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We're excited to announce that two Intermec CN50 customers have recieved "Honorable Mention" in 2011's Mobilizer Awards. Congrats to Thyssen Krupp Elevators and Canada Post on these exciting awards!

Best in IT Mangagement of Mobile Devices:

Honorable Mention: Thyssen Krupp Elevators (TKE)

With SOTI MobiControl, TKE can instantly access technicians’ Intermec devices and quickly resolve their hardware issues.

ThyssenKrupp Elevator, based in Frisco, Texas, installs and services elevators and escalators worldwide. TKE needed a mobile device management (MDM) solution to oversee its fleet of Intermec CN50 and StyleTap devices. It sought to enhance overall operational efficiency by improving management of devices, decreasing shipping and handheld support costs, and gaining performance improvements through reduced downtime.

TKE implemented a new time/ticketing app, using SOTI MobiControl. “We are able to instantly access techs' devices and provide fast resolution to their issues. Calls that would have taken 15 minutes before are completed in less than five minutes now,” reports Pat McElhinney, CIO.

Since using SOTI MobiControl, support time has been reduced from days to minutes, with no need to ship devices back to the TKE support location, thus reducing costs and improving productivity. Techs have less downtime. Ticketing and dispatch applications are also more efficient.

“MobiControl provides us nearly unlimited access to the devices, allowing us to minimize downtime,” notes McElhinney.

Best in Business Applications

Honorable Mention: Canada Post

Canada Post configured its handheld devices to enable on-route real-time capability, introduced a full suite of messaging capabilities, and now offers same-day quality control reporting.

Canada Post, based in Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada’s primary postal operator. It has 72,000 employees. To provide better communication capabilities to its delivery agents, Canada Post purchased 14,000 Motorola devices in 2006. While the devices initially worked well, Canada Post eventually wanted to convert all handheld devices to enable on-route real-time capability; to launch a full suite of messaging capabilities; and to introduce same-day quality control reporting.

In 2010, Canada Post purchased 8,500 Intermec CN50 mobile computers and worked with Sybase Afaria and Sybase SQL Anywhere for remote management and client database synchronization.

By November 2011, every delivery agent (driver and carrier) in a large town who works out of a delivery depot will have access to the technology. “We will have about 22,500 mobile devices out there,” explains Peter Duncan, director, scanning systems and processes. About 4,500 of these are being used internally by depot clerks and in-plant. “The remaining 18,000 are being used by delivery agents.”

Total cost of the 8,500 CN50s, application porting and testing, ongoing support for five years, deployment, and training costs was about CA$20 million.

All Canada Post customers now receive delivery scan information in real time, significantly reducing the volume of calls to the help desk. And before, with just the two-way radios, drivers could communicate only with their dispatchers. “Now, with messaging capabilities, they can talk to their dispatchers, their supervisors, and any other carriers,” explains Duncan.

Another benefit is that prior to 2010, Canada Post would produce driver compliance reports in the evening and then make them available to supervisors in the morning. Now, this information is automatically available at the close of the business day.

User reaction? "About 80% of our agents love it, and about 20% are technically challenged, but none of them want to go back," says Duncan.

Check out the full list of award winners here.

This is the third post in a three-part series by Intermec's Director of Software Busienss Development Neil McHugh

Part III   Intermec’s Solution Strategy

In the previous discussions we have touched on some of the complexities of software and solutions and also the projections of mobile devices and usage over the next 5 years. The analysts and consultants agree that a single mobile platform to manage all mobile transactions is the way to go, but in reality difficult discussions are still ahead. Which platform, which vendor and how long will it take to deploy are serious questions most companies are wrestling with.

Have you ever spoken with a company that's deployed a mobile platform? These experiences make interesting reading. The objective of moving to a single platform is to improve efficiencies and one would think that mobility would become easier to manage, but if the wrong platform is selected, you may find yourself facing a $500,000+ software license bill with a larger bill for professional services. Then you face other challenges with enhancements, redesign of the mobile apps, upgrades and flexibility of configuration. So, although the strategic direction is correct, the costs involved really need to be justified and understood.

So, what makes Intermec different? Firstly, we are not a software company and we are not entering the MEAP (Mobile Enterprise Application Market). We are only developing solutions for our customers to support Intermec devices. We do however plan to support other device types but our objective is to provide solutions including our single mobile platform (Skynax) that is specifically designed to support Intermec hardware.

As for pricing, we have tried to minimize the cost to ensure customers maximize their investment in Intermec hardware.

