Big on field service

Vidus, the new name for AP Solve, which spun out of BP last year, intends to extend its field service optimisation tools into manufacturing through system integrators. Currently, the focus is on telcos and utilities, but Crisitian Parrino, vice president of strategic alliances, says the firm is talking with partners “like IBM, Accenture, Microsoft, Cap Gemini and Hewlett Packard,” to take the solution into manufacturing. “We’ve been in the market for four years,” says Parrino. “BP is obviously our biggest customer, but we also have NPL and Centrica in the UK.” This is workforce management automation on a grand scale, very much aimed at large organisations with multiple resources and regions to cover. Centrica, for example, invested £10m in its system. Says Parrino: “It’s all about synchronising the available resources against people, skills, parts, tools, vehicles and criteria like traffic conditions and weather conditions. There are real-time triggers: it’s co-ordinate and optimising, all automated and in real time.” Parrino expects interest to grow as firms “realise they need to get away from the appointment in three days some time after 12.00. Companies have to do better than that today,” he says. Pressed for an idea of costs, he says: “Typical cost is more than £200 but less than £2,000 per single user license.”