PhotoFax Inc. is a nationally recognized leader in surveillance, compliance, and investigative services. PhotoFax’s highly reliable solutions create a formidable first line of defense in workers’ compensation, liability, and long term disability claims. Since 1988, PhotoFax has provided private investigation services throughout the continental United States to insurance carriers, third-party administrators, and large self-insured companies that detect insurance fraud through the use of video surveillance and special investigations.
PhotoFax was already using a phone-based GPS application to locate investigators and verify proof of services. However, there were several challenges with the phone-based GPS solutions, including: complete reliance on the driver to turn the phone on and launch the GPS application, too easy for the GPS application to be deleted off the phone and finally, phone batteries draining too fast when GPS tracking was on. Even when the ‘stars were aligned,’ the phone GPS application calculated mileage using ‘as the crow flies’ techniques between two GPS points which led to inaccurate mileage readings. John Todaro, in charge of operations and HR at PhotoFax, was looking for a solution that could provide accurate information for both GPS location and mileage. Mileage needed to be accurate to within 0.5% for handling gas reimbursement on company-driven trucks.