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Appear is helping construction companies and building
contractors move away from time-consuming paper-
based processes for documenting a project’s progress.
Originally developed for
large construction companies
as a replacement for paper-
based site diaries or site
journals, the Site Diary app is
now being adopted by smaller
construction companies,
sole traders and building
contractors for installation
and repair services.
Full, accurate records
documenting a project’s progress are essential in the case
of disputes or other issues requiring investigation, such as
health and safety or environmental incidents. This includes
the daily site diaries kept by contract engineers.
Site Diary simplifies and speeds up the collection of
accurate information through the use of drop-down menus
of pre-configured options chosen by the site manager or
project office. This enables a complete diary event to be
created and saved in less than 90 seconds, making it more
likely that an engineer will complete an entry on-time rather
than waiting several days or even weeks to do it, when they
may not be able to recall the information accurately.
Data collected, including weather conditions at the site on
the day of the report (recorded automatically) and photos,
are automatically backed up and stored securely in the cloud,
enabling collaboration between users on-site and in the
office. Project leaders can see who has and who hasn’t done
their diary for a given day.
Site Diary is being used by Costain as part of a mobility
strategy introduced, among other things, to reduce the
time that engineers and supervisors spend completing
tasks, to improve safety procedures and to drive down costs
associated with on-site paperwork.
As part of Costain’s implementation of the Appear
IQ8 mobile applications suite, Appear and the Costain
Group Innovations team modelled engineer and supervisor
workflows and designed a tablet-based Site Diary application
for the daily recording of all events that happen on-site. The
initial solution was delivered in less than three months and
has continued to evolve.
Tim Embley, Group Innovation & Knowledge Manager at
Costain, said: “Costain has a commitment to innovation and
the application of new technology and Appear IQ enables
us to explore how mobile and cloud technology can help
us improve our operations and deliver better service to our
clients. Following the deployment of the Appear site diary,
we have received a large number of internal requests for new
mobile applications, some of which will be rolled out in the
coming months.”
Digital site diary replaces
paper processes on
construction sites
Messaging app that gives back
The free Tengi Android and iOS app aims
to disrupt the messaging market by
sharing advertising revenue with its users.
Each week Tengi gives away 50% of its
takings in a prize draw for cash prizes of
£1,000, £25 or £5. If they prefer, winners
can donate their prize to Tengi’s charity
partner, the Heart of England Forest. App
features include text and multimedia
sharing, including the ability to group
chat with up to 100 friends at once. Tengi
says it doesn’t sell or give away users’
personal data to advertisers.
WhatsApp for Business
Mobile
messaging app
WhatsApp
is exploring
alternative
revenue sources
after recently
announcing
that it will no
longer charge
a subscription
fee, previously
set at 69p per
annum after
one-year’s free
usage.Wanting
to steer clear
of third-party
ads,WhatsApp is testing a B2C model
where companies pay for the ability to
communicate with their customers.
Announcing the change on its blog,
WhatsApp wrote: “Starting this year,
we will test tools that allow you to
useWhatsApp to communicate with
businesses and organizations that you
want to hear from. That could mean
communicating with your bank about
whether a recent transaction was
fraudulent, or with an airline about a
delayed flight.”
There is no information yet on how
muchWhatsApp might charge businesses
to join the commercial service.
Chris Moore, VP Chat Apps at Nexmo,
which provides APIs for businesses to
communicate with consumers over chat
apps, believes this is a logical move for
the company.
He said: “The 120 chat apps worldwide
all face the same problem: they possess
huge user bases and need to make
it easy for brands to integrate and
use their platforms, as they monetise
communications between customers
and brands. Other chat apps, for example
WeChat in Asia, are already pioneering
brand communications via their platform
and this is a model WhatsApp could learn
from. Nearly 80% of WeChat users follow
one of the 10 million official accounts
on the platform andWhatsApp will be
seeking to replicate this kind of lucrative
engagement.”
Print Instagram photos
Chatbooks is a new app that gathers
together photos spread across phones,
Instagram and Facebook feeds and
displays them in a photo book. Once you
have close to 60 photos in a book, you
receive a notification so that you can
review and edit the book by changing
captions and deleting or moving photos
before it goes to print. A 60-page book
costs $8, with the
option to upgrade
to a hardcover
for an additional
$5. Users can also
create custom
photo books with
30 to 366 photos.
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