Telstra to offer @Road's field work force management

Stuart Corner
Friday, 13 October 2006 10:36

Your IT - Home IT

One of the achievements Telstra bragged about during its October 6 Investor Day was how it had increased the efficiency of its 7000 strong field technician workforce, by equipping vehicles with GPS and field force automation systems. Now it is offering the same system to its customers.

The supplier of the technology, US-based @Road, has announced that Telstra is to resell its GeoManager field workforce management system, as a hosted service. The product is designed to help businesses improve customer service through GPS-based technology, wireless communications, messaging and automated workflow.

The deal follows Telstra signing an agreement to use the @Road GeoManager MRM solution to manage its own workforce of approximately 7,060 field technicians. Telstra also committed to purchase up to 7,060 @Road iLM 3100 series in-vehicle mobile devices, described as "the functional component of the overall @Road GeoManager solution for field force management...[and] one of the first in-vehicle mobile devices that comes embedded with EDGE or EV-DO wireless network technology that also integrates GPS and Wi-Fi technologies into a single MRM solution."

The iLM 3100 series is designed to provide mobile workers with 802.11 wireless connectivity between a WiFi enabled mobile computing device and back-office enterprise applications. It also integrates GPS location-based technology, "enabling businesses to harness the power of real-time location information of mobile resources in the field," according to @Road.

@Road claims that GeoManager is already a leading field force management solution in the US and Asia Pacific with more than 150,000 subscribers.