How the maturation of location tracking can increase efficiency.
Greg Kneuer is principal consultant at Enspiria Solutions Inc. Contact him at 303-641-2589.
To realize the enterprise benefits of field-force management, utility executives and managers should pay keen attention to:
• Advancements in real-time location tracking;
• Fully extending mobile workforce management (MWM) in the enterprise;
• Back-end connectivity with enterprise-wide systems; and
• Security of mobile applications.
Advancements in Real-Time Location Tracking
A key area for corporate enterprise growth is real-time management of field-force resources and assets, enabling better response to customers. Since the U.S. Department of Defense made its Global Positioning System (GPS) standard positioning service available and free of direct charges for civil users worldwide in 1995, real-time/location-aware applications have exploded in the mainstream marketplace. Market research data predicts that the location-based services market—including GPS, General Packet Radio Service, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, Automatic Vehicle Location, Street Level Routing, and Mobile Mapping—will hit close to $5 billion by 2010 (see sidebar). Tracking, navigation, and mobile hardware, designed to increase the efficiency of field-force operations, are a growing trend and are fast maturing.