareness.”

According to the research, truck drivers were considered the safest road users², with a third of van drivers (33 per cent) voting them top. Thirty-three per cent meanwhile considered cyclists to be the least safe³.

More than half (59 per cent) believed in-cab technology solutions that provide audible and visual alerts offer the best approach to improving driving standards, followed closely by 49 per cent that voted for driver training courses.

 

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¹ The research was conducted by TomTom Telematics among 100 LCV drivers. In order to qualify for the research, respondents had to be mobile workers operating as part of a company van fleet.

Driver tables

²Road users that van drivers consider the safest (selected from the following finite list):

1. Truck drivers 33%
2. Van drivers 26%
3. Motorcyclists 18%
4. Car drivers 13%
5. Bus and coach drivers 7%
6. Cyclists 3%

³Road users that van drivers consider the least safe (selected from the following finite list):

1. Cyclists 33%
2. Motorcyclists 21%
3. Car drivers 20%
4. Truck drivers 13%
5. Bus and coach drivers 12%
6. Van drivers 1%

 

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Swale Heating Ltd, the largest independent heating maintenance provider in the South East has successfully replaced the software which runs it’s business with the market leading Optimatics from Aeromark.

Swale Heating who look after more than 130,000 properties and directly employ over 280 Engineers, sought to replace it’s multiple systems with fully integrated market leading software that offered the very best in advances in technology.

Steve Parish, Chief Information Officer at Swale said “Swale has seen considerable growth over the last 5 years and we recognised in 2015 that we needed to invest in the very best software and mobile technology to prepare us for the next 10 years. Following a market search, we identified Optimatics as being the transformational product we were looking for and we built a team with Aeromark to implement the replacement system”.

The new service management software not only replaces a number of existing legacy systems in one application, but also streamlines all the processes within the business into agile workflows. As a result, Swale expects to achieve an increase in productivity for the engineers through improved scheduling and far better statutory compliance especially with associated record keeping, whilst further improving its customer service experience and “first time fix” rates.

 

“The system has some really clever technology especially related to parts sourcing. Once the Engineer has diagnosed the fault at the click of a button on their tablet the mobile app opens up an exploded diagram of the boiler, the part is identified and the app then sends the order to be automatically price and availability checked against all Wolseley UK depots . Depending on the travel time to fetch the part and the cost, the system seamlessly orders the part for immediate collection. We expect this feature alone to improve our first time fix rates considerably” said Steve.

One of the other key benefits of the system is the way that reporting is delivered. Whilst the product is delivered via Software-as-a-Service providing all the benefits of this modern technology, the architecture provides for a real time on-site database for management reporting.

 

Phil White IT Manager at Swale said “The way Aeromark deliver their reporting is really useful. The core application is Web based but we have a real time mirrored copy of the data on site which allows us unrestricted access to all the data. This means that in no time at all we were able to build our own report suite which delivers exactly what we need, which will allow us to deliver information the business demands in the future”.

 

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Nissan Europe and Telogis, a Verizon company, have partnered to offer next-generation connected vehicle technologies and services to Nissan commercial customers in Europe.

The new NissanConnect Fleet powered by Telogis offering will connect customers’ vehicles, people and the work that is being done, helping to make drivers safer, providing higher levels of service, while improving sustainability and operational efficiency.

The time has come for Nissan commercial customers to benefit from the visibility and operational intelligence they gain by connecting their business,” said Philippe Guerin-Boutaud, Corporate Vice President, Global LCV Business Unit, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. “From empowering workers on the road and in the field to help them be safer and more efficient, to optimising daily delivery routes, NissanConnect Fleet will have a transformational effect on the way Nissan customers do business.”

Whether you’re a fleet manager or a small business owner, our role is to help you choose a vehicle that suits your specific business needs. From a one van fleet, to multiple vehicles, our highly trained Local Fleet Specialists will work out the most practical and affordable solution for your business.

 

The introduction of the new NissanConnect Fleet service marks an important step in advancing Nissan’s connected services offering across Europe, and also forms part of the brand’s Intelligent Mobility strategy that is guiding Nissan’s product and technology development to create a safer and more sustainable future.[/quote]The introduction of the new NissanConnect Fleet service marks an important step in advancing Nissan’s connected services offering across Europe, and also forms part of the brand’s Intelligent Mobility strategy that is guiding Nissan’s product and technology development to create a safer and more sustainable future.

 

Utilising hardware that has been factory-fitted or installed by a certified Nissan dealer, NissanConnect Fleet connects the vehicle to Telogis’ Mobile Resource Management (MRM) software platform. This platform receives and analyses proprietary Nissan data from each vehicle including driver and vehicle performance history, and turns it into actionable information to help companies of all sizes make more informed business decisions.

“Customers will experience near-immediate return on investment by utilising the built-in connection in their Nissan vehicles,” said Kevin Moore, Vice President, Global OEM Automotive Sales at Telogis. “Telogis delivers mission-critical applications that enable Nissan commercial customers in Europe to connect, optimise and automate their operations, improve the lives of their drivers and provide a higher level of service to their own customers.”

Many of the world’s largest and most well-known commercial fleets connect their vehicles, assets, people, customers and the work that’s being done outside the four walls of their business through the Telogis MRM platform. Once connected, Telogis software will optimise and automate work and processes to drive safety, productivity, efficiency and sustainability in businesses of all sizes.

The NissanConnect Fleet powered by Telogis offering will be available in Europe this autumn supporting the following initial vehicles (with more to come):

 

• All crossover range Qashqai, X-Trail and Juke
• Medium-compact car Pulsar
• New Navara One Ton Pick-up
• NV200 light commercial vehicles (LCV)
• NT400 Cabstar medium-duty vehicles
• Nissan electric vehicles (EVs) - LEAF and e-NV200[/unordered_list] 

Whether it’s supporting fleet managers or a small business owners, Nissan is committed to finding solutions that will help drive forward its customers’ businesses.

 

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