The customer was looking to deploy on touch-only Android devices using SmartTE.
CUSTOMER: The UK’s number one professional cleaning company delivering advanced floor-care equipment
INDUSTRY: Manufacturing
SOLUTION: StayLinked’s enterprise-grade SmartTE
About StayLinked
StayLinked is the proven market leader in Terminal Emulation for the supply chain industry and continues to drive innovation with the most advanced software solutions available for the warehouse. StayLinked enables customers to easily migrate to state-of-the-art devices, measure and optimize productivity with cutting-edge business intelligence, and interface with ground-breaking technologies in the areas of automation, robotics, and emerging IIoT technologies. For more than two decades, StayLinked has delivered revolutionary software products with unparalleled customer satisfaction and world-class support to hundreds of partners and thousands of customers around the globe.
The Customer
A renowned UK-based company that delivers professional, practical, and reliable advanced floor-care equipment, designed, engineered, and made in the UK.
The Challenge
The customer was looking to deploy Android devices however, this presented a challenge as the devices were touchscreen only and unable to effectively handle text-heavy WMS applications.
Using Android devices pre-loaded with standard, non-StayLinked, generic terminal emulation software to ‘modernise’ the screens, meant that it was necessary to reformat each screen, one by one. The nature of the application - with screens dynamically changing – required many time-consuming iterations. At this point the customer took the decision to talk to StayLinked.
The Solution
It very quickly became apparent that StayLinked’s enterprise grade terminal emulation software, SmartTE, could resolve the problem by dynamically converting text-based applications to touch-screen intuitive buttons.
Another extremely beneficial feature for the customer was SmartTE’s capability to automate screen progression to streamline workflows. This ensures that workers encounter only the screens relevant to the task in hand, significantly optimising efficiency.
“SmartTE recognizes the modernization of one screen and then automatically applies it on another screen where the same ‘pattern’ is detected.”
— Senior Developer
Previously, for specific functions users were required to memorise and repetitively input several codes, consisting of two or three characters, via a keyboard. The codes included elements such as location prefixes, warehouse-name and other details.
SmartTE’s SmartTiles display shortcuts for these codes on the mobile device screen, removing the need for users to remember and key-in the relevant codes, which reduces typing time and input errors. Customised shortcuts are displayed, depending on the user’s individual role.
Another key benefit to the customer is that the SmartTE software connects users’ mobile devices to its WMS via StayLinked’s host-resident server. Users’ sessions reside on the StayLinked service and not on their handheld mobile device, so the connection is always maintained.
The elimination of dropped sessions is crucial to the customer as it has a large manufacturing site which can result in connectivity interruptions between buildings and, consequently, dropped WiFi connections.
“As popup keyboards were too small to be practical for our users we looked into a screen overlay solution. After installing SmartTE and with a few simple to configure pattern matching rules and the use of SmartTiles, by lunchtime we had the basis for a global solution and the skill to refine it in-house.” Senior Developer.”
— Senior Developer
Previously, once connections were re-established, users had to log in again, wasting valuable time and often losing important transaction data. SmartTE addresses this issue by maintaining the connection on its host-server,. allowing automatic re-connection without any data loss or productivity dips, enabling users to resume exactly where they left off in their workflow.
The Results
Speed of configuration and roll out
Following a couple of fact-finding video conferences with the customer, StayLinked delivered a day long proof of concept.
Within a couple of days, StayLinked provided the customer with a complete solution that was easily and quickly approved by the business. StayLinked SmartTE not only meets current needs but also drives continual improvement, allowing the customer to quickly adapt to new requirements.
With a further online session and a one-off site visit the SmartTE configuration was complete. Within just three months from the initial contact with StayLinked, the customer had rolled out SmartTE and placed orders for a complete hardware refresh to Android touchscreen devices.
“SmartTE has enabled us to take full advantage of the feature and capabilities available from our Android devices.” Senior Developer
Elimination of connectivity issues
SmartTE has eliminated the customer’s connectivity issues, driving up their productivity and giving their users a better user experience.
Flexible Licensing approach
Stakeholders immediately understood the value of SmartTE and the enduring benefit of a StayLinked SmartTE licence being a licence forever. Unlike typical licenses tied to a specific mobile device, SmartTE licenses are linked to the connection with the WMS.
This licensing strategy delivers greater flexibility for when the customer next needs to upgrade devices, as it will eliminate the need to purchase new SmartTE licenses and does not restrict the customer to devices with hardware keyboards.
“StayLinked delivers exceptional support whenever we have needed it, the team quickly became our trusted advisory partner.”
— Senior Developer
