Wellington tech creativity to end misplaced assets

9 February 2014

Wellington tech creativity means misplaced assets will be thing of the past

A Wellington-based tech company is transforming how organisations track their physical assets through a new app called WatchMyGear.

WatchMyGear is the brainchild of Abletech, a company that specialises in web and mobile application development. Its brand new app, launched on Friday February 7, is one of the finalists in the BNZ Startup Alley competition at Webstock 2014, which kicks off in the capital this week.

Abletech managing director Carl Penwarden says WatchMyGear allows businesses with mobile equipment to ditch their paper-based or spreadsheet-based asset tracking systems. Using an Android mobile app alongside a web app, WatchMyGear allows a company to track where their assets are, where they've been, and how long they've been there.

WatchMyGear uses QR Code stickers to uniquely identify each asset. When an asset is moved to a new location the QR Code is scanned using the WatchMyGear mobile app. WatchMyGearsends the asset’s GPS location in real time to the customer’s web-based dashboard,immediately updating their WatchMyGear Master Map and providing real-time analytics and reporting.

Mr Penwarden says initially WatchMyGear will be marketed to organisations such as hire and lease companies, medical supply firms, and construction and waste management businesses.

“For example, our research shows that many waste management companies are struggling to record where all their skips and bins are currently located and even whether skips have been delivered in the first place. There are also a number of construction companies currently in the dark about what mobile gear is at each project site. As a solution, WatchMyGear can provide instant, accurate information on where equipment was last scanned.”

Mr Penwarden says the idea for WatchMyGear arose after repeated client requests for customised, industry-specific asset tracking tools to replace outdated paper¬ or spreadsheet-based systems. Abletech discovered a few existing off-the-shelf tracking tools, but these were expensive and difficult to use.

‘So we decided it was time to put our skills to work.”

Six months later, Abletech is now talking to several nationwide companies interested in using WatchMyGear and one company has begun trialling the system. In the longer term, Abletech will look to market WatchMyGear in Australia, North America and Europe.

For more details on WatchMyGear, including a free trial, visit watchmygear.com.

ENDS

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