Trimble Introduces Cloud-based Field Service Work Management Solution to Manage Fleet Productivity

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Apr 06, 2011, 06:30 ET

SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) introduced today a new cloud-based field service solution to manage fleet productivity—Trimble® GeoManager™ WorkManagement, a software solution that provides on-demand visibility into vehicle and mobile worker utilization. For routing, scheduling and dispatch, Trimble WorkManagement makes it easy for organizations to maximize the mobile worker's schedule, provide better customer service, increase productivity and reduce overall operating costs.

"Our recent research shows that nearly 50 percent of best-in-class field service organizations look to establish better visibility into their field resources as a way to drive more effective scheduling and boost overall service productivity," said Sumair Dutta, senior research analyst for Aberdeen Group. "Since ease of integration is a priority for organizations evaluating field service solutions, the approach of offering scheduling optimization/dispatch and vehicle tracking in a well-integrated package—such as Trimble WorkManagement—aligns with market preferences."

An Ideal Solution to Enable Superior Service

The power of Trimble WorkManagement can help service-based organizations plan, track, measure, communicate and execute mobile work. Using intelligent tools, dispatchers can manage a team of mobile workers and monitor their progress against the actual plan for the day in order to effectively resolve daily complications, such as sick drivers, changes to appointment times, emergency trips or route overruns.

"Leveraging a cloud-based environment allows organizations of all sizes to easily deploy scheduling and dispatch solutions without the upfront deployment costs of an IT infrastructure," said Bryn Fosburgh, vice president of Trimble Mobile Solutions. "In addition, Trimble WorkManagement is unique because it visually depicts the real-time impact of changing schedules. When facts are presented, our customers can make informed decisions and better manage incremental jobs to streamline their operations."

The Trimble WorkManagement solution includes:

Work Advisor and In-day Planner: enables rapid response for communicating at-risk tasks as well as delivering the tools to re-optimize routes and workload. The component helps increase mobile worker productivity by providing visibility to arrival time, distance travelled, stops made and overtime; reduce travel time and lower fuel costs through route optimization; improve efficiency by comparing planned vs. actual work done per day; and improve quality of service by adjusting schedules and reassigning work.

WorkManagement Mobile: allows improved communication between drivers and dispatchers by providing electronic dispatch capabilities. Organizations can use a variety of browser-based smart phones, tablets and ruggedized PDAs to deliver information to the mobile workforce to help ensure work progresses as planned and appointments are not missed. The Mobile feature also allows mobile workers to use the maps on the smart phone to access driving directions to appointments, which can help cut driving time and reduce late or missed appointments.

Performance Manager: provides real-time analysis of the mobile work status to help keep customer commitments on track.

Fleet Management: assists in managing overall mobile worker productivity using the Trimble GeoManager platform.

Web Services: allow for integration with third-party systems, such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, to exchange task and service activity information with Trimble's WorkManagement solution. The optional Web Services component provides an interoperable link between different software applications running on a variety of platforms.

Trimble WorkManagement has an early access program in which the solution is available to existing Trimble fleet management customers. WorkManagement and the optional Web Services component are expected to be available in the second quarter of 2011. For more information, visit: www.trimble.com/gps-fleet-tracking or call 1-877-728-7623.

About Trimble

Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.

For more information, visit: www.trimble.com.

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SOURCE Trimble