Do your external users need a Microsoft Dynamics 365 or Power Platform license or not? What is an “external user?” The questions seem simple, but there are multiple points to consider.  Ben Vollmer, an industry veteran, provides practical insights to help you make an informed decision when defining your external user strategy.

Licensing Microsoft Business Applications to external users is a commonly misunderstood area of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Apps licensing guide. Ben Vollmer, along with Jakub Bajla and Eduard Kesely from Resco, brings some common sense to this topic by guiding you through the core concepts and providing real-life examples.

The term “external user” has been part of the Microsoft vocabulary for about 20 years. Despite its longevity, it’s often misunderstood.

External users are individuals who interact with a system but are not part of the organization that operates the system. Examples include customers accessing a portal to view their account information or caretakers accessing a relative’s medical records online.

The webinar starts by breaking down the terminology. Ben explains the difference between an external user and an outsourced user and explains what it means to be working “for you” or “on your behalf”.

Do your users need licenses? Important points to consider

Ben encourages viewers not to skip the details when considering whether a user can take advantage of external user access to Microsoft Business Applications or not. The details draw the fine line between being in-compliance and out-of-compliance with the Microsoft licensing guide. He suggests considering:

• Who owns the license? 
• What is the external user doing?
• Multiplexing
• Access to graphical user interface (GUI)
• License reassignment rights

Good news: Resco supports all scenarios

If you use Resco, you can rest assured our products offer options to make sure you stay compliant with the Microsoft licensing guide – no matter which group your users fall into.

Ben Vollmer is joined by Eduard Kesely, Resco Head of Product. Eduard describes the three types of projects you can build with our Mobile App Development Toolkit:

1. Anonymous External Users: These users access the app without authentication, receiving the same content universally. Typically this is for marketing purposes involving publicly available information. Setup involves creating a common user in the backend and customizing specific projects in Woodford which will be used for these types of users. (Usage scenario is for customers who need to access common information of the company)
2. External (Portal) Users: These users log in to access CRM content tailored for them. This setup requires defining a security role in CRM and using Woodford to configure the project with authentication entities and registration methods. (Usage scenario is for suppliers of the company who are not part of the company and directly do not contribute to the business of the company)
3. Standard User Project: A project for authenticated users, with unique content for each logged in user based on security role and permissions.  (Usage scenario is for contractors, seasonal workers, and sales representatives directly working on behalf of the company)

For in-depth information about Resco and external users, please visit our Wiki: https://docs.resco.net/wiki/External_users

To discuss your specific scenario, please contact Resco at sales@resco.net.

Ben Vollmer, Strategic Advisor at Resco

With a distinguished 16-year career at Microsoft, Ben held several leadership positions within the Dynamics 365 business unit. His extensive background spans consulting, sales, product development, and product management, covering a diverse range of industries and markets. Ben is recognized as an industry veteran, known for his pragmatic approach to solving complex business challenges.

Príspevok External users demystified [takeaways from a webinar with Ben Vollmer] zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Secure your spot to view presentations, engage in discussions, and join our mission to make enterprise development both profitable and sustainable.

Keynote: Productivity unleashed 

Resco CEO Andrew Lorraine and April Dunnam, Principal Cloud Advocate for the Power Platform, will kick off Resco Next with a keynote on this year’s theme: Productivity unleased.  

The rapid pace of technological change is dramatically impacting business and IT. The result is a radical shift in how we think about productivity – from implementations, development, and billable hours to partnerships, no-code, and results. 

Join us to learn how we are addressing these challenges and supporting our partners and customers by expanding our alliance with Microsoft. We’re delivering new products across the Power Platform in addition to continued investments in our flagship Resco Mobile product. 

Roadmap: Key product achievements and future focus 

Eduard Kesely, Head of Product, and Tomas Michalek, CTO, will join forces to present our roadmap from both a product and technical perspective. 

Since the last Resco Next in October, we have made significant advancements in UX/UI, productivity, and AI integrations. Now, we are laying the groundwork for future innovations in enterprise mobility and productivity solutions.

We will reveal our roadmap plans, which aim to make our flagship functionality more interoperable, enhance productivity with Power Components and shine a spotlight on our renowned mobile app. 

Mobile App Development Toolkit: Breakthrough in sync 

Organizations with a frontline workforce need an app that guarantees speed and responsiveness under any conditions. Our Mobile App Development Toolkit allows for building enterprise mobile apps on Dynamics 365, Power Platform and Dataverse with an offline mode, thanks to a sync engine that keeps data accessible on the go.

Watch our software developer, Matej Vanik, as he introduces a new generation of our sync engine, designed for even faster and more seamless data synchronization. Explore the pros and cons of connecting via WebAPI versus the new TDS endpoint, shedding light on the effectiveness of each approach. 

Mobile Solutions: built for industry verticals and use cases

The Resco Mobile App Development Toolkit is utilized not only for building complex mobile applications for individual clients but also across entire industry verticals. We are taking this approach a step further, giving you an edge when deploying solutions for specific industries. 

Join Trevor Metcalfe, Marketing Manager, as he demonstrates how our new approach empowers you to create industry vertical and use-case specific solutions. Experience our latest innovation in action, with a walkthrough of Resco Inspections+ Property solution by Dusan Polach, Consultant. 

Power Components: Unleashing productivity on Power Platform

At last year’s Resco Next, we sparked considerable interest with the launch of our new Power Solutions. This year, we are taking productivity on Power Platform a step further with Power Components.  

Resco Power Components for the Power Platform are designed to empower app creators—consultants, developers, and solution architects—who craft both model-driven and canvas business apps for their clients. These components expand their toolkit and simplify no-code app development, making it faster and more efficient.

Join Ben Vollmer, Strategic Advisor, and Michal Magnusek, Senior Product Manager, as they unveil first batch of Power Components. Discover how these components can speed up project delivery, save costs on developer hours and custom coding, and guarantee security, quality, and future compatibility of code.

Interested in taking part? There is still time to book your spot. Registrations close on May 23 — don’t miss out.  Contact your Business Development Manager or our team at events@resco.net to claim your spot. 

Príspevok What’s new in our product portfolio and how can it benefit your business? Come and see at Resco Next  zobrazený najskôr Resco.

1. Automated document generation improves operational efficiency 

With findings from a Zapier study highlighting that a significant portion of workers spend hours daily on data-related tasks, the whitepaper underscores the critical need for document automation. By adopting automated document generation, organizations can save resources, minimize errors, and enhance productivity. 

2. Analysis of Microsoft and third-party tools 

The paper presents a guideline for using Microsoft’s native tools versus third-party solutions for document generation. While Microsoft tools offer the advantage of having one supplier, potentially reducing compatibility issues, they may lack the specialization and ease of use provided by third-party solutions specifically designed for document automation on Power Platform. 

3. Advantages of third-party add-ons 

Third-party add-ons bring customization, advanced features, scalability, rapid deployment, and dedicated support to the table. These solutions are built to address the evolving and complex needs of businesses, providing advanced functionalities that enhance Microsoft’s native options. 

4. Key considerations when choosing a solution  

The whitepaper emphasizes the importance of considering factors such as the procurement process, data storage and handling, additional data management costs, and potential performance issues when selecting a document generation solution. These considerations are vital for aligning with regulatory requirements, ensuring cost-effectiveness, and achieving desired operational efficiencies. 

5. Highlight on Resco Docs+ 

Among the third-party solutions, Resco Docs+ stands out for its integrated Document designer, offering a no-code, point-and-click environment for template creation. Its performance, ease of use, and mobile application compatibility make it an ideal choice for organizations seeking reliable and complex document generation capabilities. 

In conclusion, the whitepaper serves as a comprehensive guide for organizations navigating the complexities of document generation on the Power Platform. By evaluating the pros and cons of Microsoft and third-party tools and considering essential selection criteria, businesses can make informed decisions that will aid them in their document automation efforts. 

