Applying New Technology

Applying New Technology:
New advances in mobility technologies were the impetus for FAST (Field Adapted Survey Toolkit), GeoAge’s breakthrough solution designed for any workforce team that can benefit from optimized field capabilities. FAST is multi-dimensional, offering functionality that has heretofore not been available in a single mobile delivery system. Using FAST, workers can capture and exchange data, receive instructions, create and complete forms that put everybody on the same page, document findings with photos and GPS locations, and add video and file attachments. Key advantages are in time saved and efficiency gained: FAST helps eliminate duplicated efforts and data re-entry errors that are common in typical field-to-office reporting. It facilitates real-time operations, integrating all the technologies that help staff do their best work.

Once in the field, FAST can dramatically speed the pace of information transfer. Because FAST-created survey forms replace paper, and because all relevant documents, GIS maps and digital photos included, can be attached to the form and transmitted directly back to home base to be collated, the process is lightning fast compared to pre-FAST days. In many situations – from emergency rescue missions to time-sensitive market research – the fact that processes happen faster and produce highly accurate results is the true value of this new technology.

Just as important, FAST offers an intuitive, easy-to-learn interface AND performs in a familiar setting: Windows Mobile handheld devices (PDAs), ultra micro PCs, laptop and tablet mobile PCs, and smartphones. Certified by Alltel, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, it is fully operable on their nationwide networks. Partly because it operates from friendly environments, new adopters have an easy time relating to FAST. In fact, a typical team can be fully trained in less than a day and deployed immediately afterward.

For an MIS or MoIS manager, there is also the question of cost versus results, and this, too, is good news: FAST makes mobility easy to acquire. Consider the savings when workers can be dispatched where they are needed most, without downtime and wasted or duplicated effort. Unlike major technology upgrades, like swapping platforms from Oracle to SAP or PRP, the switch to FAST can happen quickly and at a fraction of the cost. In fact, FAST users realize significant return on investment from day one.