Staff in the field leave a smaller footprint

Concerns about the environmental impact of mobile technologies have become well documented over the past few years, with campaigners complaining that short upgrade cycles, toxic components and always-on chargers have led to mountains of discarded mobiles and countless tonnes of CO2 emissions.

However, for growing numbers of firms in the field services sector, mobile technologies have become a key weapon in their battle to reduce net carbon emissions.

One such company is Severn Trent Water, which last year rolled out PDAs for 130 engineers in its Metering Services division as part of a plan to enhance operational efficiency and slash the mileage its water meter fitters have to travel.

"We used to work with 130 meter fitters driving [from home] to one of four bases, collecting job cards, going and doing those jobs and then driving home," explained Andy Herus, operations director for Severn Trent Metering Services. " Using the PDAs, we have been able to eradicate that first journey of the day, apart from once a week when they come to pick up materials."

The PDAs run task management software from mobility software specialist TBS called TaskMaster, which receives job information via a GPRS mobile data network and then automatically starts the integrated satellite navigation system, working out the most efficient route for the day's work.

As a result, Severn estimates it has reduced the distance travelled by its engineers every week by 6,000 miles, its CO2 emissions by 100 tonnes a year, and stopped half a million sheets of paper being printed annually.

Steve Reynolds, managing director of TBS, insisted that these savings more than offset the carbon emissions associated with the mobile devices. "The devices do have carbon footprints through their manufacture, charging and recycling," he admited. "But we found that the efficiencies gained if you deploy them effectively deliver a large offset against the devices' footprint."

Moreover, Herus maintained there have been significant cost and operational efficiencies alongside the environmental savings. "We've seen reduced fuel bills and, as we lease vehicles based on time and mileage, we've also cut our leasing costs," he explained. "While eradicating the first journey of the day means we have increased engineers' productivity by around 15 per cent."

The project has also been broadly welcomed by staff, according to Herus. " There are always reservations at first and we were aware there was potentially going to be less interaction between staff, but because they come in once a week we've managed to keep a degree of interaction," he said. "Once they saw the benefit they got in time saved from not having to drive into the depot, people were very supportive. Our bonus scheme is output-based, so it also means that people can earn more."

With 27,000 companies in the UK operating a mobile field workforce, Reynolds is convinced that the combination of mobile job scheduling solutions and sat nav can play a major role in reducing their carbon footprint.

"We obviously need innovation in clean energy and transport," he argued. " But until that is delivered, organisational and process efficiencies have a major role to play in limiting firms' environmental impacts, and these types of solutions can help deliver them."