A message from the President of AboutTime Technologies

In The AboutTimes Quarterly Newsletter David Moyer, President of AboutTime Technologies, wrote the following: 

December 3^rd is a great day.   Throughout history, many important events have happened on Dec 3.  For example, In 1828 Andrew Jackson was elected as the 7^th US President.  In 1956, Wilt Chamberlin played his first college game and scored 52 points.  Even more impressive, on December 3, 1967 the first heart transplant was performed and on Dec 3, 1989 Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, and US President George Bush declared that the Cold War was over.  All of those are great events and make December 3^rd a great day.

For me, December 3rd is a great day for a far simpler reason.  On December 3^rd, 2012  I joined the team at AboutTime Technologies. Though not as significant to the world as  performing the first heart transplant, to me it signifies one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Most of my career has been spent with Multi-billion dollar companies such as Sage and Trimble. When I joined the much smaller AboutTime Technologies, many of my peers questioned the move. My peers did not see what I saw.

I saw a company with great potential… a company with the ability to solve critical problems  and help companies save thousands of dollars. I saw a team of individuals who were passionate about helping people. I saw a company that I wanted to be a part of.

Fast-forward one year… AboutTime has grown by 82%. That growth has given us the opportunity to significantly reinvest in our products and our people. I am excited to say that we are now rolling out version 4.6 which has many high-value enhancements and new features. We have added new development and QA staff so that we can provide quality features to the marketplace more quickly. As well, we have increased the size of our support and implementation department in order to service our customers better. We don't plan to stop there. We will continue to grow.   We will continue to invest.   We will strive to be the best we can be every day. We know that our customers rely on our solutions, and that is what drives us to do what we do. That is why I joined the AboutTime Team on December 3^rd, 2012.

Thank you so much for a great 2013. I am looking forward to what we can do together in 2014.

From all of us at AboutTime Technologies, we wish you a Happy New Year!  

If you would like to read more of the AboutTimes Quarterly Newsletter click here. 

Prove It! Benefits of GPS

I wrote, in a past blog post, about the ethics involved in using GPS tracking with your employees.  You can read the post  here. 

The question of ethics comes into play when employees feel like “Big Brother” is watching.  However, the benefits of using GPS tracking go far beyond the notion of time theft.  In fact, there are many benefits for employees as well as businesses.  I will discuss them in this post and future posts. 

Have you ever had this happen?

Customer:  Wow!  This bill is huge!  I know we had you move that wall 3 times, but I can’t

believe it took this many hours. 

You: Well I had 3 guys here for 2 days full time.

Customer:  Prove it!

HOLD ON!  How do you “prove it?”  Show them scribbles on time cards?   Showing upset clients time cards can give you the upper hand in a negotiation, however it’s just writing on paper,  you will probably have to give up a few hours to keep your customer happy.

Is there a better way to handle billing questions like this?  Is there a way that leaves little room for questioning or negotiation? Wouldn’t it be even more convincing if you could actually “Prove it?”

Situations like this are where GPS and GEOFence Tracking are most beneficial.  Imagine showing your customers that your employees were actually on the job-site, working hard.  Let's try this scenario to show what this same situation is like when using a mobile resource management system that incorporates GPS Tracking as a feature.

Customer:    Wow!  This bill is huge!  I know we had you move that wall 3 times but I can’t believe it took this many hours. 

You: (Looking at your iPad) Well, you can see here that John, Jose, and Larry  were on your job-site from 8am to 11:30am.  Then they took a half hour lunch. But, you can see they clocked back into your jobsite at 12:05pm and worked until 5:00pm.   So the bill is accurate.  Unfortunately, it can be very costly to make these types of changes. 

Time records showing GPS coordinates, proving your employees were on the job-site when they clocked IN and OUT, are invaluable when trying to resolve a billing dispute.  As the old adage says “don’t bring a knife to a gun fight." When it comes to billing disputes make sure you bring GPS tracking to the discussion and eliminate the fight. 

Time 4 Fun #3

It's Monday!  Time to start another productive week.  As promised here is another joke to make your Monday brighter.  Enjoy! 

A school band was having problems with after and before school rehearsal attendance. Several students were absent each time. In fact, every student had missed at least a couple rehearsals, except for a diligent oboe player. The conductor decided to congratulate the oboe player for such faithful attendance, so at the dress rehearsal, he said to her, "Thank you for being on time to every rehearsal, unlike these other layabouts."

The girl responded, "It's the least I could do, since I can't be at the performances."

Time 4 Fun! (2)

Happy Monday!  We hope everyone had a great weekend.  As promised.. a little something to start your work week off with a smile.

Enjoy!

A receptionist who was being paid by the week approached her employer and held up her last paycheck. "This is two hundred dollars less than we agreed on," she said.

"I know," the employer said. "But last week I overpaid you two hundred dollars, and you never complained."

"Well, I don't mind an occasional mistake," the receptionist answered, "but when it gets to be a habit, I feel I have to call it to your attention."


Have a safe and productive day!

Collect • Track • Document • Deliver • Manage • Integrate

Learn more about AboutTime Technologies.

Is using GPS to track your employees ethical?

A customer called the other day completely flustered over a situation with one of her employees.  The employee had refused to enable GPS tracking on their iPhone stating that it was a "violation of their civil liberties."  Understanding that allowing a company to track your movements, from a personal device, could be disconcerting to some people, the customer bought a company iPad for the employee.  The employee still refused to allow GPS tracking. This time exclaiming that it was "unethical to track a person."   Needless to say, our customer was at a loss.  She wanted to know first if it was a violation of civil rights.   Secondly, was there some validity to his claim or did he just not want to be tracked?

Hmmmm…. An Interesting Question…. 

Time 4 Fun!

We hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend.   Time spent with family, friends and lots of food is time well spent.  

The first day back after a long weekend is always a busy work day.  So today enjoy a short-N-sweet post to brighten up your work week.  

A construction worker dies in a fishing accident on his 40^th birthday.  He finds himself greeted at the Pearly Gates by a brass band.  Saint Peter rushes over and shakes his hand, exclaiming proudly “CONGRATULATIONS!!!”

“Congratulations for what?” asks the construction worker. 

Saint Peter says, “We are celebrating the fact that you lived to be 160 years old.”

The construction worker responds, “but that’s not true, I only lived to be forty.”

“That’s impossible," says Saint Peter. .  .”we added up your time sheets!!!”