A strategic alliance with US-based @hand Corporation has allowed Jade to develop a secure enterprise mobility workflow application ecosystem, enabling the simultaneous connection of any back office system with any front end mobile device. At the core of the ecosystem is Jump, Jades unified mobility platform. Jumps single mobility platform provides an ecosystem which delivers any to any connection and multiple quick-to-deploy pre-developed, but easily configurable workflow applications. These currently include: Jump Mobile Field Service for Job Management, Service Execution, Time & Expenses and Parts Issue; Jump Mobile Supply Chain for Sales Order Integration, Item Tracking, Goods in and Order Picking; Jump Mobile Asset Management for Maintenance, Operations and Asset Tracking; and Jump Mobile ePoD for Delivery Scheduling, Customer Damage Capture, Appliance Connections and PDF Integration. Customers can take the solutions and use them straight out of the box. They are not vapour ware or cut-down versions; they are full operational solutions ready to use. Discussions with existing and potential customers have shown that they no longer want to deploy and support multiple single purpose enterprise mobility applications from several vendors. Experience has shown that this can lead to nightmare scenarios in terms of integration, maintenance and flexibility, explained Mark Brackley, Jades managing director. Crucially, any re-configuration to meet changing mobility requirements can be complex and is often very expensive. Jade saw that this move away from single purpose application solutions left a gap in the enterprise mobility market for an ecosystem that would support multiple business processes through multiple workflow applications, on a single platform.
To create an ecosystem of enterprise mobility workflow applications we developed Jumps software to be operating system and mobile hardware agnostic, said Brackley. But the real key to Jump is its ability to simultaneously connect multiple mobile workers using multiple applications to multiple back office systems. This any to any connection enables organisations to accurately capture, monitor and manage the exchange of data as it flows between the organisations back office systems through its range of business processes to and from its mobile workers, all from a single platform.
Brackley continued: With Jump, users can simultaneously connect to any back-end system such as SAP, Microsoft SQL, Oracle, Maximo and proprietary systems all at the same time. Data can be sent to any front-end device, and this data can then be manipulated and shared; for example it can be sent from, say, a handheld client to a tablet PC, smart phone or BlackBerry. So, Jump is not simply a push and pull system; it doesnt require each mobile device user to connect to a particular back-end system every time data is required. A work example might be: if a call centre takes a request for an engineering visit, this could be sent to a BlackBerry user able to authorise which engineer it goes to. This authorisation is sent back to the centre, which in turn sends a request out to the engineer in question. If the engineer then needs to access extra materials for the job, he can send a request to his manager for purchase requisition and all this activity can take place without having to go back to the back-end system every time.
Jades exclusive strategic alliance with @hand in the UK has proven critical to the development of the Jump ecosystem. @hands patented Field Mobility System (FMS) software powers Jades Jump solutions and provides Jade with two important technology capabilities. First, @hand provides an intelligent mobile data engine which manages the exchange and manipulation of data between multiple back office systems including ERP, WMS, CRM and proprietary systems, with multiple front ends including rugged mobile devices, tablets, laptops and smartphones, including BlackBerry. Development is also underway for the iPhone and for Android devices.
Secondly, @hands FMS includes a sophisticated Rapid Application Development (RAD) environment which has enabled Jade to develop a range of applications including Jump Mobile Asset Management, Jump Mobile Field Service, Jump Mobile Supply Chain and Jump Mobile ePoD, all of which are provided to the customer under a single licence. Uniquely, FMS enables Jade to offer a highly configurable multiple workflow application ecosystem to meet all of a business mobile data requirements, enabling faster deployment for a much lower cost when compared to multiple single application solutions.
The RAD environment also enables Jades customers to easily re-configure the existing applications and to develop their own mobile workflows as their business requirements evolve. This includes the option to configure object modelling, design workflows, and manage user roles and permissions.
The need for the Jump ecosystem has been driven by the requirement to handle and manipulate the multiple data streams that flow between the organisation and its mobile workers, in order to further empower these remote individuals to increase business efficiency and customer service levels. Businesses have seen the benefits of single application solutions and are now looking for a more holistic solution to cover all of their enterprise mobility requirements, stated Brackley.
Recent research from a number of analysts* has shown that Enterprise Mobility Solutions improve SLA compliance by 29%, improve customer satisfaction by 19%, improve first-time-fix metric by 23%, improve worker productivity by 23-27%, achieve cost savings of $7,500+ per worker, and deliver an average three year solution ROI of 402%.
To facilitate increased business efficiency, Jump delivers full and accurate visibility of an organisations remote workers through the Jump Dashboard, a web based monitoring and reporting tool for business managers. This increased visibility highlights the status of each mobile worker within specific workflow processes, enabling the improved allocation of resources to provide enhanced customer service.
Jades mobile application development expertise, coupled with its understanding of the growing needs of the UK enterprise mobility marketplace, has empowered Jade to successfully leverage @hands feature-rich software to create the Jump ecosystem, commented John Cannington, @hands CEO. @hand is excited to be a part of the Jump solution portfolio, which delivers a distinct competitive advantage for Jade.
@hand has deployed its FMS software to thousands of users across many global organisations. @hands technology is designed to meet the most challenging mobile application requirements, and its products have been tested and proven in some of the most demanding commercial and government environments. @hand customers include NASA, Baker Hughes, Smith International, and the U.S. Department of Defense.
For @hand, the strategic alliance with Jade provides us with an excellent business platform to further extend our market reach, concluded Cannington. We look forward to supporting Jade in the growth of its mobile solutions business, as Jade continues to develop its ecosystem.
*The Mobile Field Service Solution Selection Report, Aberdeen Group
Mobile Line-of-Business Applications: An ROI Analysis, IDC
Mobile Field Service Best Practices, Aberdeen Group
About Jade
Established more than 15 years ago, Jade has quickly grown to become one of the UK's leading providers of mobile enterprise data communications technologies. With proven expertise within the Auto ID and data capture marketplace, Jade offers enterprise mobility solutions that connect companies with their remote mobile field workers. Jade has just launched Jump, Jades unified mobility platform, that delivers a secure multiple enterprise mobility workflow application ecosystem. Jump simultaneously connects any mobile hardware device with any back office system and supports multiple configurable pre-developed software applications which can be easily configured to meet the specific requirements of enterprise mobility solutions across all sectors.
Jade works with large blue-chip organisations across multiple markets including: field service, retail, supply chain, transport & logistics, utilities, manufacturing and the public sector and has close relationships with leading mobile hardware and software manufacturers including Motorola, Intermec, Psion Teklogix, Datalogic, Wavelink and Zebra. Its customers include McDonald's, Marks & Spencer, Travis Perkins, DSGi, University of East Anglia, Makro, and Focus DIY.
For further information visit: http://www.jadeonline.co.uk <http://www.jadeonline.co.uk>
About @hand
@hand is a US based software company which provides field mobility software solutions for mission-critical work processes. With its Field Mobility System (FMS), @hand offers a patented, designed-for-mobility software architecture and mobile solutions for field service, asset management, and supply chain environments. Since 1998, @hand has delivered successful customer solutions that include user-friendly enterprise applications deployed to mobile devices such as rugged handhelds, tablet PCs, smartphones, and laptops. To learn more, visit us at www.hand.com
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