Israeli company LocatioNet won the best enterprise application honor at 2003's Mobile Application Awards with its Mobile Workforce Management, a smart location-based (LBS) application. Ofer Tziperman, LocatioNet Systems Ltd president, says the prize and the exposure helped promote the solution.
The prize and the exposure helped promote LocatioNet's web-based Fleet and Workforce Management application solution.
Tziperman says the resulting publicity and prize helped it close the deal with Telcel, although negotiations had started before LocatioNet took part in the competition.
"Although we were in negotiations with Telcel, the prize helped us close the deal, without any doubt. It gave us worldwide recognition and we actually signed two similar contracts in Latin America and in China just after winning the award," he says.
LocatioNet's Fleet and Workforce Management application is a web-based, location-enabled service that works on mobile handsets. It allows businesses and organizations to track and manage mobile personnel and vehicles, using either standard or specialized mobile devices.
The application provides two-way messaging and dispatching over SMS, MMS and WAP. This includes graphics for maps, as well as points of interest, tasks and job details.
Increases revenue
Operators offering Fleet and Workforce Management can benefit from its recurring revenue model, receiving a monthly subscription fee for each user. Average revenue per user (ARPU) is about EUR 10 for each mobile user per month.
Operators also profit from increased SMS and MMS traffic, resulting from information being sent from mobile personnel to their offices. This traffic generally adds up to two to three SMS messages per user per day.
"When someone needs a package delivered, for example, the company can see who is closest to the pick-up location and send the nearest car to pick the package up," Tziperman says.
He explains how offices can assign tasks, send open orders and both text and picture messages, as well as assist workers out in the field with vital information.
"This solution lets you provide a mobile workforce with maps, navigation and instructions," Tziperman says. "The service is also capable of real-time as well as historical analysis."
Two new contracts
Tziperman says that the application award also is an important opportunity to spark operators' interest and for business matchmaking. He even suggests that the matchmaking held in conjunction with the awards should be even more intense.
"It would be perfect if the Ericsson sales team could put even more effort into matching applications and operators because the variety of applications and operators at the event is quite wide," he says.
LocatioNet also took part in this year's competition with its MyMap2.0 solution. The graphical mapping guide designed for color handsets allows users to view their location on colorful maps, find and calculate the best routes to points of interest, and interact with friends by sending detailed maps and instructions.
Tziperman says: "We recently launched MyMap with Orange in Israel and during the matchmaking session we also managed to close deals with two other mobile operators.
"We definitely see great potential for our solutions on the market, and increasing demand from small and medium-sized companies in this area. Events such as the Mobile Application Awards certainly help our solutions get the recognition they need."
