All John Famiglietti needs is access to a computer to manage a fleet of 44 rigs that are equipped to clean up hazardous materials in the country’s largest city. Famiglietti, head of environmental operations of WRS Environmental Services, can be in the office, on the road or even at home sick, but with a computer he can manage the day-to-day operations of the Long Island, N.Y.-based company.
With the use of software from Vehicle Tracking Solutions, Famiglietti knows at all times where all of the company trucks are located, if work is being done and if drivers are speeding. The company is a full service waste recycling firm, which includes cleaning up oil and chemical spills and removing asbestos from buildings.
“We need to be on the ball and know where are trucks are at all times,” Famiglietti said. “The use of the technology has been monumental for us. Our response time is amazing.”
Getting a driver to a job as quick as possible is important for the company because it has numerous emergency response contracts. A hazardous material spill on a roadway must be taken care of immediately.
“In an emergency, I can look at my computer and see which one of my guys is closest to the site,” he said.
WRS is one example of how location-based services are changing how companies do business. Companies who are using this technology are looking for greater productivity from employees and a more efficient way in keeping track of its assets.
Room for growth
Location-based services have become popular with the turn-by-turn navigation devices that many motorists have installed in their vehicles and more and more solutions are becoming available for the enterprise.
The technology is considered to have a bright future among consumers and business users. According to a recent study by ABI Research, LBS revenue is forecast to reach $13.3 billion worldwide by 2013, up from an estimated $515 million during 2007.
In the study, Jamie Moss, an ABI analyst, said personal navigation and enterprise services are projected to be the highest revenue generating services in the field. They are forecast to be worth about $4.3 billion and $6.5 billion respectively, per annum, by 2013.
The main reason for the projection is the technology is finally gaining traction among wireless subscribers, according to the ABI study. The growth is being driven on the supply side by W-CDMA and GSM handsets increasingly joining the many CDMA-based devices that incorporate GPS capabilities. Another reason is the popularity of navigation.
“It is hard to predict when a market will take off, but navigation devices have been a huge success,” said Martin Feuerstein, CTO of Polaris Wireless.
The California-based company was formed in 1999 and provides network-based software products for accurately determining the location of mobile phones. Polaris Wireless has created software for emergency 911 and provides software to large and mid-size carriers.
Feuerstein said applications for location based services that go beyond navigation are starting to emerge in the industry.
“With enterprise applications, it’s like social networking on steroids,” he said.
Enterprise base
Like Polaris Wireless, TeleNav also was formed in 1999. The company focuses on delivering location-based applications through mobile devices.
Keith Halasy, the company’s senior marketing manager, said the location-based service industry was built by companies wanting to keep track of blue- and gray-collar workers. With the technology, construction, utility and companies in the public sector can keep track of their field workers. Trucking companies also were initial users to keep track of fleets and freight.
Halasy said providing solutions to these types of businesses continue to dominate the market, but companies with white-collar workers are showing interest in the technology. With the technological advancements of smartphones and the cost of location-based services decreasing, businesses are looking to improve productivity for their sales workforce.
“It’s no longer about locating workers with a dot on a map,” he said.
With the company’s latest version of its TeleNav Track 4.1, field workers can file work forms, time cards and keep track of mileage with the use of a smartphone. Workers can also document their work by taking pictures and include images when they file a report remotely.
Prior to the launch of the latest version of TeleNav Track, the company tested the program with the city of New York to combat graffiti. Workers drove around the city looking for graffiti and when they encountered the vandalism, they could document the location and provide an image of the graffiti through a smartphone. This has allowed the city to cleanup graffiti in a more efficient manner.
Halasy said the software is not only a fit for salesman but also for the insurance industry. Insurance workers could use the software to take pictures of damage and file reports from the field.
Small benefits
Halasy said data capabilities in location-based software will continue to increase in the future.
“It will only continue to get richer and richer,” he said.
The technology also has potential for smaller operations. For the past two years, Gary Mayle has run Mr. Handyman, a repair and maintenance service, near Fort Collins, Colo.
Mayle has equipped his five service vans with location based software by Rocky Mountain Tracking Inc.
“It is a very valuable asset,” Mayle said of the technology. “We need to know where our vehicles are at all times.”
Along with the tracking capabilities, Mayle said the technology provides him a discount from his insurance company and he can monitor the speeds of his drivers. Because of the cost of fuel, Mayle has ordered a 65 mph cap.
“We have to make sure we are conserving fuel,” he said.
The technology also allows him to diffuse disputes with clients, who claim work wasn’t done at a certain time.
“All I have to do is print out a report with the times,” he said. “To make the investment in this technology, we feel it has been worth it.”
