Motion Computing wins utility contract

Gordon Peters
Wednesday, 13 October 2010 08:04

IT Industry - Deals

Mobile computing provider, Motion Computing has won a contract with Victoria's South East Water to supply its tablet PCs for the utility's trade waste team following completion of a successful pilot program.

South East Water IT project manager, Mark Skilton, said that with a large amount of its business activities in the field, the company had been looking for new and better tools and technologies to support its field staff. The organisation had now virtually replaced paper-based systems with Motion F5v tablet PCs for its Trade Waste team, with several other departments now testing the technology.

'That department didn't have any IT or computer-based practices, so we were replacing paper-based solutions.  We can already see a significant reduction in paperwork and printing, approximately 30 percent less even in this trial period.'

According to Skilton, working with long-standing IT partner Gamma Solutions, the Motion F5v's were identified as the top solution after an eight-week pilot.  The organisation has equipped Trade Waste inspectors with F5v Tablet PCs, together with docking stations, FlexDocks for home use and vehicle battery chargers.

'We looked at alternative solutions a couple of years ago, testing out laptops and other devices, but the trade waste inspectors do a lot of walking around and found them unsuitable to carry and work with.

'So one of the key drivers for us was finding a form factor that our team liked and the F5v's integrated handle, light weight and size were a fit.  The field inspectors like the predictive handwriting, the ability to use the tablets in the rain, and in direct sunlight.  Officers can also draw diagrams directly on screen onsite, and they take a lot of pictures, which can all be combined in the same OneNote file while onsite.  The tablets are compatible with the latest Windows software, which is a familiar environment for our programmers rather than other mobile devices.'