Some would say this is a “me too” strategy, but our strategic direction and objective is to simplify the solution offering in a way that will allow customers to focus on their core business while we focus on the technology. Intermec are heading to the clouds and taking their customers with them. Imagine as an IT Director  you could have your business apps

running in the cloud and all you need to do was connect new devices to your business application via a network. Maintenance, enhancements and support was all taken care of.

This is not new news for some as “Cloud Computing” has been spoken about for many years - however it didn't always offer the flexibility needed for some companies. Writing their own apps is a requirement for many. Customers know their business better than vendors or consultants and we atIntermec recognize that and will provide an “on-premise” and “in-cloud” workbench product that will allow users to develop their own apps using our smart tools, which will configure and simulate the application before it goes live.

So for the first time, customers will be able to  host their DSD, field service or any other business application in the cloud, change, enhance and modify all in the cloud and deploy without the fear and cost of owning and maintaining the infrastructure on-premise.

And now for the icing on the cake - no upfront capital costs for purchasing expensive software licenses, no annual maintenance fees that run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.  With Intermec’s cloud based solutions, you will simply pay as you go by device.

Watch this space for more news on Intermec’s Solution Strategy.

According to the CTIA, for the first time in history U.S Wireless Subscriber Connections (327.6 million) have surpassed the U.S. population (315.5 million).  

“Are you sure this thing is going to work?” stated Wayne Schelle’s wife in a worried tone after Schelle had given a speech in 1981 advocating the optimistic growth of mobile cellular communications. “Because everyone is saying you are crazy!”  And so began the birth of commercial cellular mobile communications in the U.S.

On Oct 11, 2011 The CTIA released a report that indicated for the first time in history U.S Wireless Subscriber Connections (327.6 million) has surpassed the U.S. population (315.5 million).  The report is an indicator how more and more consumers and business are relying on mobile data connections to conduct their daily affairs.  Check out the summary of data collected from January until June 2011.

+ Wireless subscriber connections: 327.6 million; mid-year 2010: 300.5 million (9 percent increase).

+ Wireless network data traffic: 341.2 billion megabytes; mid-year 2010: 161.5 billion megabytes (111 percent increase).

+ Average local monthly wireless bill (includes voice and data service): $47.23; mid-year 2010: $47.47 (less than 1 percent decrease).

+ Number of active smartphones and wireless-enabled PDAs: 95.8 million; mid-year 2010: 61.2 million (57 percent increase).

+ Number of active data-capable devices: 278.3 million; mid-year 2010: 264.5 million (5 percent increase).

+ Wireless-enabled tablets, laptops and modems: 15.2 million; mid-year 2010: 12.9 million (17 percent increase).

+ Minutes of Use (MOU): 1.148 trillion; mid-year 2010: 1.138 trillion (1 percent increase)

+ SMS sent and received: 1.138 trillion; mid-year 2010: 982.9 billion (16 percent increase).

+ MMS sent and received: 28.2 billion; mid-year 2010: 32.1 billion.

Access to the full report is available at the following link http://www.ctia.org/media/press/body.cfm/prid/2133

Given the data above, if there is still any notion of mobile communications being a crazy idea I’ll need to hear what the objections are.  Perhaps, as the follow-ups to Schelle’s address now attribute – he was crazy like the fox!

There is more wireless history at the following link http://www.ctia.org/media/index.cfm/AID/11508

Intermec Technologies products allow for data connectivity at all levels of the Wireless Ecosystem; Cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth and short range wireless. Our customers use dependable Intermec systems to extend their business presence across the globe and conduct mobile data collection so as to maximize their productivity. Our ruggedized mobile handheld products serve as the mobile aggregator for data collection allowing our customers to access data and services that best match of their preferences and environment at any time and from anywhere!

I hope you enjoy this information.  I welcome discussion on this matter. 

Managing the divergent distribution business needs and expectations of more than 65 North American customers representing over 37 million square feet of facilities is no small feat.

But GENCO ATC has found a way to align its execution, quality and customer service to meet and exceed those requirements.

Hear how voice-enabled solutions drive continuous improvement at GENCO ATC, the second largest North American third-party logistics firm, hosted by Modern Materials Handling and Logistics Management, Vocollect and Speech Interface Design.

This audio and slide Webcast will highlight the experiences of three large North American GENCO ATC customers in using a voice solution to achieve strong business results.

Date: Wed. Nov. 9, 2011

Time: 11:00 AM PST (2:00 PM EST)

Register for the event here!