Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Xora service turns cell phones into timecards

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 29 May 2003 14:07:46 -0400

Wireless Startup Finds Niche

Wireless startup Xora, Inc. has found its niche in the field service market. The
company created an application that automates the time card process,
allowing employees to use their mobile phones to punch in and out, and
allowing companies track their employees' location using GPS. Nextel
Communications offers the application as a hosted service.

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Xora service turns cell phones into timecards
Wed May 28, 8:00 AM ET

Jim Rendon, SearchMobileComputing.com News Writer

Vendors in the wireless (news - web sites) business often think big, honing
their wares for big enterprises with deep pockets that want mobile access to
all applications. However, that approach can ignore important markets and,
more important, real business needs. One company has found early
success by thinking small and specific.

Xora Inc., a Mountain View, Calif., wireless
startup, began with a typical approach: a
wireless platform for connecting field service
and sales force employees to back-end
systems on the road. Xora found that many
competitors were pitching the same idea,
so it began to look for more specific
applications and more available markets.

Xora developed an application that allows
companies to automate their timecard
process, enabling employees to use mobile
phones to sign in and out. Taking it a step
further, Xora combined the application with
global positioning satellite (GPS)
information, so employers could not only
tell when employees are on the clock, but
also where they are.

Wireless carrier Nextel Communications Inc. took an interest in the
application and now offers it as a hosted service for $11.99 per user, per
month.

"There is a huge, untapped demand from people who have small-to-medium
sized businesses: ice and beer distributors, Sheetrock installers, pest
control, security guards," said Mark Springfield, director of marketing at
Xora.

Stephen Drake, a program manager with Framingham, Mass.-based
research firm International Data Corp., said that this service is a great way
for small businesses to easily get their feet wet with mobility with little
up-front investment.

Debra Carlson, office manager with Valley Heating, Air and Home
Improvement Inc., in Carmichael, Calif., said that in the two months her
company has been using the Xora service, it has already saved money and
increased productivity.

Prior to deploying the service, employees punched timecards to clock in
and out. The company relied on employees to record their times accurately.
The office staff spent a significant amount of time entering all that data into
the payroll system.

Now, employees clock in by pressing a button on their phone. That data
goes directly from an employee's phone to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
that tracks hours and calculates compensation.

In addition, she said, the company is saving money on its payroll expenses.
With the old timecard system, many employees were signing out at 4:00,
but once the company went to the mobile system, many of those same
employees' timecards showed that they were leaving earlier, at 3:45 or 3:50.
Over the course of a week, those minutes add up, saving the company
money, she said.

Perhaps the most important factor in Valley Heating, Air and Home
Improvement's decision to look for a wireless application was the increase in
the cost of workers' compensation insurance. Since Xora's system tracks
an employee's location, the company now has an accurate record of the
amount of time a worker spends at a job site. If an injury occurs, Carlson
can check the location records to make sure that an employee was at the
site at the time the injury occurred. That helps to curb fraudulent claims. As
a result, she said, the company's insurance premiums have come down.

But the employees' adjustment to the system has not been smooth. She
said that, during the first few weeks of use, many employees complained
that the service was too intrusive. Others signed in when they were not at
work or at the job site, which ultimately lead to some employees being fired
while others quit because they didn't like the system, Carlson said.

After two months, much of the staff has accepted the system. Carlson said
it was instrumental in weeding out employees that were not productive.

Xora's Springfield and IDC's Drake agree that employee acceptance of such
systems may be problematic. Springfield said that he has seen a certain
level of employee apprehension about his system. Drake agrees. "There
certainly may be some level of employee push-back," Drake said.

Employees may find positives in the service as well, Drake added. If there is
a dispute about hours or location, then the employee can point to records
that detail when he was on the job and where he was.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/techtarget/20030528/tc_techtarget/903201
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