It needs to be easy to use and provide all the functionality required, but should it be rugged or of a standard, consumer-type specification? The industry’s suppliers delivered a number of interesting responses to this question, providing service managers with some relevant points to consider to help them make their choice.

Total cost of ownership was one factor highlighted by several people, encouraging service companies to look at the bigger picture. Larry Klimczyk, Blackbay managing director, said: ‘Consumer devices produce an array of additional costs during their lifetime, such as the need to purchase new batteries, charging docks and cables to connect peripheral devices including scanners and imagers.

Manufacturers of rugged hardware plan for their devices to have a much longer shelf life, allowing the end user to have more cost predictability upfront. Ruggedised features not only provide the performance that mobile workers require but also help to improve the uptime of the device.’

Terran Churcher, Codegate managing director, supported this view, warning that standard PDAs force engineers to work harder by being too small, unable to cope with battery failure – leading to possible data loss and return site visits – and unsuitable for use in harsh environments, leading to high failure rates and more lost time.

‘Modern HHT devices are a marvel of converging technologies,’ said Churcher. ‘Telecommunications and computing and global positioning systems are fusing together to provide features in mobile devices, the like of which we could only dream. Add to this the integration of auto-ID scanners or readers and the applications become extremely productive. Overall the total cost of ownership of the HHT is generally much lower than at first envisaged.’

Challenges

David Perry, Cognito, suggested an alternative, while supporting the TCO focus: ‘Many businesses may not be able to afford the capital cost of distributing such tools over a whole workforce. Using a cheap or free subsidised consumer device will bring its own challenges, from the inherent fragility of the device to increased risk of loss or theft. In practice, we’ve found that for a general delivery and service workforce, a reasonably sturdy enterprise-level PDA with a robust protective jacket will be quite satisfactory.

‘However, in harsh environments or when rough treatment is a certainty, businesses should be prepared to go the extra mile with ruggedised devices. The initial outlay might seem extravagant, but the decision will pay for itself in reliability and business continuity.’

Datalogic Mobile’s UK manager Colin Pike said: ‘We would always recommend that field service workers use a rugged mobile device. Anything else is simply a false economy. We have replaced numerous non-rugged PDAs or devices claiming to be rugged which fail very quickly after installation. This results in unacceptable levels of downtime and a high TCO. We concur with the findings of Venture Development Corporation, who report that 35% of consumer grade devices are replaced within the first two years, rising to 80% over a three year period.’

Blackbay’s Klimcyzk also highlighted the failure rate of consumer devices: ‘The average annual failure rate for consumer devices is around 30%, with devices failing as much as 40% in some circumstances. Failure rates of rugged devices were less than a third of that rate in comparison. To put the figure into context this meant that users of non-rugged devices lost approximately 75 minutes of productivity each time their device failed.’

Inhospitable environments

Julian Willis, Getac sales manager, said: ‘Commercial equipment cannot be expected to survive continual movement nor deal with the rigours of being taken into inhospitable environments. It's only a matter of time before the equipment will fail.

‘It can be a mistake to concentrate on lay-out cost,’ he continued. ‘Other factors should be taken into consideration, such as data loss and down time, both of which can be extremely costly to businesses. Rugged equipment guarantees a longer life span as well as advanced security features and significantly reducing total cost of ownership. Many companies are now choosing rugged over commercial, those that do never turn back.’

Panasonic rugged Toughbook brand is used by companies such as British Gas, Ford, Nissan, Renault, Deutsche Telekom and Condor Cargo. Endorsing the TCO message, it emphasised the importance of using reliable equipment in any environment. It therefore provides a pre-purchase consultation to analyse the specific needs of each customer to give individually tailored support for each company’s requirements.

Paul Westmoreland, UK managing director of Psion Teklogix, advised companies to look at the previous failure rate statistics of devices, available from any reputable manufacturer. ‘What’s usually interesting when looking at this type of data is not only the returns rate but type of faults, whether or not there have been any user abuse (deliberate damage) or if the majority of returns are manufacture issues,’ he said.

Hand held devices should be fit for use, advised Westmoreland, from the perspective of both the engineer and the company to avoid misuse and be more effective for the business.

Professional service

Tony Rainbow, Unique ID managing director, highlighted the improvements in rugged device design: ‘Today the ‘ruggedised’ devices from some of the best manufacturers have a compact design with very good ergonomic consideration. Take the Motorola MC75 for example, the units have become tougher and smaller. The latest handheld computers offer extensive options, such as GPS/GPRS, RFID, Bluetooth, bar code scanning, cameras, imaging as well as improved battery life. A great example of this is the Honeywell Dolphin 7600, which offers amazing  design and durability, whilst having every option a client would ever need in order to drive a professional service out to their own customers.’

