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Adcheck Mobile keeps clients mobile and ahead of the pack
12-03-06 21:15
Age: 2 yrs |
| BY: ANTHONY SELSICK |
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To stay ahead of competitors and reach that number one spot, organisations need to bypass traditional methods and seek alterative solutions to optimise business performance in today’s computer-enabled world. According to Anthony Selsick, IT Director and founding member of Adcheck Mobile, a local market intelligence company, businesses need to use technology to keep ahead of the pack. By staying abreast of the latest technological trends, customers are able to benefit from real-time solutions such as e-logistics.
Explaining further, Selsick says Adcheck Mobile developed its solution using mobile technology as a real-time intelligence-gathering solution. Based on the company’s.NET territory management solution, written in C# and based on SQL Server, it allows managers to keep an eye on remote staff without leaving their desks. The solution is customised according to industry and Selsick says its ePharma tool has proved to be very popular in the local pharmaceutical industry.
“Traditional mobile workers were expected to come into the office on a regular basis to complete paperwork and get updated assignments,” says Selsick. “Now, with a PDA running the Windows mobile operating system, broad GPRS availability and Adcheck’s server-based software, users need never waste time travelling to the office again.”
Using the technology, managers assign each user their tasks from a Web-based application. When the remote employees start their working day, they synchronise their PDAs and receive their to-do list. As they complete each task, they simply enter any remarks or results into their PDAs and synchronise. All data is transmitted to a hosted server, managed by Adcheck, before being sent on to the customer.
The system has been designed with full control residing in the server to ensure customer data and applications are secure. The PDAs can even be rebooted remotely should the device give trouble. The system also keeps audit information about the mobile devices to ensure no components are removed or lost while in use.
“Adcheck uses GPRS to synchronise, but has the ability to fail over to other communications protocols in case of a cellular failure,” adds Selsick. “This ensures the immediate availability of data in almost any situation. As soon as the data is synchronised, managers can fire up their browsers and view an up-to-date report on each employees’ progress, taking any required action.”
Reports can be viewed in pivot table format, which allows users to drag and drop fields to gain the most appropriate view of the data. To make the process as smooth as possible, the server remembers the last view of each person and automatically formats the next report he/she calls up in the same manner. The data is not only available for viewing, however. As it is synchronised it can be analysed by intelligent applications on the server, which can spot anomalies and immediately send a message to the employee to perform additional operations at a specific location in an attempt to clarify the situation.
A problem many managers have with remote work is trust. How does an organisation know its workers are doing what they are supposed to do and going where they are supposed to go? Adcheck’s territory management software solves this problem by making it simple to triangulate any user’s position at any time of the day. Using the browser interface again, managers can simply select a user name and request location information according to the PDAs position in the cellular network. The location is returned within a few seconds, including the exact longitude and latitude of the device, ensuring the company knows where its users and devices are at all times.
Slesick says another example of the competitive edge Adcheck ePharma provides is the way it overlays targeted information across customer data. He says Adcheck Mobile understands the tremendous pressure placed on territory managers, which is why Adcheck ePharma was developed as an IT and logistics solution: “The Adcheck mobile platform brings customers closer to their suppliers in real-time. It can be customised to any company’s requirements, providing a cost effective way to keep mobile workers productively engaged without wasting time on administrative tasks or losing track of where they are and what they are doing.”
Selsick believes that mobile technology will aid its clients in obtaining that much needed competitive advantage and optimise overall business performance. “Soon Adcheck Mobile will be at the stage where sales representatives won’t have to plan their day. All arrangements will be automatically planned for them through a computer using analytics,” he concludes. |
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