| By :
Iain Jones
In business, there are several reasons why knowing the location of a workforce can result in measurable benefits in terms of an organisation's duty-of-care as well as efficiency savings. With GPS enabled mobile smartphones and Blackberries becoming more commonplace, then the cost and convenience of tracking individual handsets is so low that it is now being seen by many as a commodity with a stronger than ever case for adoption. Many businesses now equip their people with Blackberry mobile phones so that they can work effectively away from the office. Many Blackberry models now have GPS capabilities built into the handset itself. For the user, this brings access to a range of useful location based services such as interactive maps and the ability to conduct searches that give results based on your current location. In many businesses, it can be helpful to be able to quickly establish where their individual employees are, or even be able to monitor how long they have spent at a particular site. A number of companies now offer a specific software download for Blackberries and other smart-phones that will communicate the GPS location information from the device to a central secure database. This data can then be accessed by approved individuals in a number of different ways, such as via a simple web browser or using a more sophisticated tracking console application capable of detailed analysis and reporting. The data can also be made available to a company's business systems. The Blackberry GPS software typically has a small footprint meaning that it can run in the background without any impact on the normal operation of the phone. In some cases the software can be remotely installed and configured, so that there is no inconvenience or disruption to the users in rolling out the new tracking capability. A key benefit of using a Blackberry or indeed other smart-phone as the tracking device as opposed to a dedicated GPS tracking unit is that there is no need to issue people with a dedicated tracking device, which not only saves money (both in terms of the cost of the device and also in terms of not needing a second mobile data service), but also saves the user from having to worry about keeping the GPS tracking device charged up, and of course, remembering to wear or carry it at all times. The use of Blackberry mobile tracking can help to make a mobile workforce more effective and also enable the business to react effectively to a change in circumstances (such as enabling you to find out who is the nearest employee to a given location). Over a period of time, you can also build up a good understanding of the duration it takes your staff to undertake various types of activities on location, which in turn can lead to more accurate planning and costing. It is also widely reported that employees are likely to work more diligently and productively if they know that their employer has the capability to follow their movements. Moreover, when on the move, it is possible to monitor the speed at which the user is travelling, and to set alarms that will report when a specified speed is exceeded, or the phone travels outside of a defined area. For lone workers, particularly those in occupations that may occasionally put them at risk, then the added security that they can raise an alarm and know that their position can be accurately found is enormously valuable. In conclusion, the cost of utilising the GPS capability of a Blackberry or smart-phone device so as to enable a business to monitor the location of their employees, whether for efficiency benefits or to provide safeguards for lone workers is now so inexpensive that it opens up new opportunities in organisations that would have previously considered this technology too costly to consider.
|
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.articlesbacklink.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
