Fife Council spending £160,000 on mobile devices for tradesmen

Fife Council is set to spend almost £160,000 replacing 350 tradesmen’s mobile phones with high-tech mobile devices that cost £452 each.

The local authority claims the move will save money because the Motorola ES400 ‘enterprise digital assistant’ automatically tells council computer systems that work has been carried out.

Building services bosses currently use mobile phones to issue instructions before admin staff input the information to a database.

Service manager Allan Barclay said: ”The full solution which we are moving towards now will capture data direct from the handheld device out in the field, removing the need for manual involvement.”

The devices were initially issued to 18 electricians as part of a pilot project, but 350 building services staff will have one by October.

The council anticipates the roll-out will also produce efficiency savings.