by Derek Korte | Dec 30, 2011 | Mobile & Tech
It’s the end of the year, and that means just about everyone’s busy offering up their opinions about where we — and our technology — are headed next. But sift through enough of the thousands of prediction pieces (and there really are thousands) and you’ll notice one...
by Darren Weiss | Dec 28, 2011 | Field Service Spotlight
When commercialized GPS tracking device began popping up in cars and trucks some 15 years ago, it kicked off a debate that’s still raging on over the extent to which vehicle fleets should rely on new technology. Do the savings justify the acquisition costs? Is the...
by The Editors | Dec 27, 2011 | Field Service Spotlight
We’ve hit the jackpot in this week’s installment of the SmartVan Jobs of the Week, literally. OK, not literally. But this is probably about as close as we’re likely to get to triple-7s in a job listing. It turns out a gaming company in Ohio is hiring...
by The Editors | Dec 26, 2011 | Field Service Spotlight
What a year it’s been here at the SmartVan. From trying to track the light-speed progress being made in mobile telecommunications technology to keeping an eye on trends in vehicle fleet management and best practices in the field service industries, there’s certainly...
by Derek Korte | Dec 23, 2011 | Mobile & Tech
It’s clear that Apple’s iPad has set the bar among tablet computers, especially for business, with its affordability and ease of use. But increasingly, other companies seem to be trying to carve out their own niches at the fringes of the tablet market. For...
by The Editors | Dec 22, 2011 | Field Service Spotlight
Welcome to this week’s edition of the SmartVan’s Jobs of the Week, starring Terrell Owens, Michael Jackson, zipping around in a fighter jet, and piles and piles of cash. … Well, not exactly, but each of those things are definitely related to some of...
by The Editors | Dec 22, 2011 | Field Service Spotlight
Finally a bit of good news out of the construction industry. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of builder confidence came out this week, sitting at 21, which is the index’s highest point since May of 2010. It was the third straight...
by | Dec 21, 2011 | Service Transformation
You know those benefits meetings where HR talks about a bunch of confusing numbers and plans and acronyms that 99.9% of us don’t completely understand? We had one of those this week at ServiceMax, but this time it was different. Every U.S. employee was offered a...
by Darren Weiss | Dec 21, 2011 | Mobile & Tech
In the latest development in what’s been one of the biggest tech stories of 2011, telecom giant AT&T has finally withdrawn its bid to acquire T-Mobile. Amidst mounting criticism from nearly all sides and antitrust tangles with the Department of Justice and FCC,...
by Ian Stewart | Dec 20, 2011 | Field Service Spotlight
Dispatch volume is up this year for field service companies. Hiring is flat. Clearly, firms need to find ways to handle more work with the same number of workers. That was the theme behind last Thursday’s ServiceMax-sponsored web seminar, “Field Workforce...
by Ian Stewart | Dec 19, 2011 | Field Service Spotlight
The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday formally called for a national ban on the usage of cell phones — whether used hands-free or not — while driving. The safety board’s recommendation does not carry legal weight, although as the governmental...
by Derek Korte | Dec 16, 2011 | Mobile & Tech
Starting today, the familiar flight attendant warning to power-down all electronic devices before takeoff will have one notable exception: the pilots’ own gear. ZDNet’s Jason O’Grady reports that the Federal Aviation Administration has approved iPads...