Hornsby Shire Council Mobilises Community and Internal Services with BlinkMobile Solutions
Hornsby Shire Council Mobilises Community and Internal Services with BlinkMobile Solutions
BlinkMobile Interactive today announced that Hornsby Council will begin providing staff with mobile device access to key internal corporate systems by year end. The first mobile services to go live will include a customer request form that will enable field staff to log and manage customer queries at any time, from any location. Also to go live is a site risk assessment form designed to boost staff safety when working out in the field.
The solutions are being developed in BlinkForms with BlinkMobile’s Sydney-based partner, Acresta (formerly known as EcoView Mobile), a technology and consulting services company who will work closely with Council to roll-out the technology.
Development of both the customer request and site risk assessment forms are expected to be completed within one month. The projects follow the February 2012 introduction of a BlinkAnswers solution which enables ratepayers easier access to high-demand Council website information, using any mobile device such as a smartphone, tablet or PDA.
Craig Munns, Manger Information Communications and Technology, Hornsby Council, said, “Just like any other organisation, the Council is always looking for ways to increase productivity and efficiency. We believe we can achieve significant gains by making our existing processes mobile so that staff can report and retrieve information while out in the field.”
The key criteria for Hornsby Council’s selection of the BlinkMobile solutions include, the requirement to be able to work with any device, ease of development and the speed of deployment.
The customer request form will allow staff to electronically capture information and images about damaged assets or maintenance requirements from any location. The data will be automatically forwarded to the Council’s records branch before being uploaded into the TRIM document management system and then processed either to the Customer Request Management or Asset Maintenance systems. The public will also be given access to the same form via the Council’s mobile and main website, enabling individuals to register requests for assistance or attention quickly and easily. Focused on staff safety, the mobilised risk assessment form will follow a similar process of uploading into TRIM and is expected to streamline the paperwork associated with working offsite.
“Mobility is providing us with better communication channels both to our workforce and community. We’re making it easier for the community to communicate with us, while for staff, we’re providing tools to increase accuracy, efficiency and safety, this will in the long run provide cost benefits to both Council and our community,” Munns added.
Acresta has already started work with the Council to develop two additional electronic forms which will be made available to field staff in early 2013. One will be used in the capture of tree management data. The other will enable work orders to be delivered directly to truck crews on their mobile devices while out on the road, removing the need for trucks to return to the depot for additional instructions.
Darren Besgrove, Director, BlinkMobile Interactive stated, “We are delighted to be working with Hornsby Council to mobilise communication services initially with its community and now with Council staff. We are seeing time savings and process efficiencies across many roles and activities becoming increasingly critical to organisations as the key business drivers of this decade and have tailored our unique approach to enterprise mobility solutions to meet this growing need.”
About BlinkMobile Interactive
BlinkMobile Interactive develops and markets a mobile enterprise application platform (MEAP) that allows any organisation to provide rich mobile interactions and response mechanisms from their existing web-based information and business systems. Focused on enterprise style customers, the Blink Mobility Platform provides a comprehensive deployment and management structure for corporate-wide mobility from any data source and through one platform, can deliver multiple services to all mobile devices quickly and reliably, from iPads and tablets to the latest smartphones and simple 2G SMS-only non-browsing phones. The Blink Mobility Platform offers enterprise customers a new, low cost, fast and agile service that focuses on their users and each user’s need to access interactive systems from mobile phones.
About Acresta (Formerly known as EcoView Mobile Pty Ltd)
Acresta is a provider of enterprise software solutions and services with headquarters in Sydney, Australia, delivering innovative business software solutions to meet the needs of today’s enterprises and the environment in which they operate. Their loyal customer base spans a multitude of industries including local and state government, education, banking and financial services, automotive and distribution, mining and power generation as well as the hospitality industry