Jan/Feb 2004

A new out-of-the-box mobile computing solution for transport and logistics operations has been added to the product range of Three X Communications. It's called Transmart, and it draws on the same technology and feature set that went into the company's recently-launched Outsmart range.

Three X has specialised in mobile computing solutions for the field service and transport and logistics industries since its creation in 1984 (it has been part of General Electric since 1995.)

Over the past two years it has been reorganising its business, moving from project-based consultancy operations to application-based solutions. Managing director Drazen Jaksic explains: "For large corporate customers, we still offer a consultancy service, but it was becoming clear that more and more customers wanted out-of-the-box solutions that would be quick and easy to deploy."

The result of this strategic refocus is a new family of application software built around actual work processes, and designed to ensure reliable data forwarding and capture to and from mobile workers. The company says the software is flexible enough to take the form of both out-of-the-box solutions and a bespoke solution.

 

Outsmart, an application for field service engineers, was the first application to result from this new thinking. Transmart moves the focus on to logistics operations. Both products use Nexus, Three X's mobile data development and deployment tool. This includes an intuitive user interface which is intended to make it easy to link into existing corporate IT systems, and an XML interface that can deliver data to a variety of handhelds.

Transmart handles every aspect of the task, including job allocation and despatch; job and consignment tracking; manifest downloads; electronic proof of delivery; and mileage and fuel purchases records. Mobile printers and scanners can also be integrated into the application. Mobile data is fed straight back into the management module.

One of the first companies to deploy Transmart is Mark Two Distribution, a leading distributor of kitchen and bathrooms. Steve Yates, Mark Two's IT manager, says it greatly simplifies the job for the company's drivers, and removes the need for them to have extensive product knowledge.

He adds: "The XML interface means it was easy to integrate it into our business. But the main reason we decided to make this investment was because we could see that Transmart would quickly pay for itself by reducing our overheads." (More on the Mark Two application in Keeping Track, page 36.)

Sales of Transmart should be given a boost now that Three X has become a partner in network operator O2's Accelerator programme in the UK. "The prospect of O2's large sales force promoting our products in the market is fantastic," says Drazen Jaksic. "For O2, adding our applications to their voice and data products offers great potential in terms of attracting new subscribers and of course adding value to the existing ones."