Download the whitepaper

Príspevok Document generation in Microsoft Power Platform [5 key takeaways from the latest whitepaper]   zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Learn hands-on how to build mobile apps for field workers using Resco and Power Platform. We will guide you through installing, customizing, deploying, and improving the solution and measuring the impact in a series of three 1-hour on-demand webinars with live Q&A sessions. 

In this workshop centered around a common business case, our Success team will guide you through the journey of a fictional company Z.A.P. Energy Cleaning.  

Z.A.P. Energy Cleaning uses Microsoft Dynamics 365 as its CRM. However, it has digitization requirements that go beyond a CRM solution and they’re looking for a way to grow on Power Platform. 

Through the Z.A.P. Energy Cleaning story, we will show you how you can use the same Resco tools you know and love for CRM on Power Platform to cover a wide range of business challenges. 

Our Success team will demonstrate: 

• Setting up Resco Inspections+ for non-CRM use cases 
• Building a solution for performing health & safety procedures and vehicle inspections, using templates and adjusting them to fit the use case 
• Measuring the impact of the collected data with Fabric and Power BI   

Z.A.P. Energy Cleaning is a fictional industrial cleaning leader with 80% of their workforce serving outside the office in roles such as drivers and inspectors. The company wants to consolidate multiple point solutions and pen-and-paper processes for health & safety and vehicle inspections into one business application with a strong long-term perspective. 

After completing the training, attendees will have a solid grasp of how to rapidly deploy an end-to-end mobile solution using Resco and Power Platform that helps make their non-CRM teams more productive in the field. 

Day 1: Setting up the mobile app  

Get to know the business case of Z.A.P. Energy Cleaning, a fictional industrial cleaning leader with a need to digitize non-CRM processes and teams. 

• Intro to Resco on Power Platform and the business challenge 
• Showcase of the final solution with screenshots and solution architecture 
• Setting up Resco Inspections+ for Power Platform 
• Setup of Resco mobile app  

Presenters: Nicholas Boxall, Knowledge Specialist, and Lukas Lesko, Support and Education Manager 

Duration: 1 hour (including Q&A) 

Day 2: Inspections solution low-code customization 

Dive deep into the process of customizing Resco Inspections+ through the lens of the Z.A.P. Energy Cleaning business case, see the mobile app in action, and discover how the solution achieves the business requirements. 

• Creating Health and Safety Assessment and Vehicle Inspections 
• Using advanced features: data mapping, OCR, tagged images 
• Showcase of scheduling and timesheets 
• Customizing the solution, including setting up rules 
• Backend work with Inspections data 

Presenters: Marek Ferenc, IT Support Specialist, and Lukas Lesko, Support and Education Manager 

Duration: 1 hour (including Q&A) 

Day 3: Fabric integration and data visualization in Power BI 

Join us for the final part of the Power Platform Masterclass, where we bring the data story full circle. In this session, we’ll delve into the data collected by Z.A.P. Energy Cleaning, through questionnaires discussed in our previous session. We’ll demonstrate the end-to-end process of data handling – from offloading and optimizing storage in Fabric to generating insights in Power BI.  

We will discuss the potential future impact of Fabric, including the cost of data storage and the possibility of reducing the data footprint. Then, we will look at the data processing in Notebooks and finally build a simple report. We will cover: 

• Best practices for working with big data 
• Using Fabric to prepare the data for analysis 
• Building a report with Power BI 

Presenters: Marek Rodak, Knowledge Specialist, and Matej Vanik, Developer 

Duration: 1 hour (including Q&A) 

Príspevok Build end-to-end mobile business solutions faster with Power Platform and Resco [short summary from a masterclass webinar] zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Resco Docs+ is a solution natively integrated in Power Apps that allows you to design your template and choose what data to add. It uses a Power Automate connector to automate the creation, sending, and saving of your documents.

Resco Docs+ is fully integrated in Power Platform. This opens the door for you to use all the tools the low-code platform offers, including the latest innovations.

Design your document

First, you need to choose what document you want to create and how it will look.

Resco Docs+ makes it easy to turn your idea into reality with an intuitive drag-and-drop designer.

You can design your document using a header block, a footer block, and grid blocks. Grids ensure that your data won’t overflow and your layout won’t break down. It will stay exactly as you intended. We call this pixel-perfect design.

Choose what data to use

Choose from a list of fields and variables and simply drag them to the document.

Add data from Microsoft Dataverse/Dynamics365 or those collected in the field. Use data from related and unrelated tables.

Take advantage of the rules engine to show or hide parts of the document.

The no-code system makes it easy for all business users to make changes. More complex requests from partners and skilled users can be satisfied with advanced tools.

Automate document generation, sending, and saving

When you are done with the design stage, use Docs+ to generate your document.

For this, you can use a Power Automate workflow. The Resco Report Connector fetches the document template, fills it in with up-to-date data, and generates a document in your preferred format automatically.

Power Automate also lets you set up what will happen with the document. You can either save it on your SharePoint or send it via email.

Need to schedule documents in advance? You can choose when the document will be created. For example, a monthly report can be automatically generated and sent to the stakeholders once a month. A service report can be stored on SharePoint and sent to a customer when the field technician finishes collecting data and hits a dedicated button. And an invoice can be automatically generated when an order lands.

How to try Resco Docs+?

Resco Docs+ works in a Power Platform environment. To use it, you need an appropriate Power App and Power Automate license, along with Resco Docs+ license.

Learn more on Resco Docs+ landing page and read detailed guidance on Resco Docs+ wiki.

Start a free trial and download the two solution packages from our website. Add these packages to your Power App project, and you are ready to go.

Start free trial

Príspevok Improve your business processes with Resco Docs+ on Power Platform zobrazený najskôr Resco.

In this article, we will delve into:

Understanding Power Platform, the democratization of app development

The Microsoft Power Platform is a low-code / no-code platform designed to simplify the application development process.

It makes digital transformation accessible to both tech professionals and business users. By enabling app development without coding, more people can be engaged in transforming their business in less time. This opens a world of new opportunities: any member of an organization can come up with an idea, develop it, and integrate it seamlessly with the existing framework.

How Resco Power Solutions enhance the Power Platform

The best suggestions for digitizing workflows can come from anywhere, not just the front office. They often come from the frontline, where business meets the world.

Frontline workers, always on the move, require efficient tools regardless of where they are: on the rooftop, in the basement or on the outskirts. They can’t afford to use tools that don’t align with their daily tasks. Simply put, workflows need to be tailored to fit their operations.

This is where Resco comes into play.

Resco is the product of 20+ years of experience, accumulating decades of frontline know-how and turning it into software solutions attuned to the needs of mobile workers.

And now, we are bringing the best of it to Power Platform.

Watch Trevor Metcalfe, Resco’s marketing manager for North America, deliver the news live from the Microsoft Power Platform Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada

As a seasoned ISV partner of Microsoft, Resco is built to natively fit Microsoft Business Applications portfolio – whether with Dynamics, Power Platform, or Business Central.

By using our solutions, businesses can satisfy the needs of their frontline workforce quicker, at a lower cost, and make their projects easy to maintain.

Exploring Resco Forms+, Docs+, and Steps+

We proudly present three inter-compatible solutions for Power Platform. Designed as modular building blocks, you can just reach out and use them whenever needed.

Resco Forms+ enables frontline personnel to collect data – from conducting surveys, audits, and inspections, to using guided workflows, to getting customer signatures. Everything can be done seamlessly within Power Apps and Power Pages. You can use simple drag-and-drop tools to make the form align with the needs of frontline workers. This maximizes user adoption, which in turn means higher data quality.

Resco Docs+  combines Dataverse and field data to automatically create invoices, contracts, and reports in PDF or any format you choose. Users can design pixel-perfect document templates in a drag-and-drop editor and use Power Automate to build flows for automatic document creation, data population, and distribution.

Resco Steps+ allows businesses to share knowledge in a simple, accessible form. You can create step-by-step instruction guides with text, images, and videos to prevent errors and speed up onboarding, making them available exactly when and where frontline workers need them.  

Why choose Resco Power Solutions

Let’s look in more detail at how the new solutions can cut your costs, reduce maintenance and pave the way for the future.

