ANTenna Blog -- Mobile

Following on the heels of Google's release of Latitude, TeleNav says the new Vehicle Navigator for its Track solution is the business owner's answer to keeping tabs on employees.

TeleNav announced today the addition of TeleNav Vehicle Manager to its Mobile Resource Management series. With the goal of helping companies manage their fleet operations, reduce operating costs, and simplify regulatory compliance, Vehicle Manager combines vehicle diagnostics and IFTA Fuel Tax filing with GPS-enabled navigation, tracking, wireless forms, and wireless timecards.

TeleNav Track is mobile work-force management software that shows you where your employees are so that you can execute better customer service. Ravi Acharya, associate director of B2B marketing for TeleNav, explained to me that it's ideal if you're, say, a construction or field-services company or if you're servicing computers or laying pipe -- when a customer calls, you can find an employee to send over right away. "The person in the office can log onto a Web site and see exactly where his people are," he said.

Acharya labeled Google Latitude, which launched last week, as "more of a social-networking app. We've taken that concept and applied it to a B2B concept."

But what of the theory of Big Brother, of a company being too privy to its employees' status? "It's not Big Brother -- we've shown our customers the benefits of tracking," Acharya responded. He explained that tracking is actually a two-way street, since employees' timecards are automated, and tracking protects them.

TeleNav Vehicle Manager includes TeleNav Track Premium service and vehicle and operational diagnostics reporting. The service requires a one-time setup fee of $39.99 and then $49.99 per month per device. TeleNav Vehicle Manager is available on select Sprint phones.