The tools also channel other vital information back to Mac-Gray's central business operations, including the average time it takes for each transaction to occur and real-time inventory updates of all the parts being used by the company's techs.

In that sense, the applications are helping the firm better account for all of its assets and plan for the future, he said.

"We had a system that had workers spending a lot of time on the phone in the morning and evenings trying to communicate their progress back to the company, and it was very manual and inefficient," said Lento. "Now our workers act more independently and get more work done, and we use the environmental benefits of the mobile system as a marketing tool."

Among the major benefits of using New York-based Vettro's 360 mobile software delivery platform, which helps companies map and create workflow for their applications and tailor programs to run on different types of devices, was that it allowed Mac-Gray's own IT workers to retain complete control over their back-end databases, which could be quickly integrated with the tools, according to the executive.

The applications have also proven simple enough to work well on low-cost devices and for most workers to pick them up without extensive training, leading to further savings, said Lento.

Industry watchers have observed that while traditional providers of enterprise applications have struggled to find the right mix of technologies to push mobility into many types of large businesses, customers like Mac-Gray who can embrace the tools to streamline logistics have been among the first to benefit from the systems.

"Companies in businesses such as overnight shipping and with significant filed force populations have been among the first to truly embrace enterprise mobility, and they will likely continue to find ways to use it to promote real business improvements," said Maribel Lopez, analyst with Forrester Research. "In a lot of industries people still don't have the business case to defend the investment in handhelds and related technologies, but those companies who can apply these tools to logistics will continue to be among the leading adopters."