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Issue 89
Rugged Hardware
Industry Specific Software
Full Service Support
www.touchstargroup.com
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An excerpt from the April issue of Butane-Propane News
Mobile computing solutions provider TouchStar heads to the National Propane Gas Association Southeast Convention & International Expo commemorating a decade in the LPG industry with new service and delivery platforms for technicians and vehicles, as well as key technology alliances. It’s not just about handhelds. TouchStar mobility initiatives feature integrated, real-time data management solutions, telemetry, route optimization, tank to truck automation, dynamic dispatch, navigational tools, and rapid fill on site.
TouchStar Americas vice president Claude Alexander, who will be a panelist at technology education sessions at the Southeastern Convention, reports that TouchStar began its association with the U.S. propane industry by providing rugged hand-held solutions for delivery trucks ten years ago, adding that as TouchStar steadily built relationships with more companies, it stayed on top of developments and expanded its services. “We offer automation from A to Z,” says the TouchStar VP, “telemetry, forecasting, logistics, wireless communications, and vehicle automation for a completely automated business – we take data from the tank to the truck.”
Included in these strategic relationships is Wireless Matrix (Reston, Va), who has teamed with TouchStar to integrate Wireless Matrix’s real-time vehicle-based communications hardware and its FleetOutlook mobile resource management application with TouchStar’s FuelWare and ServiCE software applications. The partnership provides marketers with a detailed picture of their vehicle operations in real-time, resulting in improved delivery times and efficient routing. Administrative costs are significantly decreased through the reduction of data entry. Operational efficiency improvements include meeting critical deadlines, ensuring the safety of their drivers and equipment while maintaining the integrity of transported product.
Leveraging technology continues its momentum with their planned interface to tank monitoring systems, further broadening their automation suite. “Telemetry is a vital, yet largely misunderstood and underutilized feature of the tank to truck data loop,” says Alexander. “We are very excited about integrating our products to tank monitoring platforms and providing the intrinsic value and efficiencies telemetry was designed for. “
TouchStar and UPS Logistics Technologies (Baltimore, Md.) joined forces in late 2006 and combined TouchStar’s automation and integration platforms to eliminate paper based systems with UPS Logistics’ tactical routing, fleet management, and delivery optimization tools. Dispatchers and business owners can pinpoint driver location and delivery status throughout the day and companies are empowered to modify vehicle routes.
The MobileCast interface, which integrates dispatch and tracking software with wireless networks to provide real-time route visibility, comes on the heels of Roadnet, another tactical routing program. The benefits, says TouchStar, are increased driver productivity and efficiency, increased delivery accuracy, real-time route execution and proactive customer service. Improved management reporting analyzes actual versus planned routes, any route exceptions, and delivery and driver performance reports.
TouchStar’s North American customer list reads like a who’s who of the propane industry—Suburban, AmeriGas, Heritage, Inergy, Blossman Gas, Liberty, Lakes and Freeman Gas, to name a few, in addition to Canadian giant Superior and EDPRO. Alexander emphasizes that TouchStar’s project success and Return On Investment (ROI) guarantee is what is most appealing to marketers. “The typical ROI is 12 months or less and that is what most influences the decision to automate a business. We do a lot of work at the front end in development planning, and if we don’t deliver what we said we would, we give the customer their money back.”
“The biggest problem with technology initiatives is business process change management,” Alexander observes. “If you don’t manage the change, you can’t cut costs or grow the business.” He adds that it is paramount to automate administrative functions first. “Once the infrastructure is in place on the truck, you can move on to additional automation initiatives such as telemetry, forecasting, route optimization and others.”
 TouchStar eschews the use of less costly off-the-shelf handhelds, PDA’s and smart phones, in favor of rugged mobile devices such as its own TouchPC Hawk. The Hawk, while designed for in-vehicle mounting, has a quick-release mechanism making it instantly mobile. The company cites research that surveyed hundreds of end users of mobile computing instruments. The research proved that rugged devices provide a superior cost profile to commercial-grade solutions and concluded the annual Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of a mobile rugged device was as much as 35% lower than for non-rugged alternatives.
“If you use commercial off-the-shelf PDAs the annual TCO can be as high as 50% to 60% of the initial cost per year, not to mention looking at replacement after 18 months,” Alexander says. “With a ruggedized device the TCO is down around 17%, and they provide the lowest total cost of ownership. Some customers use them for nine or ten years before they are replaced.”
