Students keep track of repairmen

The students from the Technical Software program at the college in Karlskrona Ronneby have together with telecommunications company Aspiro, developed a business handling system where communication between the customer, service company and their colleagues out in the field is conducted with the help of Internet and text messaging on the cellular phone. KP Karlskrona is a pilot customer of this system. The project has been implemented within the framework of TelecomCity FutureLand.

KP Karlskrona is a well-known office supply store also providing sales and servicing of office machines. The students and Aspiro developed for KP as a pilot customer, a general WAP-program to handle business. WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol and is a global standard that defines how the mobile telenet -GSM for example communicates directly with Internet or Intranet. With the help of this WAP system it is possible to order, monitor, and handle assignments, material consumption and information via the cellular phone. Smoother handling for KP and increased service for customers. In practice the customer through his PC via Internet sends an order for servicing of his photocopier, whereby KP receives the order and relays it to the service technician who is situated nearest to the customer. The technician receives the assignment via his WAP-enabled phone and by pressing a few buttons, accepts the assignment and status. The customer from the start has the opportunity to monitor the status of the work order via Internet. In this way it offers: - The customer complete access of information over his assigned order - The service technician an effortless way of receiving an order, report the status e.g., the consumption of material on the job, while sharing with the head office and customer other actual information. - The service company, in this case KP, a system that increases service and access to information concerning the assignment. A system for many branches According to Klas Hallqvist as a Technical Manager at Aspiro, This type of system gives a new dimension to the phrase, taking care of business. Receiving orders, assignment planning and communication in one tool makes for easier management. With a limited customer adaptation, this business handling system could facilitate work e.g., service technicians, electricians, caretakers, security guards and transport to only name a few. "Saving time between a finished assignment and the invoicing of that assignment can save a company a great deal of money. Utilizing Internet and GSM together will make for amazing possibilities", predicts Klas Hallqvist TelecomCity directs the running of a project called FutureLand, an experimental environment whereby the members of the company in TelecomCity are able to cooperate with college students. The reason for FutureLand is to help the company´s members run a "Proof of Concept" project with the combined resources available. Students are presented with the opportunity to choose the project they find interesting, which means that within their course of study they can work on an interesting industrial project and at the same time develop contacts with different companies. Aspiro AB, is a leading Scandinavian WAP company already with a number of products under development. The foremost product being "Wireless Trader" which was presented on the market on March 15 of this year. The Wireless Trader is a product for the bank and financial world which deals with stock trading and is above all the world´s first WAP program. Aspiro has also developed an improved SMS-platform for Europolitan for the purpose of increasing reliability for SMS-services. Please visit Aspiro´s home page, www.aspiro.com For further information, please contact Klas Hallqvist, Aspiro AB, Tel: 0709-198002