Fleet management solutions provide valuable information about your fleet and drivers that can be used to improve operations.  Real-time information about vehicle usage, driver behavior and fuel consumption help you determine where your highest costs are and what areas of your operation can be improved to deliver more benefit to your customers.  With mobile solutions such as GPS tracking, Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and wireless mobile devices you can begin measuring performance in real-time.  Automatic alerts provide you with the hard data you need to begin making improvements.  Common alerts include:

• Excessive engine idle-are your vehicles running for too long, but not headed anywhere?  Educate your drivers on the costs of excessive engine idle to reduce unnecessary fuel consumption.
• Mileage reports-help you determine if you need to improve routing so you can complete more jobs per day and reduce fuel usage.  Also provides insight into after-hours vehicle usage.
• Driver alerts-increase the safety of your drivers and reduce insurance costs with alerts that indicate speeding, seatbelt use and more.

Let’s Get Mobile!  Contact DecisionPoint Systems, Inc. for additional information about fleet management solutions that improve operations and increase the productivity of your mobile workforce.

In our November 16th post I provided information about the two typical segments of mobile retail solutions—In-Store Systems and Distribution Systems.  Today I’d like to take a closer look at one type of distribution center solution, Transportation Management Systems.

Transportation Management Systems include mobile computing systems which are used in all functions related to handling the logistics of moving inventory from a distribution center to a store.  Mobile computing and scanning systems used in Transportation Management Systems typically include the following functions:

• Yard Management
• Traffic Management
• Dispatch and Routing
• Vehicle Location-Based Services
• Vehicle and Driver Logs

Transportation Management Systems streamline operations and ensure that your products are positioned in your stores when your customers need them, so you can maximize profits.

Let’s Get Mobile!  Contact DecisionPoint Systems, Inc. for additional information about solutions for warehouse and distribution centers.

The Last Mile Delivery Forum starts on Sept. 30th and DecisionPoint Systems will be in Booth #18, so we hope you drop by and visit with us.

DecisionPoint’s MobileArc Courier Solutions provide everything needed for success and you’ll definitely want to stop by our booth if:

Your shipper is asking about

• Signature Capture
• Bar Code Scanning
• GPS Location Based Services

Your drivers need a device that

• Is rugged
• Is weather-proof
• Can be read inside and outside
• Operates for a full shift on a single battery
• Is both a phone and a mobile computer

If you’re looking for a partner who

• Is a mobile computer expert
• Works with Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile
• Can provision your device to work out-of-the-box
• Can manage your devices in the field
• Can support your device day after day, year after year

We hope to see you at the show!

Let’s Get Mobile!  Contact DecisionPoint Systems, Inc. for additional information about our MobileArc Courier Solutions.

Not all healthcare applications take place within the four walls.  There are a variety of healthcare businesses that rely on workers in the field, such as:

• Home health care
• Mobile diagnostics
• Pharmaceutical delivery
• Medical testing labs
• Durable medical equipment (DME/HME) suppliers
• Patient transport service providers

Some popular mobile solutions for healthcare businesses with field-based workforces include:

• Location-Based Services (GPS Tracking)
• Push-to-Talk
• Route Optimization
• Turn-by-Turn Navigation

Visit us again in the next few days to learn more about how mobile solutions increase accuracy and improve productivity of healthcare field workers.

Let’s Get Mobile!  Contact DecisionPoint Systems, Inc. for additional information about MobileArc Field Mobility Solutions.

According to Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA):

• There are discrepancies on 10.5% of DSD invoices issued to small-format retailers, and 15.4% to supermarkets and other large-format stores
• The average out-of-stock rate for DSD items is 7.4%, but jumps to 13.1% for promotional items
• Out-of-stocks result in $6 billion in lost sales annually

Automating Direct Store Delivery (DSD) provides the solution to these problems by reducing out-of-stock merchandise, eliminating paperwork and data-entry errors and improving the tracking of promotional items.  DecisionPoint’s MobileArc™ Direct Store Delivery Solutions help businesses increase productivity and profitability by optimizing customer deliveries and enable:

• Bar code scanning
• Route optimization
• Location-Based Services (LBS)
• Turn-by-turn directions
• Signature capture
• Mobile printing

Let’s Get Mobile!  Contact DecisionPoint Systems, Inc. for more information about mobile solutions designed for Direct Store Delivery.

Many businesses that use courier services for delivery of sensitive items issue mandates to couriers that must be in place to ensure secure and accurate delivery.  In order to maintain these customers, courier companies must meet these delivery standards and mandates.  DecisionPoint provided a solution that enabled a courier service to keep the business of one of their largest customers by meeting such a mandate.

Courier Solution Details

• Bar code scanning
• Signature capture
• Location-based services (GPS)
• Upgraded device to meet these demands- Motorola MC55
• CXT X-Mobile software for real-time data capture

Let’s Get Mobile!  Contact DecisionPoint Systems, Inc. for more information about Courier Solutions.

DecisionPoint offers solutions for many different industries that include hardware, software and professional services.  Over the next few weeks I’ll be providing success stories from different industries that chose DecisionPoint solutions.  The following brief summary describes a solution that DecisionPoint provided a proof of delivery and yard management company.

Company Profile

Leading provider of portable storage and office units.  They market, service and distribute 270,000 units through company-owned branch locations in U.S., Canada, the UK and The Netherlands with over 2,100 employees.  The customer required a solution to maintain their inventory and manage their large workforce.

