GPS/GIS in call centre cabs for traffic management

GPS/GIS in call centre cabs for traffic management
The Times of India

Bangalore: With transport woes worsening by the night for call centre employees, BPOs in the city have taken control of the gears... the ultra-tech way.

Worried that Bangalore may lose advantage as a BPO hub to new entrants like Gurgaon, the city call centres have begun sprucing up infrastructure in their transport sector. Cabs used for transporting employees are being fitted with GPS/GIS interface to track them. HR staff and transport managers are on consensus that this would save time for their employees.

Says Raghavendra Rao B.E., transport head, Sykes Enterprises Ltd, “GIS/GPS was used in the US to track goods vehicles. We are using it now to monitor the stated, recorded and actual time. Employees sometimes make vehicles stop mid-way for a smoke or a bite.

Also, at each employee’s house, cabs are not supposed to wait for more than 3-5 minutes. The GIS/GPS system will track the exact position of the vehicle, and if an executive is late, we can have a stand-by here.’’

The interface, a brick-sized device fitted in cabs, also sends out signals if the driver speeds beyond 60 kmph. Inspiration for the move came after hordes of late-coming executives pointed accusatory fingers at the transport system. Explains Ravi Ramu, CFO, MSource, “Co-ordinating vehicles for our 3,500 executives has always been logistically challenging. We now have a technology called Blue Pumpkin with which the whereabouts of the vehicle, say at 9.30 pm, is just up on my screen.’’

A BPO invests Rs 2,700 per person per month on transport. A 1000 plus workforce needs 125 cabs and 250 drivers. A manager at a multinational BPO, with an employee strength of 4,000, sees the device as tech-savvy city’s response to change and a way of managing the chaotic transport sector.

While ICICI OneSource and MSource have adopted the tracking system, AOL has gone a step further by ordering for Autorouters, which determine the most optimum route and trip pick-up sequence.

Otherwise, routing is done manually. AOL also has an automated trip-sheet generation.