Watch Marek Sitar, Resco’s Product Marketing Manager, explain how Resco Solutions for Power Platform work

Use the advantages of Power Platform and the ISV community

Building in the Power Platform ecosystem means you can count on its longevity in futureproofing your projects.

The partner community is one of the biggest competitive advantages of Microsoft, providing a smart solution to almost any of your challenges.

Leverage native integration

With Resco, you can leverage Microsoft licenses and connect through Active Directory. Resco is not only natively integrated with Microsoft architecture but is also a part of the ecosystem it enhances.

Ready-made solution thanks to our focus on customers

Customers have always been our singular focus. Thanks to countless conversations with organizations that rely on hundreds of frontline workers, we know what the industry needs and have designed ready-made solutions for pressing problems.

We implemented the insights of clients working in the most demanding conditions and armed our solutions with advanced features to cater to their needs. Even if you won’t need every feature from the onset, you can take advantage of them as your company grows. Need new features? Deploy them instantly without any additional costs.

Cut time to market and cost to market, increase ROI

Having a ready-to-go, scalable solution means you don’t have to invest your time and resources in building. You can simply start using it.

When using Resco Power Solutions, you can get prototypes ready for testing within weeks, not quarters. This reduces your time-to-market, and consecutively cost-to-market, over a solution built from scratch.

By using fewer resources, your initial threshold for calculating ROI (return on investment) is lower.

Simplify Maintenance

Implement stakeholder suggestions without discarding your existing code. You can even re-use parts of your projects. Not having to maintain custom code lowers the cost of maintaining your whole project and the risks that come with it.

Use the offline mode of Resco mobile app on Power Platform

Resco is well-known for its mobile app with full offline mode. With an advanced sync engine, it is the mobile app of choice for businesses in the most demanding industries.

When offline is needed, you can always use the Resco Mobile App on top of your Power App license. Your users benefit from our offline-first architecture to avoid increased internet traffic/consumption, latency due to shaky reception (even in urban areas), or even shortened battery life.

If you want to learn more, you can visit the Power Solutions landing page, or watch a recording from our Power Platform masterclass webinar.

Príspevok What are the new Resco Power Solutions? zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Bluetooth beacons are unassuming small devices. When they are paired with business applications, their real potential starts to shine. Read how this powerful duo, ALIS, can improve operations across diverse environments, from supermarkets to nuclear power plants. 

ALIS, our new asset localization and identification system, leverages Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology. Developed within resco.Labs, ALIS is designed to guide field workers and help them execute their work orders. 

The beacons have been tested at multiple sites. Read the anonymized use cases based on real-life scenarios that highlight their versatility and underscore their capacity to add value across various environments.

 Use case #1: Supermarket 

At a supermarket chain, everything needs to be streamlined. Our daughter company, Nivy Watch, deployed a system for managing tasks and activities of employees using a smartwatch and Bluetooth beacons. This integration allows management to use real-time data to ensure resources are used efficiently.  

The project started with placing beacons and handing out the watches to employees.  

Soon it was revealed that the employees were spending a lot of time at the machine for recycling bottles. Instead of doing their jobs, they tended to a machine that often malfunctioned. It became apparent it needed to be replaced. 

Also, employees spent significant time checking the fridge and freezer temperature. The cooling devices must go through regular checks to ensure the temperature levels are correctly set and the contents are kept within defined food-safe limits. 

Thanks to placing a beacon with a temperature sensor into each cooling device, temperature levels are automatically monitored 24 hours a day. Possible accidents have been minimized to almost zero.   

When a cooling device requires a service check, the beacon paired with inspections software not only directs the technician to its precise location but also provides access to the necessary documentation. 

By using the Nivy Watch system and the beacons, supermarket management could identify multiple weak spots, identify opportunities for automating processes, and save time and resources. 

Use case #2: Nuclear power plant 

We were involved in talks about improving the operations of all kinds of premises. One of them was a nuclear power plant.  

Initially, the assignment was to improve security. Service members are supposed to perform a security check on the same circuit every hour. They must document their presence at several checkpoints to ensure everything runs smoothly.  

In the past, they scanned a QR code at each checkpoint. Unfortunately, this system can be sidestepped by taking pictures of the QR codes, printing them out, and scanning them, pretending you are the serviceman on patrol.  

Using the beacons can significantly improve security because the designated person needs to be physically present at the asset to log the checkpoint into the system. If someone attempts to remove or tamper with the beacon, its sensor can pick up suspicious activity and notify the manager. 

While solving the security problem, we encountered other situations where beacons might be helpful. The equipment at a nuclear power plant must undergo many regulatory checks, and external contractors often perform these.   

When the contractor comes to the premises, she must find her way in labyrinthine corridors and shafts spanning multiple floors. She relies on employees to show her the way, but the environment can get very noisy, and sometimes there is no one around to give directions. 

If there is a beacon at an asset, say, a turbine, the contractor can easily find her way to it. It helps her make sure she is inspecting the right asset and has the documentation at hand. In a plant with thousands of assets, this might save a significant amount of time.  

Many of the assets need continuous monitoring of moisture, vibrations, CO2 levels, etc. Workers read the values, write them down, and enter them into the system. This ensures people working at the plant are safe and assured everything works as supposed, and it also cuts downtime. With the beacons, much of the monitoring can be done automatically. 

It is remarkable how simple Bluetooth beacons with the right software can improve the functioning of a highly complex system. 

Order an ALIS developer kit 

Do you have an idea about a similar use case? You can order an ALIS developer kit.

Try the beacons in real-life scenarios. We will be glad to help you develop a solution to your problem or the problem of your clients. 

Príspevok ALIS at a nuclear power plant: use cases for the Resco asset localization and identification system  zobrazený najskôr Resco.

With the date coming closer, it is our pleasure to announce that we will hold our fifth annual Resco Partner Awards in Marbella. 

Awards are an excellent opportunity for Resco to recognize partners that deliver outstanding business results and customer experience, innovate work processes, and transform their customer’s businesses.  

This year, we are celebrating three categories: 

• Partner of the Year 
• Breakthrough Partner of the Year 
• Business Impact of the Year 

You can apply for the Business Impact of the Year award. Don’t miss out; entries are open until September 30^th. 

This award is an opportunity for every partner to tell their customer success story, regardless of the country your company is based in, your size, or the length of our partnership. 

It brings you greater visibility and recognition on top of receiving two complimentary passes for the resco.NEXT 2024 conference, in market development funds and other benefits. 

If you are interested in finding out how to apply, read on. 

A closer look at the Business Impact of the Year award 

Any customer project that showcases how you used Resco to build solutions and made a real impact, delivering meaningful and sustainable changes, is a suitable candidate for this award. We are seeking such projects that have demonstrated creative problem-solving and leadership, not only successful technical implementation. Project creativity, strong business practices, and innovation are also factors to be considered. 

The award was created to celebrate partners that have empowered their customers and strengthened partnerships between them and their clients. 

Criteria: 

• Measurable (e.g., time saved; increase in clients revenue, number of customers visited, presentations made; decreased sync time, etc.) 
• Qualitative (proven by a customer testimonial or quote, e.g., improved collaboration among teams, increased data quality, increased worker satisfaction, etc.) 
• Project size: number of users using Resco in the client’s organization 

The most valuable entries are those that include as much detail and are ideally backed up by customer testimony. Metrics, numbers, and statistics are all vital. You need facts to describe the challenge specifically and show how you improved a client’s business. Tell your story and tell it well. And please make sure that the customer is okay with you sharing this information. 

Submit your application for Business Impact of the Year by September 30^th at this link: https://forms.office.com/e/0KFr1PspPC

The winner will be featured in follow-up press releases, blogs, and other marketing activities and will receive a marketing kit (award logos, press template, designation badge, photos & video, etc.), so they can promote their accomplishment. 

The winner will be publicly announced on October 24, 2023, during the Resco Partner Awards ceremony at resco.NEXT 2023 conference in Marbella, Spain. 

