AirClic Continues Torrid Pace in Delivering Mobilization Solutions
Marked by new or expanded agreements, AirClic announced record-breaking quarterly results. Read more
Keystone by Maax Mobilizes Field Service with AirClic MP
AirClic helps mobilize field service workers and track status of Keystone's 300 daily installations in real-time. Read more
AirClic Secures Additional Investment for Expansion Effort
Company Expands Leadership Expertise in Delivering Mobilization Solutions for Extending Core Business Processes - announced it has closed $2.86 million in an additional round of over-subscribed Series B venture financing. Read more
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Money Grows on (Decision) Trees
When people think about mobile business technology, it's usually in terms of information being captured in the field and transmitted back to a headquarters office. But the information that is built into a mobile application, or that flows from headquarters back to the workforce in the field is just as important.
Every task a worker performs out in the field may involve several individual steps—all of them necessary to ensure that the job is complete and that business rules and procedures have been followed accurately. Some steps are functional: repairing a machine or delivering a package. Others are more administrative: those that ensure correct billing or provide evidence of a chain of custody.
The more steps there are, the easier it is to overlook one, especially when a person is extremely busy, or new on the job, or simply confronted with a situation that he or she has not seen before. When that happens, it can mean costly repeat visits, inaccurate records and unhappy customers.
Fortunately, mobile technology can help workers perform their jobs without missing critical details and without having to depend on memory to make sure new or modified procedures are followed accurately. With a mobile solution that allows information to flow to people in the field automatically, business rules for decision support can be written into the application, and on-screen prompts can guide the work process. This "decision-tree" capability, as it's called, uses a sequence of "if-then" questions to take a worker step by step through a work process.
For example, a repair technician working onsite at a customer facility enters the serial number of a piece of machinery. If the machine is still under warranty, the technician receives the go-ahead to perform repairs at no charge. The system gives the service history and identifies the replacement parts needed for that specific model. It also displays cost information for any items not covered by warranty and allows the technician to record and verify customer approval before proceeding with the repairs.
AirClic applications can be configured with advanced workflow and decision-tree modeling to recognize the many different decisions that personnel in the field need to make in the course of the business day. And procedures can be modified easily as business requirements evolve. When they use AirClic, the business process workers see on their handsets will always reflect what they need to do next.
Decision tree capability enables your mobile workforce to do their jobs better, faster, and more efficiently. The result is lower costs and higher profits. So sometimes, money does grow on trees.
BPM—Three Letters that Spell "Competitive Advantage"
Another day, another three-letter acronym. Yes, it's easy to be skeptical about adding yet another business acronym to the list that includes ERP, CRM, and SCM. But here's one more acronym that's worth knowing about, especially for businesses with significant field operations.
It's called Business Process Management, or "BPM." BPM is described as a management strategy that involves improving and, wherever possible, automating the many processes that a business uses to add value, all the way from supply chain to customer. BPM recognizes that the majority of business processes are routine. That is, they run fairly smoothly from day to day. The more these processes can be standardized and automated, the less they will cost. Yet, it is in the exceptions to the smooth day-to-day operations where you find the greatest opportunity for process improvement.
One expert in the field of Business Process Management is Derek Miers, the CEO of London-based Enix Consulting. In a recent white paper titled "Business Process Management Driving Business Performance," Miers wrote, "it is how exceptions are handled that is a primary driver of business cost, service differentiation... and overall business performance." He added, "Competitive advantage derives from the ability to adapt and evolve the operating procedures of the firm as it responds to these exceptions."
To gain that ability to adapt and evolve, Miers recommended a number of BPM best practices. He wrote that "rather than developing software, technologists should be focused on finessing the process architecture of the firm, enabling it to achieve desired levels of efficiency and service, yet turn on a dime." He suggested that it is important to "keep technological complexity, development costs and time to market down to a minimum," and to "drive operational efficiency and yet enable rapid value innovation."
These recommendations argue strongly for a hosted application such as AirClic MP. When internal IT personnel are free of development and maintenance duties, they are able to concentrate on the results they want the business to achieve. Managers can fine tune and modify their mobile processes and deploy them on the fly, without IT intervention, and without the need to interrupt ongoing operations.
AirClic is well suited for advanced Business Process Management, because it allows people to put their effort into managing process, not managing process software.
Vanguard Security
"We've seen all of the technologies that have come and gone in the security industry," says Scott Hamernick, Accounts Manager for Miami, Florida-based Vanguard Security. For a 25-year-old company serving more than 300 clients at 320 locations, that means a lot of technology. It also means a lot of hard-won knowledge about what works and what doesn't when it comes to gathering information from on-site security personnel.
Vanguard had a clear idea of their needs when they evaluated competing mobile solution providers. "We wanted a solution that could give us real-time, remote access to our guard activity, and enable our clients to access needed information from their offices immediately," said Hamernick. After considering the options, Vanguard chose AirClic.
Security guards using AirClic log their rounds by scanning bar codes with a device attached to a mobile phone that is also equipped to provide GPS data. The information is then transmitted back to a central AirClic server, where the information is aggregated and presented to Vanguard clients through a secure Web site in real time.
For Vanguard, AirClic provides a cost-effective, reliable solution that increases productivity. But even more important to Vanguard is that, "clients really like the fact that we can now provide up-to-the-minute information on any security guard or security event."