Subject: [NEXTEL-1] How Digital Cameras Are Being Used In The Workplace

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2003 08:57:07 -0400

How Digital Cameras Are Being Used In The Workplace
Contributed by mmasnick on Tues, Oct 7 2003

Saleh writes "In contrast to the numerous stories blaming camera phones and
digital cameras for the evils of
the world, here's a story that shows that there are actually some business uses."
The story in question actually
doesn't refer to camera phones, but rather is looking at digital cameras. Of
course, it won't be long before those
digital cameras are easily replaced by camera phones. In some cases (such as the
garbage pickup folks) you
could see how camera phones would already be useful. In other cases it may have to
wait until camera phone
resolution gets better. Still, it's always nice to see an article that looks at
good ways people are using
technologies

================================================================================
PluggedIn: Shutterbugs at Work
Tue Oct 7, 2:25 PM ET

By Anupama Chandrasekaran

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Robin Saucedo used to carry just a cell phone while on
collection rounds for trash hauler Waste Management Inc. (NYSE:WMI - news), but
for the last six months he also has had a digital camera on hand.
Saucedo is one of the many Waste
Management drivers in the Santa Ana,
California, area to get a camera to
photograph overflowing commercial bins.
The company's sales team mails the
pictures to customers with suggestions to
increase the number of weekly pickups or
order bigger bins, increasing revenue and
cutting route time.

"Why should you describe something using
a thousand words when you can take an
image of it and transmit it?" said Bob
Goldstein, who is writing a book on
businesses' new uses of digital images.

For more than 30 years, insurance
companies have used pictures to assess
claims. But the availability of cheap digital
cameras and the onset of camera phones
are spurring their use in many different
industries.

Photographic equipment makers Canon
U.S.A. Inc. (NYSE:CAJ - news) and
Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE:EK - news)
refused to give sales numbers, but said there are signs of increased demand from
businesses for digital cameras.

PROVING IT WITH PICTURES

Digital cameras have become a ticket to higher revenue for some companies and have
speeded up the decision-making process for others.

Since Waste Management started its initiative in Santa Ana last November, nearly
25 percent of its commercial customers there have opted for additional pickups
during the week. Besides calling attention to overflowing bins, the company uses
pictures to highlight graffiti problems.

About 80 percent of commercial route drivers in Waste Management's western region
have digital cameras.
"Before I had a camera, I would call in and the customer would deny that he had a
problem," the 37-year-old Saucedo said. "But now the customer knows it's his
trash, and he cannot deny that because it's on the picture."
Clear Channel Outdoor originally used cameras to take close-up and approach shots
to prove its clients' ads were on its billboards. But now the company uses
photography in other areas.

"Lets say we have a graffiti problem," said Russ Mason, corporate director of
digital services at the Clear Channel Communications Inc.

Clear Channel Outdoor employees also use pictures provided by the information
technology department to plan jobs like placing equipment in a new office or
changing existing wiring.

A BETTER PICTURE

Independent sales representatives like Sally Carrocino, who sells home and garden
accessories to retailers in southern California, are also enjoying increased
efficiency because of their camera usage.
"I would often get frustrated with manufacturers I represent because when they
introduce new products at the gift show it always takes them a long time to get
sales material out to the reps," said Carrocino, who has been a sales
representative for 25 years.

Carrocino, 55, is now out selling the day after attending a trade show, thanks to
shots taken from her $400 digital camera. Earlier, she would have to wait at least
six weeks for the companies to send her catalogs.
She covered the cost of the camera in one sales trip, and her revenue has been up
30 percent since then.
"It has changed my selling life 180 degrees," she said. "Now I don't have to carry
around samples because my pictures are good enough."

While digital pictures are helping businesses bring in more dollars, the
camera phone is saving lives. Scottish firefighters are using the
equipment on a trial basis to send images of injured people to
doctors.

"We are inherently visual creatures, but we don't have tools (within us) to create
images," said Alexis Gerard, president of imaging research firm Future Image and
co-author of the book with Goldstein.
"We have reached a watershed point with camera phones as it is
going get easier to communicate to each other using a visual
language."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&e=4&u=/nm/20031007/tc_nm/column_pluggedin_dc

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