We’re looking forward to receiving your entries!

Príspevok Call to partners: Apply for the Resco Business Impact of the Year Award  zobrazený najskôr Resco.

You don’t have time to waste when you use a mobile app for work. You need it to be accessible and well usable. Adela Halmo, a UX researcher at Resco, explains how we address our users’ needs, from the initial research interviews to the implementation stage.

At Resco, our focus is on providing software solutions for frontline workers. Can you explain why UI/UX is important for them?

Frontline workers operate in the field without the convenience of a fully equipped office. They are constantly on the move and often under time pressure. These people need to concentrate on delivering high-quality work they are experts at.

We don’t want to burden them with complicated work apps. Our goal is to make them intuitive.

The Resco Mobile App Development Toolkit works very well from a technical point of view. We have a top-notch offline mode and customizable synchronization. We strive to make all of this as user-friendly as possible for frontline workers.

Why is usability so crucial?

When an app is usable, it is easy for the workers to figure it out. They don’t require extensive training or support.

Using their work app should leave them satisfied and self-confident. They shouldn’t feel frustrated, as that could negatively impact their interactions with customers.

How does the UX/UI of mobile apps differ from desktop apps?

Mobile devices are ubiquitous. People rely on them as their primary devices for accomplishing tasks. For deskless workers, they are clearly the most practical devices in the field. They can’t imagine running around and doing their job with any other device.

My colleagues who worked at Resco two decades ago foresaw this trend and couldn’t ignore it. They adapted desktop applications for use on mobile devices. Supporting frontline workers is not new to us.

Thanks to our extensive experience, we know that mobile applications have different standards compared to desktop apps. Most importantly, mobile apps require users to navigate efficiently and quickly, even with gestures. With larger screen space, desktops can display more information. Mobile app interfaces often prioritize essential information and use responsive design techniques. Mobile apps are typically designed to adhere to specific platform UI guidelines and conventions, ensuring consistency with other native apps on the platform and providing a familiar user experience.

How does this translate to the user interfaces of mobile devices?

Let’s emphasize the usability concept once again: making the apps user-friendly is crucial so that anyone can work with them.

When discussing field service, our users work in challenging conditions. They often wear gloves or work in harsh sunlight. Therefore, the apps need high contrast, large touch targets, and so on. Workers should not struggle to tap exactly where they intend to. They need to have their apps in their hands and have complete control over gestures that help them accomplish their tasks.

Speed is paramount in the field. Everything must be designed to allow workers to operate their apps quickly.

Resco has been in the market for 24 years. During this time, user interfaces and the entire experience of using technology have evolved. How do user requirements change?

Users want their apps to be as simple as possible. In the past, there was a focus on creating visually appealing interfaces with shadows and gradients. However, nowadays, fewer people prioritize aesthetics. The primary expectation is for apps to be easy to navigate.

Additionally, users prefer having everything in one place, so they don’t have to use multiple apps. That’s why they can take pictures directly in Inspections+, use a QR scanner, or write notes.

When field users encounter a problem, they want to avoid calling colleagues or rummaging through Sharepoint. They can access Steps+, which provide all the necessary documentation directly from their apps.

You work as a UX researcher. How do you get to know the user’s needs?

To be honest, UX research is quite challenging in B2B.

While reaching people who use desktop tools is relatively easy and allows for direct implementation of their requirements, reaching mobile users is more complex. Typically, there are implementation partners and managers involved. However, this research is highly valuable as the ultimate goal for a UI/UX researcher at Resco is to see frontline workers using the application.

Apps created with the Mobile App Development Toolkit cover many scenarios. They are not single-purpose apps that everyone uses more or less equally – like social networks. With each case being unique, user requirements are very diverse. It’s fascinating to us.

We try to cover as many scenarios as possible in our research. On top of it, we are always thankful for customer feedback. If you communicate with your frontline users, everything they say is relevant to us. It is the most valuable feedback we can get. If you want to share it directly with me, you can reach me at adela.halmo@resco.net

Most importantly, all our users are united by the fact that they want to work quickly and simply. We try to follow that.

What are the methods of UX research in Resco?

We ask a lot of questions. We perform user interviews, either exploratory or focused on a specific topic. Before we even get to the topic of Resco, we ask our users about their work, their scenarios, division of tasks.

We ask them what they want to achieve with our tools, what they enable them to do, and what we can improve.

These are not feedback loops but rather deep conversations about how they feel when they use our app, how they relate to it, or whether they are comfortable with it.

We also interview the admins that use our web tools to build and customize apps for frontline workers.

When we have new ideas for improving our applications, a UI designer and a UX designer develop a prototype. It all starts with a wireframe. UX design takes place in the Miro application, and UI design in Figma. We play with how everything should look so the design is consistent with everything we offer. We are striving to make everything look as simple and standard as possible.

We cooperate with the developers early in the UX design phase. We must ensure all the features we creatively design fit into our code and the data model.

Throughout the whole process, we are in touch with product managers. They are in charge of the product on a broader scale and evaluate the impact of the new features.

Then we test our prototype for usability. Basically, we watch how people react to it. During usability tests, we don’t ask questions. We observe users as they perform tasks and record their immediate reactions. We want to see how the prototype is worked with, where there are pain points, and if we can improve the prototype immediately in the next iteration.

After the usability testing, the features are coded and offered for preview. With our new release cycle, we have a preview each month. We encourage everyone to try it right away and give us immediate feedback.

The partner or customer must know what was done and how they can set it up. We provide documentation on our wiki.

What have you been working on recently? Is there anything you are especially proud of? Why is it important for the users?

We are redesigning forms. You can imagine a form as a detail of one record: for example, a screen with the name of the company and all the details about it.

Forms are an app component that every user works with every day. We analyzed how they are currently coded and how they should look according to the design system. We are making them more straightforward to interact with.

I would also like to point out our work on data mapping. Data mapping gives field workers, managers, and consultants an easy way to update existing records in a database directly from a questionnaire. They can also create new records or populate their questionnaires with data from the database. The update makes it easy to set up data mapping without coding using a simple wizard. A big part was released in January, and soon we will release more.

What else are you up to? Are there any exciting projects in your pipeline that you can already share?

I mentioned redesigning the forms. Admin users put the forms together in Woodford’s Form Designer, which has already got a significant UX change, and we plan to continue it. We want the people designing forms to do as little work as possible. We want to come up with useful defaults. And when the designers decide to change something, they will know exactly what they are changing in the application to prevent them from accidentally setting things they do not want. Also, there is a rather big conceptual switch between how we looked at the Style editor until now and what it will enable in the future.

One area we are focusing on is the color in the Theme editor. Until now, users could set any colors they wanted. They could have accidentally produced a colorful app that didn’t follow accessibility standards.

Of course, we want to accommodate customers who have their branding colors. They can choose one color, and we will recolor the entire app for them.

With this change comes the possibility of having a dark mode.

What are the trends in the UI/UX industry that shape your priorities?

We are implementing Material Design. It is an open-source design system from Google that standardizes every single component in mobile applications. As I see it, even Microsoft’s design system is largely influenced by Material Design.

We want the users that come into contact with our apps to experience the least possible shock.

We are also influenced by trends in features. AI is a big trend; of course, it is starting to be addressed in customer feature requests. We already took part in implementing AI in creating work instructions and automating inspection summaries, and there is more to come.

Discover the Mobile App Development Toolkit

Príspevok UX researcher: Frontline workers require their apps to be straightforward zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Modern fish farming is a high-tech industry. Technology helps with feeding procedures, visualization of important events, and automation. A well-managed environment contributes towards the welfare of the fish.

From pen and paper to a robust software solution

ScaleAQ has been on the market for 40 years and started out using pen and paper.

The company owns a lot of internal equipment – forklifts, welding machines, etc. These assets need weekly or monthly service. As you can imagine, paper documents sometimes got damaged or even disappeared.

Christian Våge, Team Lead Electro/Automation, ScaleAQ, explains that they started to inspect their assets in 2017 with the help of Resco.
“We quickly saw the benefit and added customer equipment as well,” says Mr. Våge.

