Always a stable connection and never have to log in again unnecessarily

Employees who contact the IT help desk several times a day about a poor Internet connection are now a thing of the past.
Thanks to NetMotion’s solution, implemented by NetBoss at the Quality Control Bureau (KCB).
Employees can once again focus on performing inspections because the system “just does its job.

Dependence on ICT for the KCB The KCB is an inspection organization that performs controls on the import and export of fresh fruits and vegetables, cut flowers and potted plants.
Products are checked for quality and health based on established EU regulations.
With at least 120 field staff using mobile devices to perform their work, ICT plays a very important role for the KCB.
Some 200,000 inspections are carried out annually in response to inspection requests received at the four regional offices in the Netherlands.
After performing the checks at the border, the inspector is supposed to send the approved application via a tablet connected to the Internet.
If this last step in the concatenation of systems cannot be performed, the entire import or export fails and the process comes to a halt.
The result: unnecessary delays with dire consequences.

No import and export possible without stable connection A stable Internet connection is therefore of great importance for carrying out operations.
“Let that be exactly what was causing problems at KCB,” says Jac Kardolus, Project Manager ICT at KCB.
“The inspection depends on several systems that are linked together, with a human operation involved at the end of the chain. The approval is given by one of our employees and is sent via an application that connects to the servers. This requires an Internet connection,” Kardolus explains.
It happened frequently that the connection dropped, so the approval was not sent.
“This caused frustration and unnecessary delay to the tasks our inspectors have to perform,” Kardolus said.

“We no longer hear the employees, which is a very positive sign for us. Because of this, the implementation of NetMotion has not only affected field staff, but also the IT department can focus on their normal work again because the complaint pressure has decreased.”

Jac Kardolus | ICT project manager at KCB

Due to the loss of the connection, contact with the servers was lost and people sometimes had to log back into the system several times a day to still perform the inspection correctly.
As a result, the IT help desk was regularly faced with complaint phone calls from field staff.
Kardolus: “In some cases it even happened that the system had to be logged in several times per hour. This was the moment for us to start looking for an appropriate solution. Eventually, a partner pointed us to the possibilities of NetMotion Mobile Performance (MPM) Software.”

Tight planning for implementation

NetMotion is an expert in mobile connectivity and is able to provide a solution to the KCB’s problems.
NetMotion provides a seamless connection between the network and the mobile devices, and it prioritizes the most important application needed to perform certain work by using NetMotion Mobility.
Mobility behaves as a virtual layer over all the connection capabilities on the mobile device.
Where it takes on the task of managing this without the user noticing.
The solution easily switches between Wi-Fi and 3G/4G Internet and prevents a timeout of the applications used on the device when there is a momentary disconnection.
Once reconnected, the session will continue where it left off, without user intervention.
In this way, the connection is stabilized and optimized.
“Very quickly NetMotion’s service proved to be a good fit for our needs within KCB and the implementation of the software got underway,” Kardolus explains.
After a test on KCB’s servers, the implementation could be deployed to all field staff within a few days.
This was provided by NetBoss.
They provide consultancy, implementation and management of NetMotion’s solutions.
After about a fortnight, the implementation of the solution was settled with everyone.
“NetBoss had a tight schedule for the transfer per employee, and in the end they even managed to do it remotely, so inspectors only noticed it minimally,” says Kardolus.
“The software was immediately put to use and raised no questions among employees.”

Advantage for multiple departments

NetMotion’s technology means that logins are now only required at the beginning of the workday, and KCB employees have virtually stopped contacting the IT help desk for connection problems since the implementation.
“We don’t hear the employees anymore, which is a very positive sign for us,” Kardolus emphasizes.
As a result, the NetMotion implementation not only affects field service employees, but also allows the IT department to focus on their normal work again because the complaint pressure has decreased.
The field staff can now perform checks and give and send approvals without any problems.
This reduces workload and simplifies operations.
As a result, clearly less stress is felt on the shop floor.
Kardolus: “Finally a supplier that really delivers what it promises.”