Dec 06/Jan 07

Users of Anoto's Digital Pen and Paper technology can now take advantage of a more flexible way to vary the information captured by the technology, adapting the input to meet changing operational requirements or customer demands.

The flexibility is provided by a system called Destiny On Demand, which has been introduced by Destiny Wireless, the UK country agent for the system. The first user of the new system, field marketing specialist The Brand Company, has introduced it on an in-store market assessment system it operates for customers.

The Anoto system employs special pens with digital image capture capability, which are used in conjunction with pre-printed forms that have a unique dot-pattern in the background. This helps the reader technology to identify the form fields and allocate the information to them correctly.

Destiny On Demand uses a wizard-like software process to allow users to change the fields in the digital templates of their forms to reflect the needs of each client - obviating the need for extra IT resource or consultancy.

 

The forms can then be printed in-house using Anoto-approved printers, which include the OKI C96000, C61000 and C54000 printer ranges. The printers "embed" the Anoto dot pattern on standard A4 or A3 paper.

Destiny's Photo Upload feature allows field staff to take pictures of customer products and promotional literature at each retailer with their mobile phones. Textual details are handwritten on a paper form template, and once the in-store manager has signed the form to confirm completion of the visit, the field representative simply ticks a box.

The information is then sent via a Bluetooth connection to their mobile phones, where they can attach the pictures to the form and verify the information, prior to sending it to the client.