Inspecting the fish pens

Now they use Resco Field Service+ along with Inspections+ to inspect the fish pens too. Field engineers sail in small boats and fill in the inspection forms directly at sea. Resco Field Service+ mobile app, fully integrated with Dynamics 365, allows field engineers to work on any device, even with low or no internet connection.

A lot of maintenance work needs to be done on each recurring inspection. Sometimes the inspection is not finished in one go, and the engineers need to make a second visit. There can be different people on each visit. Information needs to be passed on.

Resco Inspections+ allow the field engineers to access the questions that have already been answered. All the answers are reused, only the ones they need to focus on are highlighted.

The technician does not need to reenter questions that have already been entered. It speeds up the inspection, saves time, and increases efficiency.

Data collected during the inspections are securely stored on the mobile device thanks to Resco’s signature offline capability and synced with MS Dynamics once the field engineer becomes online again. Once synced, the documents are stored on SharePoint and also at a customer portal, where customers can review them.

Assembling the fish pens

ScaleAQ has built many fish pens over the years. They come in different specifications, and many of them are unique. When they are being assembled, they demand a unique inspection every time. The inspections must be carried out with the correct template of questions.

To make it easy for the field workers, Resco mobile app pulls out the data about each pen from product cards stored in MS Dynamics and builds an inspection questionnaire dynamically. This process guarantees each asset is inspected with the right inspection template and questions.

Moreover, the questions dynamically change based on the answers that are already given.

Everyone can rest assured the collected data is relevant to the specific asset. This increases the quality and accuracy of the data. Accurate data account for better decisions that lead to the competitive advantage of ScaleAQ. The data is subsequently analyzed in the back office.

And when the pens are being moved between locations, field engineers see the exact info they need to assemble them.

Back-office workers do not need coding skills to put together responsive questionnaires and analyze the outcomes. They can take advantage of the Inspections+ no-code capabilities.

All data in one system

As ScaleAQ grew, its partner seamlessly integrated it with Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer Service. They have incorporated other back-office systems as well.

All the company data is created and stored in one ecosystem. This way, ScaleAQ avoids data silos and makes sure all the employees and vendors are on the same page.

Sustainability

ScaleAQ has overcome many hurdles thanks to its robust software solution. The biggest challenge at the moment is the state of the ocean and the fish. That’s why they promote circular aquaculture and are focused on sustainability.

With the Green Platform Project SirkAQ, they are developing solutions to reuse, repair and extend the life of plastic from fish farming equipment and to use recycled materials in new products.

Thanks to technology, they have a detailed overview of all the processes. That helps with good management of resources and sustainable operations.

After all, there can be no aquaculture without a clean ocean and healthy fish.

Field service+

Resco Field Service+ with Inspections+ help companies to become more efficient and sustainable – not only in aquaculture but also in manufacturing, property maintenance, or the energy sector.

If you got interested in the ScaleAQ story, in how they use advanced mobility to drive efficiency, and you’d like to explore how it can benefit your business, book a demo with us, and we’ll provide you all answers and tailored consultation.

Príspevok ScaleAQ makes fish-farming more efficient thanks to advanced mobility zobrazený najskôr Resco.

From showcasing Resco solutions integrated with Microsoft Power Platform through deep dives into data modeling and sync impacts to improving the UI of your apps, the tech track at our annual resco.NEXT conference has a lot in store for our partners and core users.

At this year’s edition of our annual conference, we will focus on connecting the cloud to the ground: making sure innovation and technology decisions made in the office help the workers in the field.

In the dedicated tech track, you can look forward to two days of deep dives into the Resco platform, leading modules, and the latest innovations with real-life examples, best practices, and new ideas for tailoring Resco technology to your needs.

As usual, the tech track will run parallel with the business track that will bring together sales and business-oriented attendees.

And there will be a shared agenda: a roadmap presentation, evening reception, partner session, and plenty of space for networking with experts on Resco technology from all over the globe.

If you like both tracks, you can attend one and watch the other one after the conference – we will provide a recording to all attendees.

Now, let’s get back to the tech track and the info you are waiting for. Let’s introduce you to the speakers, share what they will talk about, and highlight why they might be important for your projects.

Power Solutions – learn how to deploy Resco solutions in Power Apps, Power Pages, and beyond

This year, Resco is taking a big step forward by integrating our leading modules like Inspections, Guides, and Reports with Microsoft Power Platform. We have several powerful new capabilities to show.

Starting with Reports, these are no longer limited to mobile devices. Learn how to work with Resco Docs+ as a powerful no-code solution for generating documents in back-office scenarios.

Discover a range of new solutions for data collection and reporting with Resco Forms+. Experience firsthand how to extend Power Pages with questionnaires and create robust portal applications for external contractors, partners, and customers alike. Solve complex data collection and inspection requirements, now natively available in Model-driven Power Apps. Learn the best practices for creating and sustaining Questionnaires in your Power Apps.

Optimizing your data model and sync

Learn about sync strategies and data footprint optimization and understand the impact of role-based security on performance from the world’s foremost experts in offline.

UI Refresh – Blue App to Modern App

A workshop-style session where Resco experts will show you how to implement our long-awaited UX/UI improvements. In the second half, you’ll receive hands-on assistance in taking your existing apps to the next level.

Technical case studies

Deep dive into real-life implementations of Resco from our partner experts, who will present their approach to technical challenges and start a dialogue on solving technical issues quickly and cost-effectively with Resco.

What to consider when taking your data to offline

In this masterclass, you will delve into the design and fine-tuning of the Field Service data model and sync performance.

Innovation – Enhancing Resco mobile experiences with AI tools

Artificial intelligence has taken the world by storm and we’re already working on the first use cases for generative AI with Resco, like converting PDF documents into interactive guides and creating summaries from complex Inspections+ data.

Learn how to implement AI with Resco through this look at use cases for pairing AI with our products, existing scenarios, and new opportunities.

There is a lot to experience and discuss at this year’s resco.NEXT.

You can learn more about the agenda, speakers, and venue at the resco.NEXT website.

Book your spot and join us in sunny Marbella on October 24-25.

Príspevok Technical track at resco.NEXT – 6 sessions you should not miss zobrazený najskôr Resco.

In our space for innovation, we are exploring multiple concepts to make the lives of field staff easier. One of them is ALIS – our new asset localization and identification system. It uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology to navigate field workers and help them execute their work orders.

The potential of BLE as unassuming small devices that transmit information has long been overlooked. In the Resco ALIS Lab, we are modifying this technology to make them meet industry requirements. We are also integrating them into our software solutions to unlock their capabilities.

Resco ALIS Lab

Resco ALIS Lab is one of the resco.Labs projects that we launched to bring game-changing technology to mobile workers. The mentor of this lab is Radomir Vozar, one of the founders of Resco. He works in the lab alongside Resco experts from various backgrounds: hardware and software development, UX and UI, sales, and marketing.

In this article, Radomir Vozar explains:

• How ALIS works
• How it can be used in the field
• How you can leverage ALIS with the Resco platform
• How to apply for a Resco ALIS pilot in your company

How ALIS works

The basic unit of ALIS is a BLE device also called a beacon. It passively transmits a low-energy signal in short, regular intervals. The signal carries simple information. It can be a serial number, or an ID used in computer systems.

Versatility

The information that is sent out from the beacon can be configured.

In the basic setup, a beacon contains a chip, an antenna, and a battery with a life span of 10 years or more – all encased in a protective shell.

In addition, we can fit a beacon with a sensor to monitor temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide levels, light, motion, vibrations, or air quality.

Another useful enhancement is a LED or voice signal hardware extension, helping better identify an asset in situations where more assets are located next to each other.

NIVY Watch, the daughter company of Resco, will be lending their expertise to the Resco ALIS Lab and helping create enterprise-quality beacons with the related software necessary for integrating with the existing Resco platform.

Low price

Beacons are exceptionally low-cost. They don’t require complicated infrastructure, implementation, and maintenance.

