The following forces and information technology (IT) trends will continue to shape 2013:

1. Cloud Computing
While cloud computing is becoming mainstream, hybrid cloud–on-premises configurations (a.k.a., “software plus services” and “connected services”) remains the reality for cloud integration and federated cross-cloud security issues. Organizations are increasingly looking to hybrid cloud architectures as a way to have a more dynamic computing architecture over time. Read the rest of this entry »

SOFTWARE SELECTIONS & DEPLOYMENTS

European manufacturer of construction chemicals selects IFS Applications
Industry tags: Process manufacturing, mining
“Polish corporation Atlas Group, which operates 18 business entities and 5 mines in Poland and internationally, has selected IFS Applications as its corporate-level ERP system. The first areas slated for implementation will be financials, distribution, manufacturing, maintenance, controlling elements, consolidation, trade management-commerce portals, WMS, and document and quality management. Atlas Group is a typical “sweet spot” IFS client, as the product provides good functional support, particularly in process manufacturing and mining.”—Aleksey Osintsev, TEC Research Analyst

• TEC profile for IFS Applications
• Compare process ERP software now!
• Compare mining software now!
• Press release

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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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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 »

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 »

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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Part 1 of this series established that service supply chains have many planning levels and time horizons, which can be roughly divided into the following categories: the immediate period around the day of service, and forecasting and  planning for the day of service. My blog post then expanded on the various approaches to the challenges on the actual day of service.

Part 2 delved more deeply into the intricate execution issues on the day of service, starting with optimized scheduling, or the “W-6” optimization challenge: Who, does What, with What, When, Where, and for Whom? Mobile communication was established as the best means for dispatchers to communicate the schedule and job details to the resources, receive updates, notify customer cancellations, and continually optimize their schedule in response to all changes. Additionally, astute dispatchers use location data from global positioning system (GPS) tools to continually optimize schedules and divert the right resources to an emergency job.

Yet, the service chain is bigger than just optimized scheduling on the day of service. Even the best optimization algorithms can hit an early limit if the rest of the chain is ignored. If a service company’s workload is, say, 150 percent of its capacity for an extended period of time, then no level of optimization can overcome this reality. 

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Part 1 of this series established that service supply chains have many planning levels and time horizons, which can be roughly divided into the following: the immediate period around the day of service, and forecasting and planning for the day of service. My post then expanded on the various approaches to tame the challenges on the actual day of service.

The most advanced approach is to use service chain optimization algorithms that balance customer satisfaction and operating costs. But, as in any business environment, the catch is that conflicting forces pull any company’s service scheduling optimization decisions in opposing directions.

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The recent three-part series entitled “Navigating Between Service Management Scylla & Charybdis” analyzed the phenomenon of service economy, or the increasing importance of the service sector in industrialized economies. But while the vast customer service software market’s opportunity was examined there, the series also pointed out the treacherous complexity of planning and executing service supply chains.

Compared to manufacturing and distribution supply chains, which are already complex on their own, service supply networks add a few more complicating variables. The series introduced the notion of the “perfect response” in service chains (vs. the “perfect order” in manufacturing and distribution) or how to get the right person with the right part and knowledge at exactly the right time to solve a particular customer’s need. And all that perfect response has to repeatedly and continually happen for almost every customer while maintaining a financially viable service business.

Every service business is ultimately measured by its performance on the day of service, and ensuring that the company has the right resources in the right places at the right times is critical. But the ability to deliver service on the day it is actually required is only the last link in a long chain of decisions that must be made weeks or months before the day of service.

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Part 1 of this series analyzed the phenomenon of the service economy or the increasing importance of the service sector in industrialized economies. Especially in a sluggish market, the service delivered after the initial sale of a product is what can truly differentiate competitors.

The service opportunity is also there, since after-sale service is quite difficult to replicate. Thus, while durable (hard) goods orders decline and product-based profit margins diminish in maturing and commoditized industries, service margins remain very healthy. When consumers or businesses focus more on maintaining what they have vs. purchasing new products, after-sale service can have a substantial impact on any company’s revenue, profitability, and customer loyalty levels.

Thus, Part 1 asserted that one saving grace for the economies of these developed countries (the Group of Eight [G8] and beyond) could be the post-sale service or aftermarket business model in which services to repair, maintain, and optimize products are sold to installed bases. Part 2 then discussed the accompanying service lifecycle management (SLM) software category and the potential benefits of using mobile computing technology.

We might want to note here that the word “resource” throughout this series refers to any type of mobile field worker including engineers, technicians, inspectors, surveyors, gang, crew, shared vehicle and so on, while “job” or “task” refers to any type of work that these resources perform. Given the apparent market growth opportunity, service chain optimization would be about putting the right resources in the right places at the right times to deliver superior service to customers while keeping costs down.

As simple as that, right? Well, not really (and thus the Scylla & Charybdis reference). 

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Part 1 of this series analyzed the phenomenon of the rise of the service economy: the increasing importance of the service sector in industrialized economies. Especially in a sluggish market, service delivered after the initial sale of a product is what can truly differentiate competitors.

In fact, after-sale service is quite difficult to replicate. Thus, while durable (hard) goods orders decline and product-based margins diminish in maturing and commoditized industries, service margins remain healthy. When consumers or businesses focus more on maintaining what they have vs. purchasing a new product, after-sale service (or aftermarket) can have a substantial impact on any company’s revenue, profitability, and customer loyalty levels.

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It is no longer breaking news to say that the US and the European Union (EU) are turning from product-based to service economies. The trend of the increasing importance of the service sector has only been accentuated by the recent (and perhaps still ongoing) subprime mortgage and financial system meltdowns, volatile stock markets, declining durable (hard) goods orders, dwindling physical product-based profit margins, and so on and so forth.

But one saving grace for these developed (the Group of Eight [G8] and beyond) countries’ economies could be the post-sale service or aftermarket business model offering services to fix (repair), maintain, and optimize products that are sold to installed bases. While durable goods orders decline and product-based margins diminish in maturing and commoditized industries, service margins remain very healthy. Thus, service businesses currently contribute about 70 percent of the world economy.  Read the rest of this entry »