Alltel adds another enterprise location service

Alltel Wireless today launched Alltel Workforce Locator, tracking and mobile resource management software designed by Autodesk, on select location-enabled Brew devices. Through Workforce Locator, the fifth largest carrier’s latest in location-based service offerings, businesses can monitor their mobile work force in real time to improve operational efficiency, customer service and work-force deployment costs.

Businesses can use Web-based maps detailing their field to locate their work force in real time and streamline routing and fleet management. Job updates can then be sent via text messages to direct employees to job sites or to communicate between office management and staff. The platform, which Autodesk says can accommodate any number of workloads or sizes of business, is designed to improve response time to customer service calls and reduce employee downtime.

The service also features privacy controls, travel directions and the ability to send text messages from PC to mobile devices. At launch, it is available for $15 per month and a one-time charge of $19.99 per line on the Brew series of devices, including the Samsung R430, Samsung U520, LG AX260 and the LG AX300.

Workforce Locator builds on Alltel’s existing LBS offerings, including a family tracking service from WaveMarket and a similar enterprise feature called Skymail from wireless technology provider Pacific DataVision, which provides messaging, dictation and documentation services for mobile work forces to document events in real time.

Though location technologies like these have not yet taken off on a consumer level due largely to privacy concerns with person-finding, enterprise location targeting is attracting a lot of interest. In fact, enterprise GPS applications will generate more revenue than mobile consumer GPS services in the next five years, according to ABI Research.

In light of this, Alltel isn’t the only one looking to tap the mobile phone for its location features. GPS pioneer TeleNav today launched an updated version of its MRM service, TeleNav Track, already in use by more than 9000 organizations. The software, available immediately on some AT&T and Sprint handsets, includes a Team Timecard for clocking individuals or entire teams in and out directly from a supervisor’s smartphone, and overtime controls, signature and image capture and Hot Key alerts, which let employees send location notifications via e-mail and text by entering a predefined keystroke combination on their wireless devices.