Low energy

A beacon is stationary, meant to sit in one place. You can stick it to any asset. We can customize it for use with a magnet, a zip tie, a screw, or an adhesive. It is wireless and does not require any cables.

Distance and localization

The primary benefit of a beacon is that you can tell how far you are from it.

How is that possible? The radio magnetic waves from a beacon leave the device in all directions. As they travel, they get weaker, meaning their magnitude is getting smaller. By reading the magnitude, you can guess the distance from a beacon with a high enough precision to localize your asset.

With multiple beacons in a network, you can use this distance measurement to localize them in space.

Widely supported

To make use of the beacons, you need a device that can pick up and decipher its signals. The good news is that most mobile phones and tablets now have Bluetooth receivers. Anyone with a smartphone and a dedicated mobile app can read the signals and enjoy the benefits of beacons.

If you are asking where to get one of these dedicated mobile apps, the short answer is that we are adding beacon support to our platform through the Resco ALIS Lab. It will be possible to add this Resco platform feature without any coding to Inspections+ and Field Service+ use cases.

You can find more info about joining the pilot program at the end of this article.

How beacons can be used in the field

In the following paragraphs, we will explore the potential of beacons in everyday situations.

If a field worker has a mobile app that can read and interpret signals from the beacons, it can save him (and his back-office colleagues) a lot of hassle.

Asset localization

The first practical use of beacons is asset localization.

An example of an asset is an air conditioning system. Large buildings have tens or even hundreds of air conditioning units. When a service technician inspects and services one of these devices, he needs to get to it, read or scan its barcode, find its IDs, and start filling in the work order.

It is not always easy to find the asset. The technician may not be familiar with the site; a third party could have done the installation. The asset may be hidden behind a ceiling construction. We know from experience that in complex sites, e.g., large plants with a lot of piping, it can take up to a few hours to localize a single asset.

If we stick a beacon to each asset, the field worker can perform a simple scan on his mobile app and see all assets on the site. With a list of assets, their distance, and direction, he can quickly identify the asset he is looking for. The time saved can be remarkable.

Identification of an asset and related documents

Once the field worker has located the asset, he must start an asset-related inspection, or field service work order.

The beacon transmits a unique ID together with other asset-specific information. The mobile application on his smartphone receives this information set and simply runs and pre-fills the related Inspection or Field Service work order with all the data. Moreover, this can all be done with only one click. This can save significant time and avoid incorrect data input.

Making sure the technician is at the site

The next area where beacons can come in handy is monitoring the presence of a field technician at the asset. When it comes to medical equipment or devices that comply with regulations, it is crucial to ensure the technician has been at the site and inspected the correct device.

With beacons, you can monitor the time the field service technician has spent in close proximity to the asset.

Sign up for a Resco ALIS pilot

As you can see, beacons can improve the work of field service technicians in multiple ways. There are many options for exploring their potential. That’s why we need you, our valued customers and partners, to tell us what is most valuable for you.

Right now, we are looking for companies that will join the first Labs pilot program. We will tailor the hardware and software to their use cases. If you can imagine beacons working for you, get in touch, and we can discuss how we can meet your needs.

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Interested? Let’s talk:

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Príspevok In resco.Labs, we are experimenting with BLE devices that will guide field workers zobrazený najskôr Resco.

All in all, an offline mode means your field workers are not looking at the loading icon on their screen when they are in a hurry and need to work.

Watch Trevor Metcalfe, North America Marketing Manager at Resco, explain the five hidden benefits of offline in detail.

The benefits of offline

1. Speed

A mobile client that doesn’t rely on server-based logic, data, or connectivity is much faster and more responsive for the user under all conditions.

Even with perfect 5G wireless, a mobile app that relies on this signal to operate is still more sluggish than a fully offline capable client.

2. Consistency

The mobile experience is only as good as its worst-performing scenario. Imagine you are in the field and need to update an inspection ticket or look up a historical client work order.

If you are waiting seconds or minutes until you can complete the task, it’s not only frustrating and inconvenient at the moment. It also erodes your faith that the app will work in the future. It may mean a field-based employee decides not to add data or might decide to wait until they are back in the office/closer to a better wireless region.

3. Convenience

Having all the functionality a field-based worker needs right there on the device means they never have to think twice about getting the job done with a workflow they can trust.

Field-based work can be challenging enough, but imagine having to tweak your workflow to get your job done based on whether you have a serviceable wireless connection or not.

With an offline-capable client, a worker can get their job done and let the data sync and other server-side actions take care of themselves later.

4. Efficiency

If field-based workers can be confident that they can do everything they need in real-time, it’s a huge efficiency driver. They are not wasting time waiting for connectivity. They are inputting data and doing their job at the optimal moment.

Suppose someone has to wait until they get back within wireless coverage or even until they are at a PC. This not only extends their working day, which can impact job satisfaction. In that case, it means there is a gap between when they do the job and when they record the full details for the system of record. This can result in details being forgotten, work being rushed, or potentially not being tracked at all.

This was the case at Southern States Toyota Lift, an authorized Toyota Forklift dealer in Florida and Georgia, US. The salespeople used Excel spreadsheets. When they digitized the processes using advanced mobility, the company revenue increased by $350k/month thanks to improved efficiency of data input and processing.

5. Security

For certain organizations, security is a major consideration. The ability for field-based workers to be able to work with a full offline dataset and only sync when they are within a sanctioned network environment is massive.

Both customer and provider can be assured that the highest data security models are being upheld.

How to recognize an app with an effective offline mode

Not all offline modes on apps for field workers are equal. So, how do you recognize an excellent offline mode?

First and foremost, it is customizable. An admin can make sure field workers can access precisely the data they need in the offline mode. This makes the app quicker and more responsive.

An important feature is the ability to set up your synchronization. You only want to send and receive what’s required – ideally in an optimal storage format.

A stable and customizable offline mode is crucial when you store and transfer a lot of data. Thinking about it early on will save you a headache as your organization grows.

At Resco, we are developing software with an offline mode in mind. Resco Mobile App Development Toolkit can handle millions of records and complex tables. Our customers and partners have control over what is being synchronized.

Simply said, Resco puts the five hidden benefits of offline into plain sight.

Príspevok The five hidden benefits of offline zobrazený najskôr Resco.

In this blog, we will provide information about

• the conference,
• the agenda,
• the venue,
• the hosting city.

The Conference

Resco.NEXT will take two days. There will be time and place not only for the packed agenda but also for networking and discussions with community members – all at a convenient pace.

The conference headline is “Connecting the Cloud to the Ground,” which means ensuring innovation and technology decisions made in the office are translated into practical applications in the field.

Cloud apps have transformed how businesses operate, efficiency, scale, and speed. But there are a lot of technological challenges that prevent those applications from working effectively in the field amongst the mobile workforce. Resco is focused on bridging the gap to ensure the big decisions companies make have ways of working in the hands of the mobile workforce.

Andrew Lorraine, Resco CEO

Book your spot

The Content

Featured topics will include Enterprise Mobile Apps, App Modules, and Innovations, with dedicated business and tech tracks.

The two conference days will be packed with presentations of Resco features and their real-life value by senior product, technical, and business development professionals.

See how others use Resco technology in case studies by partners and customers. Experience sessions showcasing of real-word Resco + Microsoft Power Platform implementations.

Round tables with experts will provide insights, news, and trends across the enterprise mobility landscape.

It’s so refreshing to be around a community of people that appreciate frontline workers and the role they play in the global economy.

Justin Lake, Skyllful

Don’t miss our Roadmap presentation, where you will get a sneak peek at the newest additions to Resco’s platform, solutions, and module plans.

We will welcome our partners at a dedicated Partners session and celebrate our joint success at a Partner Awards Ceremony.

After the first conference day, we will gather at the evening reception with the signature Woodford tasting session. On the second day, the program will conclude at 3 pm.

Take a detailed look at the agenda

The Venue

Last year we had a blast in Lisbon. We wanted to keep the bar high and let our attendees enjoy a relaxed seaside atmosphere, a pleasant conference space, and excellent service.