The use of protective cases was advised by Stephen Donovan, head of marketing at Jelly Communications. ‘We believe that businesses should not have to compromise on the selection of devices if they are to be used in challenging situations,’ he said.

‘There are a number of excellent accessories that can protect a device whilst still making it easy to use, giving users and businesses the best of both worlds. Businesses looking to provide mobile devices to their field service engineers often prioritise ruggedness over functionality. However, the benefits of remote access to email or using a purpose built application need not be sacrificed.

It has found that most people do not want to damage their equipment and, provided that what they have been given actually makes their life easier, they will take good care of it.

This view is also shared by Box Technologies, which highlights the progress from traditional job site use of paper forms and clipboards. Recognising that many companies have now transitioned to rugged tablet PCs – that electronically access, capture and record data to improve productivity while reducing errors and project delays – it explains that there are solutions available today that provide a blend of performance, ruggedness, highly mobile and lightweight design with key integrated features that minimise the number of devices that must be carried.

Rugged no longer means heavy and inexpensive, it says, because now there are lightweight solutions available that can withstand the harsh environments. When selecting a device, it is important to consider how mobile it will be throughout the day, the company advises, suggesting solutions that are resistant to elements such as dust, moisture and heat, can withstand drops and bumps but are also light and mobile enough to be carried all day.

Microbus states that its customers, who are mostly fleet operators, find that the vehicle is too a harsh an environment for laptops and tablet computers. For this reason, it has developed Linx, described as a unique, vehicle-first demountable PC. In addition to high performance, it has a screen that can be read inside or out and has sufficient space to display forms and drop down menus.

Biggest challenge

Additional points were also forthcoming from suppliers, including consideration of overall user experience, highlighted by Westmoreland of Psion Teklogix. This is key to any successful deployment, he said, and in the first stages in moving to a mobile computing solution was often considered the biggest challenge. In some cases, trying to get non computer users to adopt a full mobile computer solution met with varying resistance.

‘The higher the resistance, the greater number of physical abuse repairs,’ he said. He also advised consideration of overall environmental conditions before committing to purchase, including temperature ranges, vibration (usually during transportation between points), battery autonomy, IP rating and drop testing.

Codegate’s Churcher also advised careful consideration and the weighing of options such as whether the device best suits the desired application. ‘Screen size, keyboard type, memory capacity, communications, etc, all dictate which device best suits. Battery power and, more importantly, what happens when it runs low or dies. The need for peripheral input devices, like integral bar code, RFID or image scanner. Hazardous or atmospheric considerations like ambient moisture, dust or temperature considerations. The ability to ‘lock-down’ the device to only operate the application software provided,’ Churcher concluded.

In the unlikely event of the launch of a ‘one size fits all’ type device, this debate will no doubt continue for many years to come, fuelled by the continued advance of technology. Added to this will be the ongoing experience of service operations who have tried the various options and become more able to decide which best suits their individual requirements.

Steve McCorry, technical director of Logistics International, also provided opinion based on his long experience in the field service service industry.

The question of whether to invest in consumer or rugged PDAs challenges many organisations. This is completely understandable given the fact that consumer devices are designed so completely around low cost, whilst on the other hand rugged devices start their whole design philosophy from a very different point – namely how to make the device last as long as possible, both from the perspective of day to day operator use and also in terms of its availability over many years in the supply chain.

These differing design principles often lead to a price differential that is too much for an enterprise to ignore. Too often though at this point the golden rule of IT investment for some reason is overlooked, decisions often being taken around the initial acquisition price of the device rather than any meaningful or substantial TCO analysis.

Although there are numerous independent studies that extensively cover PDA TCO analysis, I would advise any organisation thinking about going mobile to carry out their own exercise and reach their own conclusions.

Some good questions to ask are as follows:

• What is the criticality of going mobile to the business? If a device became faulty, what is the cost both in its repair and in the loss of productivity to the worker who uses it?
• How often is it expected for the device to fail and what is the expected lifetime of the device versus the lifetime of the project it will be used in?
• What is the cost of change if the device becomes unavailable at some point – most consumer grade devices will not be around 18 months from launch – what is the realistic cost of test, validation, re-deployment, training and support of the application on a new hardware platform?

From a practical point of view there are also some good pointers. Data capture requirements based on barcode scanning almost always aligns better to ruggedised hardware. If a workforce is attitudinally geared towards using and embracing technology then there is more chance that consumer grade devices will be taken care of in the long term.

Rugged also normally means bigger, which many service personnel raise as a concern. This topic is therefore worth looking at in terms of successfully getting a workforce to adopt mobile technologies although that said, a number of small form factor ruggedised devices are now appearing in the market.

In summary, if you talk to manufacturers of ruggedised hardware, almost all of them will point to easy and successful sales stories where customers have first tried consumer devices before migrating to rugged solutions.  These stories are numerous – at the end of the day, there must be a reason for that.