The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Safety device to track call centre vehicles

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 15, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Safety device to track call centre vehicles

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: For over three months now, managements of call centres and business process outsourcing firms have been concerned about the safety of their employees, especially women, working in night shifts.

The question of having them picked for duty and dropped back safely after the shift ends, has kept many transport managers of these companies literally awake. Several kinds of safety devices have been tried out to keep track of the vehicles, mostly leased, which transport call centre staff. A new product that has just undergone trials cannot only track the movement of employees but also help transport managers plan the most logical and safe routes to reduce travel time, developers of the system claim.

Vice-President, Corporate Development of Proficio Geo Technoogies, Shashidhar Joshi said their product named, Pro-TMS, provides end-to-end solutions for planning vehicle routes, communication between vehicles and the company and tracking of vehicles.

The system was under research and development for two years but after the murder of a woman call centre employee in December, work was speeded up. The prototypes have been tested under actual conditions for three months now. Four BPOs are now using the Pro-TMS to streamline their staff transportation, he said.

The product works on geographical information system (GIS), the intranet and SMS platforms. It is designed to be connected to a route map which the transportation manager of a BPO firm can design and then keep tracking the movement of vehicles on their assigned routes and find out if there are any deviations. The driver can communicate to the company. The system allows transport managers to monitor the vehicles while preventing the taxi companies or drivers from tampering with the devices. By bringing down the cost, many travel companies may be able to use the product as well.

The Government recently brought changes to Section 25 of the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act with reference to transportation of women employees working in night shifts. These rules require the transport managers to plan routes, vehicles and their drivers at the beginning of each working week and share this information with the staff. The companies are required to track the movement of vehicles and be able to communicate with the drivers.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail