Business travelers are increasingly visiting areas or countries with higher levels of risk. Whether it’s civil unrest in Egypt and Tunisia, kidnap or piracy threat in Africa or terrorist activity generally, the world can be a dangerous place for the business traveler.
To provide a duty of care to employees, a business may choose to use a GPS tracking solution. The least invasive way is to install an app onto the mobile/smart phone of the employee which is essentially invisible. The app relays the latest positions back to a control center where progress can be monitored. Ideally the units are fitted with a key combination to raise a panic alarm which also records audio.
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There are many such solutions around but many only work in a single country or in selected countries. A Global GPS tracking solution is required for most business travelers. Such a solutions needs to be frugal in the way it sends information back to the control centre. Typically information is sent over GPRS (as data) or via SMS. The units also need to have an excellent battery life and good GPS antenna. The only solution to address all of these requirements is using a BlackBerry-based tracking solution where the BlackBerry is on BES/BIS with a roaming data bolt-on so that all data is free. This leaves the units free to update as often as possible.
But how could such a system actually save a business money? Leaving aside issues of corporate manslaughter, it is possible for such a device to also send back call records and the details of every SMS sent and received. This information can be reviewed centrally in near real-time. Typically, roamed call records can take days or weeks before they are presented to a business leaving a large window of risk for running up large roaming bills. In this way, it’s possible for central control to identify high mobile usage quickly and prevent business travelers accidentally running up large bills whilst abroad.
So by being smart about the solution chosen it’s possible to implement global GPS tracking without making an employee carry an extra device and save money into the bargain.
Checklist For: Mobile Phone Tracking Solution
BlackBerry solution for great battery life, good GPS antenna and free data
Installs onto existing BlackBerry units
Uses minimal battery and GPS
Update rate and battery drain are configurable
Can be used with local SIM cards for reduced call costs
Provides call logs and SMS details in near-real-time
Displays current location and trail on a secure mapping website
Provide a panic facility with voice recording