Solution Details

• 1,000 Motorola MC75 Handhelds that included: dynamic dispatch, asset tracking with embedded GPS, industrial turn-by-turn directions and breadcrumbing, proof-of-delivery with signature capture
• 750 Zebra mobile printers (receipt and report)
• 250 Zebra table top printers

This total solution increased productivity, efficiency and customer satisfaction.  Looking for these same benefits for your proof of delivery or yard management business?

Contact DecisionPoint Systems, Inc. for more information about enterprise mobility solutions.  Also, look for future posts featuring success stories from different industries.

Location-Based Services (LBS) or GPS location tracking allows your business to effectively manage mobile resources to ensure they’re in the right place at the right time.  Real-time information can provide insights into whether or not your resources are being used effectively.

SmartLOCATE from Agilis Systems is GPS location tracking software for your mobile workers, vehicles and assets.  SmartLOCATE provides up-to-the-minute location and time card information for on-the-go workers via the back office.

Features include:

• Detailed Web-based map
• Custom icons for drivers, jobs, assets and landmarks
• Play back history
• Vehicle maintenance reports/alerts
• Clock in/out from mobile devices

With GPS tracking software like SmartLOCATE you can increase productivity and improve response time to better serve your customers.

Let’s Get Mobile!  Contact DecisionPoint Systems, Inc. for more information about SmartLOCATE software and how GPS tracking solutions can improve your business.

Social networking is the rage.  Not a day goes by without the mention of Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.  What can we learn from the millions of people leveraging these technologies to get in touch, stay in touch and find new opportunities? 
 
Well, first we learn that connecting with people and sharing information is a fundamental human need.  From a historic perspective these new technologies promote communication and in many respects are no different from their predecessor technologies such as the teletype, telephone and e-mail.  The advantage that these newer technologies offer is quicker access to a much larger group of people and support for multiple types of digital communication. 
 
How does this relate to the mobile worker?  Well first of all, I am not suggesting that providing a mobile worker with Facebook or LinkedIn on his mobile phone will increase his/her productivity.  However, what I am suggesting is that improving the delivery of information to and between mobile workers and the enterprise will improve productivity and that there are a number of tools and technologies currently available to help.   Technologies such as Push-to-Talk voice communication, mobile e-mail and messaging alerts enable mobile workers to be updated in real time.  Additionally, technologies such as GPS tracking and Geofencing ensure that the enterprise has real time awareness of the locations of its mobile workers and assets thus providing the ability to deploy the most cost effective resources to a location.  Finally, with the advent of high resolution displays and high speed wireless networks, mobile workers now have access to detailed information such as schematics that until recently was not possible.  If you have a mobile workforce, it is important to ask the question: Are my mobile workers disconnected and working on their own? If so, how can you leverage technology to connect them and leverage the strength found in numbers?

Let’s Get Mobile! Contact DecisionPoint Systems, Inc. to learn more about the technologies that will keep your mobile workforce connected.

Standalone GPS is also known as autonomous GPS or native GPS.  Time To First Fix (TTFF) is the time to pinpoint your present location.  Initial TTFF is often referred to as “cold start”. 

As its name implies, standalone GPS relies solely on the GPS satellites and a clear, unobstructed view of the skies to determine your present location.

While standalone GPS can acquire your location without cell network coverage, TTFF can take anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes because it needs to search for satellites.  Also, standalone GPS has difficulty providing reliable positions in poor signal conditions such as when the receiver is surrounded by tall buildings or trees.  Standalone GPS also will not generally work inside buildings.  However, standalone GPS is usually more accurate than A-GPS and there are no network-dependent downsides. 

Assisted GPS (A-GPS) is intended to provide faster Time To First Fix and signal acquisition under poor signal conditions.  A-GPS does not “triangulate” using cellular networks as is sometimes thought.  Instead, A-GPS relies on projection of satellite orbital path data over a period of 2-10 days.  A-GPS cell phones use a data connection to contact an assistance server and download A-GPS data which enables the device to quickly locate GPS satellites.  Typically, an A-GPS device downloads a new “GPS Quick Connect File” every couple of days.  When the file expires it takes about 2 minutes to get a fix on the satellites instead of the typical 20 seconds, but it still works.

It’s important to understand that Assisted GPS is a GPS with a full GPS, SIRF 3 or Globallocate chipset.  The “Assisted” component is an additional or complementary function, rather than an enabling one. While some A-GPS solutions do not have the option of falling back to standalone or autonomous GPS, most systems will run fine and simply take longer for Time To First Fix.

Benefits of A-GPS are:

• Faster location acquisition
• Less device processing power required
• Extends battery life
• Location acquisition possible in non-optimal environments and indoors 

All GPS solutions which DecisionPoint offer can run on either standalone GPS or A-GPS devices.   Keep in mind though that Location-Based Services (GPS Tracking) solutions do require a data plan to transmit data real-time including current location, geofencing arrivals/departures and speed alerts.  However, up to 3 weeks of historical data (breadcrumbing, geofencing and speed alerts) can be stored on some devices and transmitted when the unit is again within coverage. 

Contact DecisionPoint Systems, Inc. to help you successfully navigate this complex topic and determine the best solution for you.  (Admit it—don’t you like the way I worked the word ‘navigate’ into a sentence about GPS?)