Apr
04
One Vendor’s Mission to Make Service Businesses Click – Part 4
Filed Under (Customer Relationship Matters, Supply Chain Logistics) by P.J. Jakovljevic (see bio)
 

Part 1 of this blog series introduced ClickSoftware Technologies (NASDAQ: CKSW), which until recently has focused solely on workforce and service optimization software solutions for large field service companies. Gradually, via both internal development and a few appetizing acquisitions in 2009, the vendor has added a few important growth engines, such as mobile computing solutions, shift planning (rostering) solutions, and solutions for small to medium businesses (SMBs).

Part 2 then analyzed the individual modules (in a price list manner) and logical bundles of the vendor’s flagship Service Optimization Suite as well as a number of original concepts that have differentiated ClickSoftware in the field service workforce optimization market. One of these concepts is the so-called real-time service enterprise.

Part 3 analyzed ClickSoftware’s Mobility Suite, as the major enabler of the real-time service enterprise as well as the vendor’s existing customers and go-to-market strategy. One of the major tenets of the vendor’s expansion into new markets has been the strategic alliance with SAP. This final part will recap the company’s strengths and point out its still outstanding challenges. 

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Feb
18
One Vendor’s Mission to Make Service Businesses Click – Part 3
Filed Under (Supply Chain Logistics, Industry Observation) by P.J. Jakovljevic (see bio)
 

Part 1 of this blog series introduced ClickSoftware Technologies (NASDAQ: CKSW), which until recently had focused solely on workforce and service optimization software solutions for large field service companies. Gradually, via both internal development and a few appetizing acquisitions in 2009, the vendor added a few important growth engines, such as mobile computing solutions, shift planning (rostering) solutions, and solutions for the Small to Medium Businesses (SMBs).

Part 2 then analyzed the individual modules and logical bundles of the vendor’s flagship Service Optimization Suite as well as a number of original concepts that have differentiated ClickSoftware in the field service workforce optimization market. One of these concepts is the so-called real-time service enterprise. 

Read the rest of this entry »

Jan
18
One Vendor’s Mission to Make Service Businesses Click – Part 2
Filed Under (Customer Relationship Matters, Supply Chain Logistics) by P.J. Jakovljevic (see bio)
 

Part 1 of this blog series introduced ClickSoftware Technologies (NASDAQ: CKSW). Until recently, the software company focused solely on workforce and service optimization solutions for large field service companies. Gradually, via both internal development and a few appetizing acquisitions in 2009, the vendor has added a few important growth engines, such as mobile computing solutions, shift planning (rostering) solutions, and solutions for the Small to Medium Businesses (SMBs). 

Read the rest of this entry »

Jan
10
One Vendor’s Mission to Make Service Businesses Click – Part 1
Filed Under (Customer Relationship Matters, Supply Chain Logistics) by P.J. Jakovljevic (see bio)
 

My recent series of tutorial articles entitled “Navigating Between Service Management Scylla & Charybdis” and “The Magic Behind Planning and Executing (Optimal) Service Supply Chains” have drawn solid interest and valuable feedback. Along similar lines was the series on general workforce management (WFM) systems (i.e., not necessarily only in field service) entitled “Integrated Workforce Management (WFM) Platforms: Fact or Fiction?”

The software vendor whose work and solutions largely inspired the first two series is ClickSoftware Technologies (NASDAQ: CKSW). With its recent acquisitions (to be explained shortly), ClickSoftware has also become somewhat related to the latter series on general WFM considerations. 

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