The deployment overall took about four months from beginning to end, Schriefer said. A good chunk of that time is an evaluation to understand the processes of how Do It Best works and what the company needed. The voice recognition is done on the device, meaning it doesn't cause dramatic traffic increases on the WLAN.
And because warehouses have towering steel racks a necessary part of the deployment is to ensure the devices can maintain a wireless connection anywhere in the warehouse.
The cost of a system like Jennifer is variable, Schriefer said. It depends on the number of users, how complex the application is and what else is needed at the server level. Lucas Systems deployed the software on the server and sets business rules based on users. A large deployment, Schriefer said, can run several hundred thousand dollars, while an entry level system can run around $100,000. Do It Best currently has more than 300 users and 100 terminals. More than one worker can use each terminal. When a user signs in, the voice software is temporarily loaded from the server to the device.
According to Schriefer, companies that opt for such a system achieve a return on their investment in roughly a year based on improved productivity and order accuracy.
