The iTSHOWCASE 2007 Awards.

igroup along with, one of their clients, The Peabody Trust have been short-listed for the above Awards.

They have been nominated for two awards.

igroup & Peabody Trust

The 2007 Winners and Commendations will be anounced live on the iTSHOWCASE Stand at Interbuild on the afternoon of Wednesday 31st October.

Congratulations to all concerned for reaching this stage of the Awards.

Call our Sales team on 0845 838 2184 for any further advice or information you may require.

My advice is to evaluate the device in real conditions before rolling it out to your workforce. It’s better to buy 5 and find the device does not work than to buy 50. Get real user feedback and make an informed decision.

Buy one here Delivered anywhere in the world.

Television programmes such as Dragons Den and The Apprentice have brought the trials and tribulations of the entrepreneur into our living rooms in recent years. As a result, we empathise with them more and understand better how difficult it can be starting out in business.
But while a difficult path to follow, the rewards are great. Not just in terms of personal wealth, but also in terms of the economic benefits their activities generate. Entrepreneurs are wealth creators. They create jobs, stimulate economic activity and, to be frank, Wales could do with more of them.

 Insider Media, have profiled a number of Welsh entrepreneurs and one of the people profiled was the MD of igroup, Steve Rastall. For 2007 Insider Media sought companies whose products or companies are exceptionally innovative and have the potential for exceptional growth. Some of the individuals profiled run companies that are already established and are turning over many tens of millions of pounds. The article that was run is as follows:-

"After university, Steve initially worked for Finnings, the Caterpillar dealer, and then a software company where he gained experience in the technology igroup is now based around. igroup provides mobile data collection solutions for mobile field workers and mobile workforces.
The mobile software can be utilised by PDA’s and rugged handheld computers. 
The company has the ability to deliver to any requirements with a solution focus, it has market leading expertise, knowledge and experience in mobile technology. “Our numerous blue chip customers support this belief" said Steve. “igroup allows people to connect and work remotely from anywhere to people and information.” Steve from a young age always wanted to start his own business. His inspiration in business? “My Grandfather Jack – a self-made man.” "

A lot of businesses do not know what direction to take when they decide to  undertake a mobile solutions project. There often seems to be no starting point to the solution. In large organisations there is often a business need to mobilise a number of business processes. Sometimes these are treated as separate projects without looking at the whole picture. Across an organisation there could be 10 mobile projects each using different technologies or hardware. By understanding all of your business needs a clear strategy can be implemented. This strategy can use common technologies and utilise commmon resources. By having this integrated approach to mobility it can prove to be highly cost effective and cause less support and legacy issues in the long run.

If you don't know where to start then talk to igroup

The Xplore tablet iX104C3 from Xplore technologies has many uses. It is very versatile and can be mounted in vehicles or used as a workstation by using the Desktop Dock called the xStand. The Intrinsically safe rating means that it can be used in ATEX Zoned environments, it has ATEX Zone 2 rating.

The unit can also be mounted on Forklifts in warehouses for porduct picking and on loading bays for load dispatch. Whatever your requirement the Xplore Rugged tablet can meet them. The iX104C3DV can be used outside with its transreflective Allvue technology designed by xplore to reduce the glare on the screen.

You can buy one here.

Field engineers are employed by a wide spectrum of industries. As the name suggests companies require their engineers to work in situations other than their own offices. Field engineers working for oil and gas companies work on oil rigs and in refineries collecting and analyzing data, monitoring various parameters and providing feedback. Traditionally, field engineers were employed extensively in construction and heavy machinery industries. Nowadays they are employed by mobile service providers, software vendors and networking infrastructure companies.

Field engineers are engineers in the field. Consider a call centre setup. It would have hundreds of personal computers and servers. They would all be connected by network infrastructure consisting of routers, leased lines, ISDN connections, Modems, firewall etc. The entire infrastructure has to be maintained to meet exacting service level agreements. All this is possible with qualified field engineers working round the clock. Call centres may have specialized air conditioning, humidifiers, uninterrupted power supply, smart card security access systems, fire fighting equipment and much more. A single field engineer would be insufficient to handle such a vast array of equipment. In such cases a group of specialized field engineers are required to handle field emergencies.

On the surface RFID technology looks similar to a barcode system. But in fact there is a vast difference between RFID asset tracking and other competing systems.

The entire supply chain management system of an organization can be divided into two parts. One is the supply chain pertaining to the production chain within the factory premises. The other the movement of products outside the organization. RFID asset tracking system provides maximum benefits.

Within the factory premises an inventory from the raw material stage can be tracked effectively with the RFID asset tracking system, while the material goes through the in-process to the finished product stage. RFID asset tracking provides instant or real time information during the manufacturing process. The information can be used by management for decision making purposes. In comparison, a barcode would necessitate the intervention of human resources and ultimately be unwieldy and impractical. An RFID asset tracking system would therefore provide real time information.

The real advantage of the RFID asset tracking system can be seen outside the factory premises. As the product moves from the warehouse to the shopping mall and further to the actual user, RFID tracking would continuously track the product. The information regarding its usage, deployment and even the ultimate disposal can be tracked using  the system. The barcode  intervention needs human input and tracking is impossible after the sale of the goods. RFID asset tracking can keep track of products even beyond the sales process.

RFID asset tracking systems are increasingly becoming popular. With increased usage the cost of the systems are continually being reduced. Making the system a viable option for more and more businesses.

If you would like to discuss the advantages the system could bring to your business.

Please call 0845 8382185

Congratulations to all the staff who have contributed to igroup becoming a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.

The Symbol MC70 has just had an upgrade. A version that will be out in Q1 2008 will have GPS integrated. Symbol have obviously seen the benefit of including GPS on their bottom line. It could be that they are feeling some pain from Intermec with their CN3. Whatever the reason it will be a welcome addition to many who like me are always getting hassled to provide rugged GPS devices to customers.

Capturing signatures is now easier with igroups iSignature software. Work or deliveries can now have a signature captured to make sure that they have taken place. The software is very easy to install and can save the job information as well as the signature. This information can be simply emailed back to the office or sent as XML to be stored in a database. The enterprise version of the product enables jobs to be sent to the handheld so that the engineer/driver has all the information that they need.

 If you need electonric or digital signatures to be captured on a PDA then visit igroups web site.