Apple Computers has made a big success with their iPhone over the past few years and now, to build on that success, they are introducing it’s bigger cousin the iPad. These advanced, ultra-easy-to-use mobile devices are going to have a significant impact on the daily operations of large organizations, especially in the area of labor management. Their “location specific” features and extraordinary user interface (every function effortless to perform) breaks through many of the obstacles that have blocked the full adoption of computers in many large enterprises, and this translates into less paper and lower costs.

For example, let’s look at hospitals. Physicians and nurses have been adopting the iPhone at a rapid pace, and integrating it into their daily professional work. There is every reason to assume that the iPad will be even more popular because of its larger size.

Why is this important for labor management, timekeeping, scheduling, and even more important, for the reduction of paper in general? Well, consider the clipboard.

When you think of a doctor in a hospital, what do you picture that doctor carrying? A clipboard of course. It has been the indispensable tool of medical personnel for decades. Hospital operations require an extraordinary amount of paperwork, forms, charts, guide-books, reference manuals, charge sheets, and a thousand other documents. The functioning of the human body, and the vast array of diseases and treatments, form a complex and ever-changing mass of information which a typical hospital must manage

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Folks, it’s my last in a series of 3 blogs for the Green cause here at EliminatePaperTimecards.org. Maybe it’s a case of winter cabin-fever or just a punchy late night adventure – but I’ve chosen to have some fun with the topic of time and labor management systems and saving the trees.

Eliminating paper timecards is, after all, about more than saving trees –

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By Lisa Disselkamp

The Workforce Management Technology industry is hard to get your arms around. Even for those of us in this industry for many years. How much harder it must be for the employers who are faced with the responsibility of selecting both vendor and product for their organization.

We lack not only a common vocabulary, but also a standard definition of what workforce management systems are and what they do, as well as a clearly defined list of who the players are. The technology is advancing so rapidly that the language and topics change year to year. The landscape of vendors expands and contracts with acquisitions and offshoots keeping my contact list humming. The good news is that many of the best and brightest stick around – you just need to excel at networking and tracking. (Good thing Outlook has replaced the Rolodex or I’d be blogging about eliminating paper contact cards.)

The history and complexion of the vendors make interesting tales. Some have been around for years having their genesis around manufacturing the old mechanical time clocks and evolving into producers of sophisticated devices and the accompanying software.

Others are the step-child of purveyors of other products and services answering a call by their customers to “be all things” and adding on a time and labor management component to their suite of products.

Some are the brainchild of talented innovators who branched out on their own with new and exciting solutions using the latest platforms and technology or answering a discreet need in

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By Lisa Disselkamp

A new year, a fresh start. As you look back on 2009, is it a year you would repeat? January is a good time to make assessments. This year we have not only the passing of a year, but the dawn of a new decade. How far have you come in the past ten years? Where will you be in ten years from now?

Evolution – that’s the key. Everything changes over time but that’s not the same as evolving. You’re ten years older, your wardrobe has (hopefully) changed, your job may have changed, your systems have upgraded a few versions, and the competition for business is tougher. Everything is different, but is it getting any better? Development, growth, progress, adaptation, achievement – those are the elements of an evolution. One year, five years, ten years have passed, things appear differently…. but are they?

For anyone involved with technology and time and labor management specifically, the assessment requires an honest examination of how we use the technology. What approach do we take? Where are workforce management processes positioned within the organization? What can the system really do for the employer? What’s the intent – what are we trying to achieve and are we being successful?

Take this opportunity – in the privacy of your own office, within the confines of this electronic venue – to undertake a self-assessment and to be brutally honest with yourself about your organization, your technology, your processes and most especially your outcomes. No one will hear

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