David Thornhill
David Thornhill
Mobile and Peripheral Specialist
David has worked in IT for all of his working life, from technical support to consultancy, to contractor and to department manager. He started to get involved with mobile technology nearly 20 years ago, when the smartest thing a phone could do was provide a modem link via a cable, or if you could get it to work, an infra-red connection to a PDA. Since then he has worked with most of the major hardware platforms in this area, along with the various operating systems they employed.
His experience with mobile operating systems got him a role with TNT, working on software distribution. Since then his varied experience has led to him becoming responsible for all peripheral hardware within TNT Express. This includes but is not limited to, industrial PDA type data capture devices, basic barcode readers, smartphones, tablet computers, thermal label printers, volumetric measuring and weighing equipment.
TNT Express has over 78,000 employees working out of 2,409 depots/hubs across over 200 countries. They run a fleet of 48 Aircraft and last year carried 7.7 million tonnes of freight made up of 231 million consignments.
In order to provide track and trace ability for the freight, TNT uses over 20,000 intelligent devices, as well as a very large number of "dumb", keyboard wedge type barcode scanners. These are used to provide real time updates when a consignment is collected, as it passes through the logistical network and at the point of delivery.
Closing Panel Discussion: Overcoming the Trials and Tribulations in Implementing Mobile Technology
This closing panel will bring together a cross industry selection of mobility leaders from global field service organisations, each with a unique perspective to bring to the topic of implementing technology for the mobile workforce.
Delegates will have the opportunity to put their questions to and interact with the expert panel, and will come away from the session with innovative, practical tips and takeaways to help improve their own mobility strategies.
Key themes to be discussed include:
- Which device functionalities are critical for field services implementation according to your specific business needs?
- Matching cost of entry with cost of support to guarantee a successful mobile deployment
- Bring Your Own Device: How to mitigate increased data security risk when allowing employees to use personal devices in the workplace
- Standardising Mobile Enterprise Application Platforms (MEAPs) to deliver reliable and secure data access across the enterprise
- Developing a robust change management strategy to ensure end users are engaged in the selection and deployment of mobile technology
Confirmed panellists include: