Mobile workflow service provides GPS capability

Digital forms specialist Destiny Wireless has announced a mobile workflow service that equips staff with a digital pen and paper plus a phone or PDA with GPS capability. The managed service removes the need for businesses to deploy their own turnkey system and is available for a relatively small monthly fee, according to the firm.

Destiny already operates its namesake service with Anoto digital pens and paper to capture forms input from mobile workers. With GPS capability added, workers can now receive job information wirelessly, find their way to the customer site using satnav, then mark the job as complete by filling a form and transmitting the captured data back to the office.

Adding GPS to the Destiny Wireless service enables firms to locate workers at any time, according to head of UK sales, Steve Daly. Furthermore, it also enables signed-off jobs to be stamped with a GPS reference to prove that a delivery went to the correct location, for example.

“We can incorporate GPS into the time and date stamp so users can prove goods were dropped off, even if no site manager was around to receive them,” said Daly.

The Destiny system uses electronic pens and specially printed paper forms, and so is easy for workers to use, the company said. “We present the whole lot very simply as a managed service that we operate for customers,” said Daly.

The standard service costs £10 per user per month, plus a small fee for each transaction processed. The GPS service costs an extra £10 per user per month. Destiny Wireless supports a wide range of platforms, including BlackBerry and Symbian OS, Daly said.