Alexander stresses that TouchStar’s priority isn’t the technology, but the benefits from its implementation for the marketer. “We believe our suite of products is best of breed,” he says. “Our message is very simple, ‘If you’re thinking of automating your business, you should be talking to us.’”
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 TouchStar is pleased to announce it has formed a strategic alliance with Wireless Matrix (TSX:WRX) to create an integrated, real time data management application for the mobile workforce and service and delivery fleets. The alliance creates a comprehensive offering for enterprises in the Petrochemical, Field Service and related vertical and distribution markets to streamline delivery and fulfillment processes while maintaining 24/7 fleet vision for maximized asset utilization and resource management.
The partners will integrate TouchStar’s suite of adaptive software and mobility platforms with Wireless Matrix real time vehicle based communications hardware and its FleetOutlook mobile resource management application. Incorporating Wireless Matrix vehicle mapping and telemetry functions and TouchStar’s workforce automation, systems configuration and delivery management programs offers seamless optimization solutions for routing and scheduling, reduced administrative tasks and paper processes and improved driver management, fleet performance and customer service.
TouchStar and Wireless Matrix are beta testing the interoperability of their products with current TouchStar customers. System demonstrations will soon be available via the web and select trade shows.
“Both TouchStar and Wireless Matrix bring innovative practices and products the partnership, said TouchStar Americas Vice President of Sales and Marketing David Krapff. “TouchStar’s automation and integration platforms and Wireless Matrix real time communications systems create best practice deliverables and provide our customers the ultimate competitive edge.”
“Together, Wireless Matrix and TouchStar present complimentary strengths that offer service and delivery fleets a strong value proposition, said J. Richard Carlson, President and CEO of Wireless Matrix. “Creating a targeted solution for the Petrochemical and Field Service distribution sectors is a great opportunity for us. We look forward to working with TouchStar in this and future endeavors.”
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 The argument is alive and well. Do we take-on our Field Force Automation Project expense as a Capital Expenditure and amortize it over 3 to 4 years, do we do an off balance sheet leasing arrangement or do we go the SaaS way…… And what is SaaS really?
Needless to go over well covered territory and I’m sure you don’t need TouchStar to explain the different financing options available on the market today. Obviously TouchStar supplies its leading solutions to a number of blue-chip organizations utilizing a variety of financing methodologies to suit the clients’ needs, which brings us to SaaS…
Ok, so SaaS stands for Software as a Service! There it is.
Very similar to the old ASP concept but modernized to reflect the underlying technologies that now revolve around WEB services, however, enough about technology and acronyms. SaaS is a new method of supplying software that turns up-front costs into pay-per-use type financial arrangements, meaning that the former is an upfront investment which after 3 to 4 years is technically yours. Whilst the latter costs us less upfront, it is an Operational Expense and continues in time as long as we utilize the service. This is the financial aspect of SaaS. There are those that argue in favor of one or the other and others that prefer the comfort of not only owning the application, but pay even more to own the source-code. And, as we well know, everybody is right.
However, we are talking about SaaS here. Beyond the different financing model that SaaS provides, there is another and possibly the most significant aspect of SaaS. This is the concept of software upgrades as we know it today, goes away. With SaaS, there is one application that resides on a server somewhere in the ether! This is managed by the Software Vendor and is offered through a WEB browser. In a similar way that one utilizes Google, which is a SaaS application without staying in touch with or be bothered about which level of software Google is running to provide us the service. (Undoubtedly, Google today is many versions later than the version we started discovering years ago. However, we are none the wiser). We take for granted that it is there and that it will work for us next time we are doing our research, searching for that elusive statement hoping to get (and in most cases getting) many responses.
So, effectively, we just turn-up to any web-enabled PC, anywhere we are in the world, and we proceed with business-as-usual. All our data is there, readily available and updated in real-time. Next time we utilize the application, even though major upgrades might have been implemented behind the scenes, we just continue using the application, doing our job just as we have done every other day.
There are obvious, related benefits. No need anymore to worry about servers and network infrastructures to house the new application. No extra server maintenance headaches. Any organization with an infrastructure that allows its users to utilize the WEB is ready for SaaS. No questions asked. Just start using it.
