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Showing posts from December, 2007

Apple Stores, iPhones & Symbol MC50 Handhelds an Interesting Combination

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I was shopping in Portland, Oregon yesterday and observed a very interesting combination of handheld computers, iPhones and PDAs at work. As I was shopping in the Apple store at Pioneer Place, I noticed that the Apple sales people were all carrying Symbol/Motorola MC50 handheld computers with wireless support, credit card swipers and bar code scanners all running on Windows Mobile 5.0 operating systems. Do you see the irony in this? The Apple sales people are selling smartphones (iPhones) and PDAs (iTouch) using the Apple operating system, but all of their sales people use Windows Mobile operating systems for their business applications. This is just not right. The way the Apple sales people were using the MC50s handhelds was very cool. They could swipe debit and credit cards anywhere in the store, give you the product and email your receipt to you. That is very cool! No long lines at the cash register, the sales people can take care of all credit card and debit card purchases anywher

Automating a Paintless Dent Repair Business with PDAs, Handhelds and Mobile Software

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I have had the opportunity to learn a lot about the paintless dent repair (PDR) business in 2007. Through many conversations with paintless dent repair technicians and managers I have come to learn a few things about how to automate and improve the operations of a PDR business using PDAs, handhelds, Smartphones and mobile software. The following articles summarize many of these lessons. http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2007/10/review-of-paintless-dent-repair.html http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2007/10/paintless-dent-removal-mobile-software.html http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2007/10/paintless-dent-repair-mobile-automotive.html http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2007/10/mobile-automotive-inspection-software.html http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2007/04/paintless-dent-repair-handheld.html http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2007/11/mobiledataforce-announces-fieldsync.html

Building a Small Mobile Business Using Mobile Handheld PDAs and Smartphones

Over the past few years companies were coming to MobileDataforce to ask about mobilizing existing business processes like field services, work orders, asset tracking, inspections, etc. These were companies that were just looking for ways to make things more efficient using handheld PDAs and smartphones. I am now seeing a new trend. This trend is companies that are starting from the ground up with a mobile business plan that takes advantage of mobile software and handheld PDA technology at their core. Companies that can be run by a mobile owner/manager. The mobile owner/manager is able to enter work orders and job assignments on his handheld computer, dispatch the job to his team and keep working in the field. All the work is electronically documented on handhelds and synchronized back to his office accounting and work order software without human intervention. These capabilities offer very compelling competitive advantages. You have full business visibility on the handheld. You don

38 Reasons to Mobilize Your Business with Handheld PDAs

This article describes the value that mobile software applications on handheld PDAs can provide businesses: Eliminate time spent in the re-typing data collected in the field. Reduce time spent on the phone dispatching service tickets , rather dispatch direct from your office computer to the mobile handheld computer in the field. Send driving directions in the mobile work order to save driving time and fuel costs. Save driving time by wirelessly synchronizing work orders with the office. Reduce fuel costs by minimizing the need to drive back and forth to the office to deliver paper work. Provide better customer service by accessing their account information via wireless connectivity on your handheld computer. Improve the efficiency of field data collection by using barcode scanners or RFID readers for rapid asset tracking. Improve the quality of work by providing real-time management visibility to work being done in the field. Create and schedule service tickets direct from the field. R

MobileDataforce, Mobile Software, PDAs and Handhelds at the 2008 Olympics

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MobileDataforce has a customer in the Netherlands called Janssen-Fritsen. They are supplying all gymnastics equipment for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing next year. This is their fifth Olympic order. They are a market leader and expert in the field of equipment and materials for sports education, gymnastics and sports centers. Most of their products are developed in-house and supported by their professional services team. The company has 25 field workers that register and work with large quantities of information related to the installation and condition of the equipment. Until recently, all of this information was managed with paper forms. They have now mobilized these paper processes using MobileDataforce's PointSync Mobility Platform to improve service efficiency and to significantly reduce the reporting time.

Mobile Handheld PDA Applications for Inspections on Hospital Equipment

MobileDataforce is working on a mobile software application for use on handheld PDAs and barcode scanners by a biomedical equipment company that provides services to over 200 hospitals. The mobile field services application provides: Work Orders software Inspection Software Breakdown repairs and preventative maintenance on all biomedical equipment Safety and performance testing of all biomedical equipment Loan equipment to minimise inconvenience Acceptance testing of all new biomedical equipment Training and education on equipment operation and maintenance Our mobile application will integrate with their pre-existing CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) to provide mobile handheld PDA applications for their service technicians.