TrueContext still driving towards profitability with its field service solution

Microsoft’s mobility strategy is simply to "extend the value of the desktop experience out and beyond the office space," said Alex Nanos, mobility business manager for Microsoft Canada Co. at February’s Ottawa Wireless Cluster event. Alvaro Pombo, president and CEO of Ottawa’s TrueContext Inc., is banking that more of the marketplace will soon start to realize the value of this transition. The two categories of mobility solutions, said Nanos, are communications and processing, with the latter carrying by far the larger quantifiable value. " look at email and go, ‘yeah, that’s neat. I know it works, but what I really need is that upper application,’" he said. "So what we are looking at are scenarios where users are trying to remove paper-based workflows in the business, they’re trying to extend some desktop applications out to mobile workers." This is also the exact line of thinking that led to the creation of TrueContext. As previously reported in Report on Wireless (RoW, May 27/03), TrueContext was formed to ease the use and management of enterprise applications by mobile workers. Pombo saw how unproductive and expensive paper-based systems were for companies who employed field staff, and addressed it through the company’s mExperience service platform. The offering, which costs about $130 per user, per month, is the result of a collaboration between what Pombo refers to as his dream team: Hewlett-Packard Co., Rogers Communications Inc. and Microsoft. Microsoft provides the operating system for mExperience, but also offers mobility solutions with its servers and handheld devices. Nanos said the Exchange Server 2003 allows for extra protocols that extend the capabilities of Outlook away from the office, adding that upgrades to wireless networks are narrowing the gap between the in-office and mobile experience. "At the end of the day," said Nanos, "mobility and mobile access is not about a set of new applications as much as it is extending what you do today when you’re out and about." Perhaps nobody gets this more than Pombo. One of the main applications of the TrueContext solution is the transfer of paper work orders to electronic forms – through its recently released mForms (RoW, Dec. 1/05) – removing the potential for lost paper and the need for service personnel to make trips to the main office. "The need is the ability to have a smart approach and a smart pool of content that people use for their task at hand," said Pombo at the event. Whereas field staff once wrote notes on the palm of their hands, they can now take care of all applications on their handheld devices, including forms, pictures, voice recording, and signature capture. And when a service visit is complete, all of the gathered data is sent back to the office server once connectivity is established. Pombo and Nanos agree that the mobile office must function in both an online and offline state. "There are too many scenarios where you walk into a disconnected state," said Nanos. "So it’s important to have a continuous, rich client experience even though you’ve lost network connectivity." Microsoft and TrueContext both offer this functionality. In spite of the sensibility of its solution and the prestige of its partners, TrueContext is still working towards profitability. Pombo had originally hoped the company would break even in 2004, and admitted that as far back as 2002 he was mistaken in thinking the convergence of handheld devices, networks, and applications was going to happen overnight. TrueContext primarily targets the repair and maintenance, construction, inspection and home health sectors, but faces competition from traditional paper forms and practices. Pombo is not deterred. "There is traction," he said. "The traction is happening in different areas, and it’s here to stay."

TrueContext still driving towards profitability with its field service solution

News | 02/23/2006 5:00 am EST

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