Mobile Information Service Helps Council Engage With the Community
Company Size
1,000+
Region
- Pacific
Country
- Australia
Product
- blinkAnswers
- blinkForms
- HP TRIM
Tech Stack
- Microsoft SharePoint
- SQL Server
- Electronic Forms Design System
Implementation Scale
- Pilot projects
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
- Customer Satisfaction
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization
- Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems
Applicable Industries
- Cities & Municipalities
Applicable Functions
- Field Services
- Maintenance
Use Cases
- Remote Asset Management
- Remote Collaboration
- Remote Control
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
Wyong Shire Council is a local government area located in the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. Over the last 30 years, the area has transformed from a holiday haven to a region within daily commuting distance of Sydney, thanks to urban sprawl, a freeway, and faster public transport. This new mobility has changed the way residents access and interact with local services. The Council recognized the shift and aimed to build mobile channels into its communication strategy to better engage with the community. The Council employs a diverse workforce, including field workers such as Lifeguards, gardeners, electricians, and maintenance staff, who spend a significant amount of time on the road.
The Challenge
Wyong Shire Council faced the challenge of adapting to the changing ways residents accessed and interacted with local services. With many residents preferring to use mobile phones or computers for communication, the Council needed to integrate these mobile channels into its communication strategy. Additionally, many Council employees, such as those working on road works, as Lifeguards, gardeners, and maintenance staff, spent a significant amount of time in the field. The Council aimed to introduce a mobility solution that would allow field officers to remotely enter and upload data via mobile devices, eliminating the need for staff to return to Council premises to receive new data, file reports, or submit updated information. The Council also needed a solution that could integrate with its back-end systems, including Microsoft SharePoint and SQL Server databases, and ensure industrial-strength security.
The Solution
Wyong Shire Council partnered with OneBlink to implement a combined blinkAnswers and blinkForms development solution. This software enables organizations to create customized electronic forms that can be accessed, completed, and uploaded using any device with a browser. The application is hosted by Blink, which addresses security concerns by opening a firewall path for the Blink server into the enterprise's back-end systems. The solution does not require costly proprietary hardware and works on various common devices, including laptops, tablets, smartphones, and Blackberries. Both blinkAnswers and blinkForms are offered as a flat price annual service fee, allowing unlimited use without additional licensing costs. The Council conducted a three-month trial focused on the needs of its Lifeguards, equipping them with mobile devices to submit daily and incident reports via Blink. The software's offline mode ensured data was not lost in areas with poor reception. The trial was successful, and the Council plans to extend the use of blinkForms to other areas of its operations, such as tar patching, area maintenance, tree assessment, and swimming pool audits.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
Case Study missing?
Start adding your own!
Register with your work email and create a new case study profile for your business.
Related Case Studies.
Case Study
Turning A Stadium Into A Smart Building
Honeywell created what it called the “intelligent system” for the National Stadium in Beijing, China, turning the venue for the opening and closing events at the 2008 Summer Olympics into a “smart building.” Designed by highly controversial artist Ai Weiwei, the “Bird’s Nest” remains one of the most impressive feats of stadium architecture in the world. The 250,000 square meter structure housed more than 100,000 athletes and spectators at a time. To accommodate such capacity, China turned to Honeywell’s EBI Integrated Building Management System to create an integrated “intelligent system” for improved building security, safety and energy efficiency.
.png)
Case Study
Smart Street Light Network (Copenhagen)
Key stakeholders are taking a comprehensive approach to rethinking smart city innovation. City leaders have collaborated through partnerships involving government, research institutions and solution providers. The Copenhagen Solutions Lab is one of the leading organizations at the forefront of this movement. By bringing together manufacturers with municipal buyers, the Copenhagen Solutions Lab has catalyzed the development and deployment of next-generation smart city innovations. Copenhagen is leveraging this unique approach to accelerate the implementation of smart city solutions. One of the primary focus areas is LED street lighting.
Case Study
Buoy Status Monitoring with LoRa
The Netherlands are well-known for their inland waterways, canals, sluices and of course port activities. The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure indicates that there are thousands of buoys and fixed items in and near water environments that would profit from IoT monitoring. One of the problems with buoys for example, is that they get hit by ships and the anchor cable breaks. Without connectivity, it takes quite some time to find out that something has happened with that buoy. Not to mention the costs of renting a boat to go to the buoy to fix it. Another important issue, is that there is no real-time monitoring of the buoys at this moment. Only by physically visiting the object on the water, one gains insight in its status.
Case Study
China Mobile Smart Parking
Smart Parking, powered by NB-IoT technology, is making it easier for drivers to find free parking spots. Cities can better manage their parking assets and maximize the revenue available to them as a result. Drivers searching for parking create congestion and pollution by circling and hunting for available parking. Smart Parking services are able to significantly ease these problems by guiding a driver directly to a parking space.
Case Study
Barcelona Case Study
Barcelona’s heavy traffic and its associated high levels of pollution were the primary factors that motivated some companies and universities to work on strategies for improving traffic in the city centre. Bitcarrier is one of the technologies involved in the In4Mo Project, whose main objective is to develop the applications that form the core of smart mobility, one of the fundamental pillars of the smart city concept.
