All Entries Tagged With: "ActiveInk"

Virtual Keyboards for Active Ink Software

On the Active Ink Software Blog they are touting virtual keyboards that work with their products. While I never was a heavy user of virtual keyboards, all this virtual keyboard news of late is making we wish I had a touch screen enabled device lying around.

Automating a Service Call With a Tablet PC

Active Ink has put up a great video running through a full service call simulation on a Tablet PC.  Custom forms, drop downs, easy transfer are just some of the items shown in the video.  It’s a nice example of how field users can benefit from connectivity and a Tablet PC at the same time!

The Service Manager - Completing the Work Flow for Field Force

Tablet PC technology really begins to shine for businesses when it is coupled with software that helps to streamline work flow, which in turn, helps cash flow. That is what Active Ink Software’s Service Manager does by automating the process of work orders, communications with service technicians, and invoicing back in the home office. In short, it is a complete end-to-end solution for the field force office by integrating QuickBooks with form data capturing in the field.

The Service Manager incorporates the following features:

Business form templates.

Interoperability with QuickBooks® Accounting.

Connectivity with Microsoft’s Outlook.

Pen input, handwriting recognition and signature capture.

For more info on the The Service Manager, read the press release below, visit Active Ink’s website, and watch the video (WMV). The Service Manager is available for $999.

Active Ink Software, Inc. announced the general availability of The Service Manager, a tablet PC application for field service professionals.

The Service Manager automates the process of managing incoming service calls and emailing work orders to technicians in the field. The work orders are filled out on a tablet PC and forwarded back to the home office where an invoice is automatically generated. The whole process of dispatching service professionals, filling out work orders and generating invoices has been completed automated.

“The Service Manager when used with my tablet PC has enabled me to go completely paperless,” say John Adcock, owner of A&A Mechanical, an HVAC service company. “I’ve automated my entire billing process.”

John Hill, President of Allegiance Technology and an authorized reseller of the Service Manager says, “It is one of the best tablet PC applications that I have ever sold. It’s simple to use and addresses the needs of many of my business customers.”

The Service Manager incorporates the following features:

Business form templates.

Interoperability with QuickBooks® Accounting.

Connectivity with Microsoft’s Outlook.

Pen input, handwriting recognition and signature capture.

Capturing and Annotating Images Real Time

Businesses reap huge benefits when they are able to implement solutions like what Active Ink Software has demoed below. Using their form collection software and Motion Computing’s Semi-Rugged F5 Tablet PC, Active Ink captures images real time using the F5 integrated camera, annotates them, and sync them to the home office using the F5’s integrated WWAN. This is a great example of a software solution harnessing the power of the hardware to provide real value.

Active Ink: Tablet PC Sales Expectations Never Realized

Insightful comments from Active Ink Software, one of the early and leading ISVs in the Tablet PC space, on Tablet PCs, sales, developers, and Microsoft:

Any venture capitalists out there paying attention?

As a tablet PC software developer, I feel your pain. We created an electronic form data entry application for the tablet PC five years ago and continue to have a loyal customer base but our expectations regarding tablet PC sales have never been realized.

Steve Hoffman
Active Ink Software

Florida Environmental Health Department Inking It Up with Active Ink

Active Ink Software just let us know, through their blog, that the Florida Environmental Health Department has deployed up to 2,000 Tablet PCs with Active Ink form filling software to help them ensure that the places we all eat in are up to snuff. The implementation will take 12 - 18 months, but once complete, all of the inspection data will get synchronized live with the division’s master database.

Very cool! We don’t often get to hear about mass deployments like that. Great work, Active Ink!

Tablet PC Tech Being Used by Union Telecard

Steve Hoffman just posted about how Union Telecard, one the largest prepaid phone card distributors in the U.S., uses Tablet PC technology combined with Active Ink’s software to process contracts and sales.