We visited more than a dozen venues all around Spain before we came upon the Hard Rock Hotel in Marbella. It has everything we were looking for: top-notch conference spaces, recently refurbished rooms, and a restaurant offering local food.

Rock music fans will be in 7th heaven amid a curated collection of music memorabilia. Even if you fancy other music styles, you can still enjoy a lush garden next to the poolside bar and all the amenities. The latest generation of audiovisual equipment completed by a led wall is a matter of course at resco.NEXT.

The inspiring and modern hotel near the Puerto Banus Marina will be the perfect home base. Plus, it’s conveniently located less than an hour’s drive from both Malaga and Gibraltar International airports.

Learn more about the venue

The Hosting City

Marbella is a charming Spanish seaside town at Costa del Sol. October is a great month to visit Marbella if you’re looking for a quiet, relaxed atmosphere and pleasant weather.

We have cherry-picked the best experiences this popular destination has in store. We’ll explore what to see and do even if you book a more extended stay.

Visit a beach

In autumn, the flocks of tourists have already departed from Costa del Sol, but temperatures are still warm enough for a dip in the Mediterranean. The sea has an average temperature of 21°C during October.

Head for Playa Nueva Andalucía – it will take you less than 20 minutes to walk from the conference venue. A sand beach over 1 km long and 30 meters wide consists of a series of coves perfect for enjoying the sea.

Go hiking

The pleasant October weather, with average daily temperatures ranging from 17 to 25°, is excellent for hiking. Choose from a variety of scenic mountain trails in the beautiful Sierra Blanca Mountains or a slow-paced coastal walk.

If you enjoy jogging, meet us for a traditional Resco NEXT morning run. The meeting time, place, and route will be announced soon.

Hit the links

Spend quality time with your business partners at one of the nearby golf courses. With over 100 courses, Andalucia is one of the foremost golfing destinations in the world.

Chill at the conference venue

Stay at the venue and enjoy networking, chatting with speakers and fellow attendees, and the slow-paced, relaxed seaside atmosphere.

Walk to the Puerto Banús marina

The glamorous marina is home to luxury yachts, high-end boutiques, and top-rated restaurants. You can take a leisurely 20-minute walk from the venue to the marina, enjoy the views of the sea, and do some shopping.

Stroll the streets of the Old Town

The historic center of Marbella is situated further from the venue, but it is a must-see for its picturesque streets, ancient churches, and charming squares. Stroll through the narrow streets and admire the colorful flowers and traditional Andalusian architecture.

Visit Museo del Grabado Español Contemporáneo

The museum dedicated to contemporary Spanish engraving hosts a collection of works by renowned artists such as Picasso, Miró, and Dalí.

Join us at resco.NEXT

You’ll find everything necessary on the resco.NEXT official website.

If you need additional information regarding the conference, accommodation, transportation, parking, or anything else that comes to your mind, don’t hesitate to contact us at events@resco.net.

We are looking forward to enjoying your company.

Príspevok Save the date for resco.NEXT. We will meet in seaside Marbella this October zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Our research and development is a key part of this mission. But not every idea can fit into a neat box of quarterly releases.

That’s why we’re rolling out resco.Labs. It is our space for innovation.

Our goal is clear. We want to imagine the future of mobile work and create new innovations with a real business and personal impact for the field.

We spoke with Andrew Lorraine, Resco’s CEO, Eduard Kesely, Head of Product, and Michal Magnusek, Digital Product Manager about:

• Why resco.Labs started experimenting with Bluetooth beacons
• Resco’s vision for AI-powered mobile work scenarios
• How can the Resco community take advantage of resco.Labs creations

A list of ideas

“Resco has always been agile and innovative. But recently we’ve traded agility for incremental product improvements. These include our Mobile CRM and our suite of products for the Microsoft platform,” explains Andrew Lorraine, Resco CEO.

The result? A standard, less adventurous way of innovating.

“Now we want to get back to our roots. The resco.Labs project embraces spontaneity and community. It does things a little bit differently,” Andrew explains.

Andrew Lorraine, CEO

And we have plenty of ideas. resco.Labs has a list of 30 different mobile work innovations. We also keep a standing call for new ideas from the entire Resco community.

As Andrew told us, there are a few distinct themes:

• Automation to make things better, faster, and smarter.
• Knowledge to capture and distribute know-how in better ways.
• Support for Resco apps on specialized hardware devices.
• Using mobile devices to the fullest.

“New capabilities are popping up. We want to enable our partners and customers to make use of them in meaningful ways,” Andrew adds.

Dual priorities: exploration and hands-on creation

We want to make resco.Labs inclusive. That’s why we will source new ideas for innovations in two ways. Internally, and from our global network of partners and mobile work enthusiasts. Everyone will have a chance to take part and champion their own ideas.

But, of course, working on dozens of ideas at once is impossible.

“There are no limits, but we need to stay focused and find the shortest path to deliver tangible creation. That’s priority #1 at the moment,” says Eduard Kesely, Resco’s Head of Product.

Eduard Kesely, Head of Product

This is how the process will work according to Michal Magnusek, Digital Product Manager:

“We want to be agile and bootstrap the solutions. Then, we will present them to customers and partners to get instant feedback. It differs from our usual approach, where we define the scope, develop for up to two years, and then come to market.”

Michal Magnusek, Digital Product Manager

For this reason, resco.Labs zoomed in on three ideas to work on. And two of them are already underway.

1. Beacons will guide the way

The first piece of technology resco.Labs is playing around with is Resco Beacons.

These low-energy Bluetooth tags transmit signal to mobile devices. They are nifty, affordable, and easy to install. In fact, you’ll get a lot of bang for your buck, as the Beacons can boost productivity in the field in several ways.

Resco Beacons can help you solve a bunch of common mobile work problems:

1. Finding your way to the asset
2. Speeding up the work by pre-filling in data in the mobile form
3. Proving your field worker was there and actually did the work
4. Doing 1, 2, and 3 offline and for less money

Resco Beacon attached to an asset

Resco Beacons can send details about the location and properties of any asset. They will help your workers navigate and speed up an inspection process when integrated with a mobile app.

“Some of our partners are already involved. If you can imagine Beacons working in your context, please get in touch,” adds Andrew Lorraine.

2. AI to help inform and eliminate repetitive tasks

The second idea that we’re developing involves the booming topic of artificial intelligence. To be more specific, it focuses on knowledge and natural language processing tools.

“We’re experimenting with using AI to automate field workers’ answers when they collect data. It would also be useful if it can provide them with instant insights. In such cases, AI will step in for them as their personal assistant,” explains Eduard Kesely.

We have already integrated ChatGPT into Resco. Read how it helps to automate complex reporting. And this is only the start.

3. More ideas to come

We will select the third idea from a list submitted and voted on by Resco’s employees. Then, we will develop all three concepts and use them as examples of how resco.Labs operates.

There will also be an open call to the internal community to fill two more spots for new ideas.

If you’d like to submit any concepts or innovations to resco.Labs, we would love to hear your suggestions. Please submit your ideas at our Product feedback site or contact your account manager.

There is a lot of innovation coming your way soon. Stay tuned.

Príspevok Bring game-changing technology to your field workers with resco.Labs zobrazený najskôr Resco.

As a Microsoft Field Service and Resco Application Solution Architect at Hitachi Solutions, Osumi works alongside 3,500+ professionals across the globe to innovate and build sustainable business modernization solutions. Their aim is to support and accelerate digital transformation initiatives of their customers.

Osumi is a hands-on professional, who talks with customers, promotes and implements the most suitable solutions. With Resco certifications and a great team under his leadership he has brought big deals to Resco this past year and our collaboration has been very intense.

All of us at Resco recognize and appreciate Osumi’s outstanding contributions. And today, we’d like to introduce him and his work to you.

Osumi, congratulations on this recognition! Can you tell us how did you get to know Resco?

I have been working with Resco for 5 years. At first, I knew Field One, which was the default mobile app of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Field Service using Resco technology.

