News
December 2006
Smart Portable Communications working with CMS to take Vehicle Tracking Accessibility and Flexibility to a New Generation of Users
Companies that need to monitor, manage, control and manoeuvre their mobile assets more effectively in order to improve productivity and increase competitive advantage are increasingly seeking tracking solutions that can also handle a number of other important tasks.
Responding to this demand, two companies are now working together to provide an innovative number of new tracking options that can be tailored to meet individual requirements and whose range of activities are ultimately only limited by users’ imagination.
Smart Portable Solutions, the Colchester firm of hands free car kit specialists who provide solutions for mobile enterprise, has joined forces with Swindon-based CMS Global Technologies to produce a number of new branded vehicle tracking options that utilise the inherent strengths of both companies to the benefit of customers who want something that works, is simple to use, has full back-up support and doesn’t cost a fortune.
Smart, which was already offering tracking solutions, linked up with CMS earlier this year after discovering its SupaTrak system and being impressed with both the product and the level of customer support it provided. As a company that has grown organically by always seeking to offer ‘best of breed’ products and services under the Smart brand, it believed the combination of its marketing skills coupled with CMS experience in wireless technology could take vehicle tracking sophistication to the next level. And so it has proved.
As a result, a wide range of diverse companies can now quickly and simply access all their tracking needs either directly from the firm or via Smart resellers.
The new tracking system is flexible, robust and reliable, and in its most basic form allows users to see where all their vehicles are at any given moment via a centrally-hosted web browser UK mapping facility that updates a vehicle’s position every 60 seconds. It also comes with a comprehensive reporting function that includes start/stop and historic ‘snail trail’ options, so users can see where their vehicles have been, when and at what speed.
Other available options include satellite navigation, telemetry recorders and full European mapping, together with the ability to link the Smart system to a company’s existing collection devices and back office systems, providing a totally integrated, secure system capable of many additional operational tasks.
The Smart system can also be linked to a large number of hands free systems, such a PDAs and Blackberry, specially configured to offer integrated PDA/tracking solutions for the first time and opening up a whole new range of uses and options to transmit constant but unobtrusive information in real time.
The innovation is the result of combining Smart’s hands free knowledge with CMS Open Wireless Platform (OWP) technology incorporating GPRS/3G optimised ‘push’ technology. The system thus differs from most others, which rely on sync technology and therefore must wait for a request for information transfer, and enables Smart and CMS to take tracking solutions to new heights.
Visitors to the Smart website – www.smart-corporate.com – can see the options for themselves. With brand names including Smart Track, Smart Track Advance, Track &Talk, Blackberry Tracking and PDA Tracking, any customer can now use the system for voice communication, bar code scanning, RFID reading and writing, POD capture, and to instantly update information about the task being performed, whether this be address details, contact details, changes to work schedules, job lists or task priority.
“Tracking systems are set to revolutionise the way many companies do business, whether they want to just save fuel, protect their mobile assets, increase productivity, save time, be able to offer a better service or reduce administration and record-keeping,” says Rob Fountain from Smart.
“Being low cost and offering increasing numbers of functions they are now much more attractive to smaller companies: many of our new enquiries for instance are being generated via the web from firms with 10-25 vehicles, whilst our reseller network is configured to deal with even smaller numbers and has the additional bonus of being able to sell the system under their own name. That said; we have a number of contracts with the Fire Brigade, Police and Local Councils that operate several hundred vehicles each.
“Whatever the size of the fleet and whichever product is required, our team of over 100 engineers will fit tracking systems and accessories anywhere in the country within three working days at the customer’s premises or other location designated by them. With full support guaranteed that’s a service that few others can match,” he adds.
This enhanced level of service and flexibility is a direct result of the link with CMS and Rob is quick to acknowledge he has been impressed by that company’s approach to the development of Smart’s tracking business.
CMS have worked in tandem with us to develop the new products and their input has been crucial throughout the process, he says, adding that it’s been a great experience so far and that he expects the liaison will continue to go from strength to strength in the future.