Project deployment timelines are a thing of the past with SaaS. One enters, what is usually a 12 month agreement with a vendor and before the ink has dried on the contract, the organization is already using it. Now, we do not want to over-simplify SaaS. There are obvious nuances. I hear the readers ask, “what about my specific and specialized needs”? The vendor will claim that, being experts and incumbents in your industry, they have most of your needs covered and the rest will unfold with time as the vendor better understands those specific needs.
At the end of the day, it is always a balance between cost and what we get for our money. When one views cost in relationship to SaaS, one needs to look at the cost of delayed deployments and ongoing costs to maintain the application in-tune with your business as opposed to the perceived negative impacts on the business resulting from an application that night cover 95% of your needs. The beauty of SaaS is that it is readily available, online, for you to easily assess before you buy.
According to ACA Research who recently researched the Australian market:
- 23% of respondents reported using SaaS in some part of their organization.
- 50% of users indicated they would switch to SaaS to achieve lower TCO and higher ROI.
- 82% of SaaS users report being satisfied.
- 44% of organizations using SaaS have enjoyed increased business performance.
- 59% of respondents indicated that they do not upgrade their (non-SaaS) software as soon as a new version becomes available.
So, will SaaS replace traditional custom applications? Will we do away with all the various Microsoft applications in favor of Google’s SaaS office suite? Obviously, the answer is NO. It is always horses for courses. However, that the industry is taking SaaS serious is without doubt. All major software vendors, including Microsoft are at various stages of studying or indeed rolling-out SaaS applications.
ACA Research concluded: “In summary, the SaaS market index positions SaaS as an emerging technology gaining momentum”. “As major vendors move into the SaaS market in 2007, and more satisfied users spread the word, we can expect the awareness barrier to drop quickly and the market to take off in line with overseas experience”.
TouchStar, always at the forefront is working with a couple of significant organizations towards deploying SaaS within their organizations. The difference being that rather than available on any web-enabled PC, SaaS for Field Force Automation is available on any TouchStar enabled PDA!
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Big Thumbs Up for UMPC
Bill Gates has given mobile computing a big Thumbs Up. Beginning with the little known ‘Windows for Pen Computing’ add-on for Windows 3.0, Mr. Gates ambition and aspiration has been driving Microsoft’s mobility development for the past 20 years.
The rapidly changing device marketplace and increased demand for mobile phones has directed the Windows CE team’s focus away from the traditional PDA. Windows CE, incubated with PDA’s and clam shell devices, is now being moulded for direct competition with traditional mobile phone and tablet manufactures including Nokia, Motorola and Sony/Ericsson.
This leaves a gap for the traditional PDA user as market leading manufacturers are dropping the classic PDA form-factor. The good news is that Microsoft aims to bridge this gap with a new kid on the block, the Ultra Mobile PC, or as it’s commonly known, UMPC.
Previously known by codename Project Origami (remember “What is Origami?”) the UMPC platform was the result of a joint development exercise by Microsoft, Intel and Samsung, among others. A typical UMPC device is about half the size of a traditional TabletPC and consists of a 7-inch (20cm) or smaller touch sensitive screen at a minimum resolution of 800 x 480. In comparison to a TabletPC’s more capable digitizer based pen input, this dramatically lowers technology licensing fees and consequently the cost entry point.
Taking advantage of a big push by processor designers to dramatically improve the power footprint of the x86 platform, the UMPC does not run on WindowsCE, but the full blown version of Windows. It uses a pared down version of Tablet PC extensions, Vista or XP, with some new UMPC specific improvements, including DialKeys. Located around the lower corners of the screen, DialKeys are designed for thumb input and is one the fastest virtual keyboard input methods to date.
The UMPC device bridges the gap between smaller PDA’s and the bulkier and reasonably successful TabletPC. Currently it seems to be presented as a high-end media content companion; however it should catch on to a wider audience as the UMPC can feature GPS devices, webcams, fingerprint readers and memory card readers and Bluetooth, WiFi and Ethernet are supported as well.
As mobility continues to mushroom and demand drives development, we might start seeing ruggedized industrial versions of the Ultra Mobile PC in the not too distant future.
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TouchStar - "If you're Thinking of Automation |
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Strategic Alliance with Wireless Matrix |
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Tech Talk - David Thornley |
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CAPEX versus OPEX..or is it SaaS |
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