I appreciate Resco’s strong offline capability and usability from end-user point of views. To me, it stands out that the Resco app is very stable.

How do you see enterprise mobility trends in your field of work? What innovations do you see coming in the world of digital transformation?

Every field worker will get their work done at first visit by using remote assist and AI analysis. The ideal environment for these tools is online. But in the real world, our customers sometimes have low or no connection.

Resco app’s strong point is that it works offline. We will need to come up with an innovation to fill the gap between online and offline in order to make the remote assist and AI analysis tools work offline.

You attended the resco.NEXT conference in Lisbon. Hitachi Solutions even won the Breakthrough Partner of the Year award. What were your biggest takeaways, and what did you like the most?

We got the most valuable takeaways from in-person consulting time. We could consult the problems our customer had with Resco experts. Personally, I liked Woodford tasting at the evening reception the most

You became a Resco MVP by being a leader inside your organization – promoting Resco solutions and working on projects. What would you recommend to other Resco professionals looking to become MVPs?

Just work closely with Resco expert team and customers. They are knowledgeable about the real field work.

Thank you for the interview, Osumi. Is there anything else you’d like to share with the community?

The world and technology keep growing. Let’s overtake it with Resco, make the most of it, and incorporate it in our solution.

Become the next Resco MVP

Resco MVPs are recognized as experts in the community. This helps them with career building and increases business opportunities for the organization they represent.

On top of that, Resco MVPs enjoy a range of direct benefits from Resco, such as exposure in our marketing channels, free entrance to resco.NEXT, priority access to market development funds and co-marketing possibilities, and more.

If you know someone or consider yourself a worthy candidate for the Resco MVP award, please send an email to partners@resco.net with the subject line “Resco MVP nomination.”

We are looking forward to recognizing more exceptional Resco experts and influencers!

Príspevok Meet Resco’s new MVP: Osumi Yuichiro from Hitachi Solutions zobrazený najskôr Resco.

When you want all your employees to be on the same page, you need a communication channel that is easy to reach and understand. Read how Resco uses its own product, Resco Steps+, to communicate the company’s benefits and sales processes to its staff, harvest feedback, and implement improvements.

At Resco, we have recently launched Resco Steps+, a module that lets companies gather knowledge in the field, review it, and publish it. It is available for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform.

Resco employees recognized the module’s potential and started using it immediately. We talked with Internal Communication Specialist Slavomir Chovanec and Sales Manager Michal Kubala about how they chose, implemented, adopted, and used Steps+ within their teams.

In this blog, you will learn, how Steps+:

• helped the internal comms team close knowledge gaps
• helped the sales team keep their data tidy
• supported the onboarding of new sales team members

All employees can easily access information

Steps+ were first used in Resco’s internal Resco+ system, which allows employees to claim their benefits and upload receipts for reimbursement. Resco+ is built entirely on the Resco platform and customized for the use case.

The new Resco+ benefits app has brought a need to let people know what they can claim, how to ensure they have uploaded the correct documents, and what the next steps will be.

Everything in one place

At first, Slavomir Chovanec, Internal Communication Specialist, considered putting all the documentation on SharePoint or in a Word document. But when he learned about the benefits of Steps+, he concluded that this module would be a much more effective solution for employees.

“Steps+ not only make it possible to have all documents related to claiming benefits directly in the app itself. You don’t need to leave the benefits app to get the information you need. The guides look nicer and are more user-friendly. They even allow us to collect statistics and feedback,” explains Slavomir.

Thanks to Steps+, we were able to deploy a whole new app and process after just one online company meeting instead of having to do dedicated training with people in the office.

Four guides for two groups 

The Internal Communications department has created four guides for the users of the Resco+ benefits app.

The first two guides are aimed at all users. One contains instructions on how to use the app. The second guide lists the types of benefits that will be reimbursed by Resco – for example courses, trainings, sports cards, etc.

The third and fourth guide are for administrators. They describe the workflow to employees involved in the approvals process. Only users with the right permissions can see them.

Thanks to setting up user roles in Steps+, people see the content relevant to them, specifically. Anyone in HR or administration, even newcomers, can get all the information without needing to ask.

Easy iteration

Slavomir describes the advantages of working with Steps+ to capture and distribute knowledge: “It was very easy to create the guides. My colleagues and I could cooperate and add images, links, PDFs, and videos.”

Tweaking the guides was smooth, too.

“When we wanted to go for another iteration, we simply made a new copy of the whole guide and tinkered with it. It was pleasant to work with different versions of the guide before publishing the final,” Slavomir adds.

Notepad for new ideas

Steps+ makes it very easy to collaborate on creating content. Slavomir’s team took advantage of this feature.

“We are just getting started with the Resco+ benefits app and we have many ideas for the next steps. We asked ourselves, why not brainstorm in the app and use it as a tool to collect ideas? This allows our app admins to keep track of content ideas that will be used in the next application versions.”

Steps+ in CRM help keep the sales data tidy

In Resco, guides are not only used in the benefits app. They have also found their way into the internal CRM, for which we use our own product – Resco Field Sales+.

Before explaining how Steps+ help the sales team, let’s look at how the CRM works. It is Resco’s hub for the entire sales process from lead generation to customer success and retention.

People in four departments rely on the CRM data: the sales department records the entire sales process, the financial department processes invoices and orders, the marketing department provides leads, and the product department gathers data on the use of products by customers and partners.

It is salespeople who enter most of the data into the system. Sales Manager Michal Kubala explains: “In the CRM, we try to keep all the data as tidy as possible because many processes and plans depend on it.”

Setting a basic standard

Why is it so difficult to keep the data up to date? Michal Kubala sees salespeople as individuals with specific personalities. Everyone has a different approach. Some may be super organized, while others might give lower priority to the administrative part.

“CRM is a problematic tool if everyone uses it differently. If at least a basic standard is set, we’ll immediately have more accurate numbers and better data to work with,” Michal adds.

Michal and his colleagues felt a need to create a best practice guide that would explain the process to all salespeople: “We needed a guide that reflects a single point of truth. All salespeople should look there whenever something is unclear.”

At first, they started tinkering with a text document. “We put together a CRM guide in a text form. The problem was that it has been quite text-heavy. Some salespeople were reluctant to look into it. It was on our SharePoint site, and it took time to find where it was kept.”

“Our CEO Andrew Lorraine introduced me to Steps+. We saw it as a way to make our sales manual easier to access and understand,” says Michal.

Onboarding new sales representatives is easier

The sales team started documenting three parts of the sales process that have had the most significant impact – opportunities, quotes, and leads. These have already been transformed into guides. “We want to start working on pricing and licensing as well. Then we’ll collect feedback and see what will be needed.”

“When completing their work, salespeople now know what should go where and what is important. They see warnings for tricky or complex areas of the process. They are provided with tips and tricks on how to work with CRM. It is especially helpful for new salespeople. It’s much easier to onboard them now,” says Michal Kubala.

The plan is to make the entire documentation for CRM reachable from the CRM itself. Individual guides will link to the right places in the CRM. When a user creates a new opportunity, they will see an icon that will open the guide describing opportunities.

The new guides are already boosting the productivity of the whole sales team. On average, our sales teams used to collectively spend about five hours a week on CRM topics, which we’ve now reduced thanks to including Steps+ directly in CRM.

Try Steps+ for yourself

Steps+ can help you fill knowledge gaps in many areas – not only in internal comms and sales, but also in the field.

Our customers and partners are already piloting Steps+ in various scenarios. They appreciate that the text, photos, or videos for the guides can be added by employees, on any mobile device, even with limited or no connection. The guide can then be completed, approved, and published by employees in the Head Office.

If you can imagine Steps+ solving your problem with knowledge gaps caused by an aging workforce, the high cost of onboarding newcomers, or inconsistent use of information in your organization, start a trial for free.

We will be thrilled to help you get the most out of the tribal knowledge.

Príspevok Using digital guides makes internal communication and sales more straightforward zobrazený najskôr Resco.