Touch screens have evolved by leaps and bounds in the past 50 years. From our first glimpse at what could be possible in the 1960’s, to today’s pocket smartphones and tablets, breaking away from the keyboard has been the motivator in touch screen technology.
The Palm Pilot made it’s first debut in 1997, and brought with it the vision of what being truly mobile might mean for the future. No longer were businesses tethered to their keyboard to manage job functions. As if foretelling what was to come, mJobTime jumped to advance to the forefront of the mobile technology market, developing one of the first mobile labor time tracking applications for the Palm Pilot.
Stylus in hand, user feedback was almost immediate; most people would rather use their fingers than a pen.
Today’s businesses have a staff of employees with these touch devices in their pockets, ready to use. More and more businesses are taking advantage of this with company-wide BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies, allowing employees to bring and manage their own internet accessible device to handle their job.
Related: Update on Emerging GPS Technology Applications
Touching Time Sheets
No longer are businesses bound by the restraints of offices, plugs and keyboards. Mobile technology has advanced so much in the past 20 years that in many cases our automobiles are now our offices. Time sheets aren’t conducive to staying mobile.
Has your crew member has lost his time sheet…. Really?Who has a printer and a stack of copy paper in the truck at a moment’s notice?
Dirt, grease, and despicable handwriting have all been guilty of causing clerical entry errors. Current manufacturers have developed super-rugged mobile device cases and screen protectors specifically for jobsites. But, there’s no accounting for bad handwriting.
Wiping your touch screen clean could soon be as simple as washing your hands. Cicret is a product concept that turns your skin your touch screen with a wearable bracelet that projects a screen image onto your arm. The video concept was launched in November 2014, and already the development team has a working prototype.
Identify Your Field User’s Time Keeping Strengths
If your crew’s biggest strengths are related to producing you money, then keep the administrative portion of their job as simple as possible. Whether you manage your labor time with a wall mounted time clock, tablets, smartphones or biometric devices, interfaces should be clear, simple, and easy to read. Keep in mind that big labor often has big hands, so user field interface is important.
Related: mJobTime Launches Employee Portal For Mobile Time Clock Software
As touch screen interfaces and software advance, developers continue to harness the potential of the emerging technology. We at mJobTime continue to develop new software releases for more mobile operating systems and platforms, ensuring that we stay on the devices in our user’s hands.
Interested in taking your company’s labor tracking mobile?