Union Telecard, one of the largest distributors of prepaid phone cards in the United States, uses tablet PCs to manage their sales process.  When a sales person meets with a merchant that is interested in reselling Union Telecard’s phone cards, the Active Ink form is displayed on the tablet PC for the merchant to fill out.  When the contract is signed, the form is queued to a printer, where a copy is handed to the merchant and the master copy is emailed to headquarters for further processing.

If we could ever get a handle on the broad use that Tablet PC technology is having throughout the country, I think we’d be astonished. Check out Steve’s other article on how an auto body shop uses tablet pc technology to process their 36 point inspection program.

Where have you seen Tablet PC tech being used that caused you to do a double-take?

Active Ink Software Begins Offering 14-Day Trial Downloads

Up until today, Active Ink Software did not offer a publicly available download trial for their ink-enabled forms software.

Well, they have just launched a new 14-day trial download, giving everyone an opportunity to try out their excellent forms software before making a decision to buy. If you have not had the opportunity of trying Active Ink’s Form Design software, I’d encourage you to do so. We’ve done a couple of InkShows on their software already, which you can view here.

Great move, Active Ink!

Health Clinic to use Tablet PCs with Active Ink software

Another medical clinic has decided to go paperless! The University of Miami’s heart clinic has chosen Active Ink’s tablet PC solution to automate their entire patient check-in process from patient arrival to greeting the doctor.

In the work flow, the front desk clerk, the patient, and the doctor all use Tablet PCs with Active Ink software to enter in information on the patient’s state of health. You can see the sample form on the right. Active Ink does a lot of solutions for form fill-in and this looks like a textbook solution from them.

Active Ink Software Releases Professional Designer 6.0

Active Ink Software has released Professional Designer 6.0, which is forms designer software designed for the Tablet PC. I have been using the beta version for awhile now, and the improvements are quite good. Look for an InkShow on Active Ink in the next week or two. Learn more by reading the press release below and visiting Active Ink Software .

Laguna Niguel, CA August 29, 2007 - Active Ink Software has released version 6.0 of their Professional Form Design software. This new version improves handwriting recognition for use with Tablet PCs and integrates better with 3^rd party applications.

V.6 Product Features:

Windows Vista Support – Improved handwriting recognition through the use of Vista’s self-learning feature.

Data Sharing – Data can be shared with other form-based applications (web, contact manager, CRM).

Form Linkage – Forms can be linked together so that data from one form populates another.

Outlook Integration – Automatic updates to Microsoft’s Outlook Contact Manager.

Enhanced Database Support – Support for saving and retrieving data from Microsoft’s SQL Server database.

Data Merge – Data contained in a list can be merged with existing text content.

GPS Support – GPS satellite coordinates can be retrieved and entered on a form.

Document Management – Forms can be stored in file folders for easy access and viewing.

About Active Ink Software:

Active Ink Software is a leading developer of electronic form based software. Their form designer eliminates the need for paper forms by creating the digital equivalent. For more information, visit the company’s web site at http://www.activeinksoftware.com.

Tablet PC Functionality as a Standard Feature in Vista is a Good Thing

There was a lot of negative talk last year about Tablet PC features being morphed into Vista. A lot of folks worried that Tablet PC marketing and features would get pushed under the rug as a result, and we would never hear about tablet again. I’ve always been of the opinion that Tablet PC being a standard feature of Vista is a huge plus for the platform. There is tremendous value in having the tablet bits as a standard feature in Vista, especially as it relates to sharing documents created in ink with other non-Tablet PC users. This is a very important thing for businesses to keep in mind.

As an example, I’m in the beginning stages of prepping for an InkShow on Active Ink, a forms design tool for creating ink-enabled forms. I wanted to see if a non-Tablet PC could recognize the ink on a form that was created on a Tablet PC. So, I copied an ink form created on a Tablet PC over to the Vista based non-Tablet PC. I opened up the Active Ink software, and pressed Convert Ink to Text. It handled the conversion perfectly. It might be worth noting that the form was created by Active Ink’s Steve Hoffman on a Tablet PC running XP Tablet Edition.

