New Opportunities for a Quick ROI, Part 2: A Dispatch Solution

In our September 28 newsletter we discussed how, through a combination of bargain hunting and some basic KISS, an enterprise could create a mobile solution for sales order entry that pays for itself almost immediately. In this newsletter, the second in a series on quick ROI solutions, a field service/dispatch application is examined. The dispatch function has been one of the first and most popular areas of mobile IT. In fact, dispatch applications have been the single biggest sector of custom application development for Outr.Net this past year.

Business Scenario

Our hypothetical company, MobileTechies Inc., is a small but growing company in the service business. The company has 25 technicians in the field who receive their daily dispatch instructions in the morning at the home office, with occasional updates during the day by phone or cell.

The technicians currently fill out forms to report on their work at the end of each day. These reports include information about time (arrival, departure), problems found and repaired, parts used, and other comments.

MobileTechies has been looking into mobile data solutions to streamline the dispatch and reporting functions, to get a more real-time view of the status of the technicians in the field, to provide more accurate management and accountability of their parts inventories, and to help reduce paperwork and associated paperwork errors.

Device Selection

We considered a number of devices for the MobileTechies dispatch application, including Pocket PCs, RIMs, PalmOS devices, and Internet phones with thin-client Web browsers.

This application shares many similarities with the sales order entry application in our last newsletter, in which we recommended PalmOS devices. However, in this case there was an even stronger requirement for rugged and durable devices. Another key requirement was a wireless network that provides good coverage and building penetration.

For these reasons, we would lean towards large-display devices operating on a ReFlex network. ReFlex is a two-way wireless messaging protocol with roots in the paging industry. While it is not the latest or most publicized wireless system, ReFlex is a reliable yet inexpensive workhorse that was designed to give it's devices strong coverage, building penetration and battery life. A number of network carriers offer nationwide ReFlex systems in the United States and other parts of the Americas.

To date most ReFlex devices have been manufactured by Motorola, but new ones are under development by several other manufacturers. The ReFlex devices we could recommend today for this dispatch application are:

Motorola T900. This device is rugged, compact, and portable. It has an alphanumeric keypad, and contains an address book. It is not programmable, so 3rd party applications cannot be installed, but it has a full-featured inbox and outbox for text messages. These are currently available for $150 or less.

Motorola Timeport/P935. This family of devices are larger and more complex, but are still relatively rugged and portable. They are fully programmable and have a high-resolution grayscale display. With a custom application, they could be used to give the field technician the ability to easily construct and send in a structured report of their work (see screenshots below). These devices are currently available for $320 or less.

Simplify and Save

Again, the single biggest opportunity to save money is to keep it simple in the back end. In this case, there are a limited number of messages that need to be sent, most messages are outbound (from the office to the field), and latencies of a minute or two are not a major problem.

Many small companies doing mobile dispatch have found they can manage their messages by simply using email. This relatively low-tech method can be supplemented if the company grows substantially, but in the meantime it provides a solution which is based on existing and familiar office applications, and requires very little integration or training.

As the company grows and information traffic becomes heavier, this system can be extended in several dimensions. Most email applications include tools for creating rules and forms that can interface with other applications and databases. There are also ways to achieve faster and more responsive communications with the wireless network server, such as socket-based connections with SNPP or WCTP.

For the T900s, the messages can take the form of ordinary dispatch instructions which are structured for the display and inbox of the device. The technicians can manage these dispatch instructions in the inbox and respond with either predefined responses or full text messages.

For the Timeports, the dispatch messages can be easily structured by the dispatcher to include routing and formatting instructions for the custom application. The application on the device will allow for quick, validated responses to be composed and sent back in a format that is readable, but also formatted for further processing at the home office, such as exports into a spreadsheet or a database.

In addition to the above screens, this application would contain a splash screen, a password screen, and a configuration/preferences screen.

(Outr.Net can typically develop, test and release a custom application like this in about 3 days of development, using Overnight App^TM software templates.)

Return on Investment

Let's say MobileTechies wants to equip 10 technicians with T900s and the other 15 with Timeports. The initial costs of this end-to-end solution comprise client-side development (3 days = $2400) and devices (10 X $150 + 15 X $320 = $6300) for a total initial cost of $8700.. There are also leasing plans available for the devices for those who don't want to make the initial outlay.

A recurring costs is airtime, at about $30/month per unit, so the total recurring cost is $750/month for the 25 field technicians. It is likely that less expensive airtime packages can be adopted after usage is tracked for a few months.

Again, some maintenance and training is required, but is probably close to that required for the paper forms.

The key benefits to MobileTechies of the new mobile system are:

Fewer errors on dispatch instructions.   Fewer errors on technician reports.   More timely view of the status of the field force.   More timely information on billable services and parts inventories.   Better productivity of the field force.

Considering just the last item, if each technician generates billable service revenues of $50,000 per year, and MobileTechies, Inc. anticipates that a mobile dispatch solution will make the field force at least 5% more productive, the monthly benefit is more than $5200/month..

Projecting these savings, this mobile solution pays for itself in just a few months. Within 2 years, the initial $8700 investment pays for itself and puts another $98,000 into the company coffers.

Conclusions

Like the sales company in our previous newsletter, by shopping wisely and keeping the system simple, MobileTechies assembled a solution that paid for itself in just a few months.

Again, some other benefits this simple approach are:

The solution, and the benefits, are scalable as the company and the field force grows.   The solution is extensible to other mobile functions, devices, and backend solutions   The company is in control: the software is running on their systems, they own the source code, and are not dependent on any one supplier for maintenance or upgrades.   The company is getting a head start on mobile applications, is getting real experience on new business processes and ROI factors, and is getting a clearer view of other ROI opportunities with mobile applications.

In an upcoming newsletter we will discuss how this approach can be applied a high-bandwidth application, image handling in a mobile environment.

Written by:

Kim Spitznagel
President
Outr.Net, Inc.



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