Geolocation services are popping up for consumers everywhere, from Uber, which sends a car service to your door two times faster than a cab, to Bizzy, an app that shows you where your friends have dined lately and offers their recommendations.
But what about the enterprise? Shouldn't this revolutionary technology be transforming companies and not just consumer habits? Well, it is. First, cloud computing transformed enterprises by allowing employees to be mobile while staying connected to the office. And now geolocation is furthering the transformation, most dramatically in the area of field service. Field service is best understood as the HVAC technician or equipment repair person who spends most of his or her time on the road, s ervicing machines and sourcing parts to make repairs.
Until recently, this has been a business run on clipboards, spreadsheets and Post-Its, with techs sent on their routes with little more than a phone to connect with the main office. But new cloud-based mobile solutions can deliver work orders on the fly, provide real-time access to warehouse inventory, optimize scheduling and routing based on location, and enable other features that have a direct impact on the bottom line. With geolocation, the age-old sector of field service suddenly becomes an industry on the cutting edge. Here's a breakdown of the best ways geolocation technology is being put to use for enterprise:
- Real-time tracking and display of tech location and status. This will finally do away with those eight hour windows to wait for your technician to arrive. Field service managers can pinpoint a tech’s location, analyze his or time time on the road or stuck in traffic , plan his or breaks breaks,...