I then decided to try this out with Journal. I created a Journal note with a Vista based Tablet PC and copied it over to a Vista based non-Tablet PC. I did a search for some text and also converted the ink to text on the non-Tablet PC. The non-Tablet PC found the text I was looking for and converted the ink to text perfectly.

So here is the value for a business with both non-Tablet PCs and Tablet PCs deployed: ink generated on Tablet PCs can be searched on and converted by non-Tablet PCs. As long as the non-Tablet PC has Vista installed, it will be a seamless issue. When a business is making a decision on whether to implement Tablet PC functionality, the decision maker can focus on just implementing Tablet PCs where ink collection is necessary. The cost of implementation goes down as a result. Tablet as a feature in Vista is good for business and good for document sharing.

Look for the InkShow on Active Ink Software in July.

Before: A form created with an XP based Tablet PC

After: The ink form converted to text on a Vista based non-Tablet PC

Filling Out Forms on Small Tablets and Touch

Steve Hoffman, of Active Ink Software, is posting some good insight in using forms based software with small tablet pcs, like the OQO, along with touch vs active digitizer tablets.

Good stuff, especially if you are considering using Tablet PCs to enter forms based information.

I’m curioous, when using forms based software, what size tablet pc is the best size? Is active a better experience over touch for filling out forms? Is there a particular vertical industry that goes one way vs another? Post your thoughts.

Tablet PCs, Active Ink, and Food Inspection

We are seeing more and more stories about vertical applications of Tablet PCs. The good folks at Active Ink passed this one along tooting their own horn and rightly so. The Spokane, Washington Health District has adopted Tablet PCs for their food inspection process. Of course they are using Active Ink’s software solution.

Check it out here.

KB Homes selects Active Ink Software

There are several people I really enjoying talking with in and around the Tablet PC space. Active Ink Software’s Steve Hoffman is one of those folks. I’ve known Steve for about 3 years and his enthusiasm for the tablet pc space is highly contagious.

He called me yesterday to tell me about a new customer that Active Ink Software has partnered with: new home builder KB Homes. KB Homes will be using Active Ink’s software in the field to manage customer service requests and communicating with the home office. If you have not tried out Active Ink’s form based software, head over there and take a look.

Here is the press release about Active Ink Software and KB Homes.

KB Homes, Inc., one of the leading home builders in the United States has selected Active Ink’s Tablet PC form filling software for use in their field operations. Field personnel will be utilizing the Tablet PC and Active Ink software for collecting information regarding the status of customer service requests and transmitting data back to the home office wirelessly.

Active Ink Software is a leading developer of tablet PC software. Their form design software eliminates paper forms by creating the digital equivalent. For more information, visit the company’s web site at www.activeinksoftware.com

Active Ink and Allegiance Technology Partners to show off Tablet PCs and forms software

It has been a busy weekend of news gathering - got this in from John Hill of Allegiance Technology Partners

Allegiance Technology (www.alltp.com) and Active Ink (www.activeinksoftware.com) are partnering to show off the latest Tablet PCs running electronic forms software in beautiful Orange County, California.

Steve Hoffman, VP of Active Ink and John Hill, CEO of Allegiance Technology will have a wide selection of the latest Tablet PCs for folks to see and touch. This event will be held on February 15^th from 1pm-5pm at the Hyatt Regency Orange County (http://orangecounty.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp).

This is a great opportunity to check out the latest from Motion, Tablet Kiosk, Fujitsu, Toshiba and Lenovo.

If you are in the Orange County area, I’d encourage you to stop by the Hyatt Regency (see above), and checkout these Tablet PCs and Active Ink Software’s forms automation software. Steve is great guy and, like John, a good friend of GottaBeMobile.com