Field staff to update assets via handhelds
Property services firm increases productivity 25 to 30 per cent
Property services firm Connaught is using handhelds linked to asset management software to meet government targets on improved efficiency.
The organisation, which manages properties in the social housing sector on behalf of local authorities, already uses mobile devices to provide job information to engineers in the field.
It has upgraded its bespoke in-house system Conntrol to enable engineers to update asset management data in real time.
Asset management systems director Lucien Wynn says the mobile devices have improved productivity by 25 to 30 per cent because engineers receive job details on the move, respond immediately and upload information direct to the database.
‘Managing information on assets is difficult and engineers would have had to print out paper questionnaires to update manually on site,’ he said.
The government requires Connaught to improve efficiency by 2.5 per cent year on year.
‘The handheld devices now link direct into Conntrol and we can update asset information immediately, making it a true information portal,’ he said. ‘We can also gather and store data for reports and analysis.’
Connaught plans to increase mobile devices from 350 to between 1,000 and 1,500 by 2009.
Vendor iAnywhere’s M-Business Anywhere middleware platform enables Conntrol to send information to the devices.
AMR Research analyst Nigel Montgomery says the problem with mobile staff is managing schedules. ‘Instead of staff returning to the office for assignments, mobile devices allow more efficient scheduling and reduce hours wasted,’ he said.
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