2009 Articles
July 07, 2009
Servigistics and Click Commerce Service Network. Management
Investegate UK
Two industry leaders come together to deliver the broadest and deepest
solution specifically designed for Service Lifecycle Management (SLM)
Servigistics and Click Commerce's Service Network Solutions (SNS)
division, both recently acquired by private equity firm Marlin Equity
Partners, have been merged to form a new company to solve the planning,
optimization, execution and analytics challenges associated with delivering
world-class post-sale service. The new company will retain the Servigistics
name and deliver a long-awaited total solution specifically designed to
manage all aspects of the post-sale service process - what the market is now
referring to as Service Lifecycle Management (SLM).
Because today's troubled economy has caused product-based revenue and
profits to diminish in mature industries, companies are turning to
service-led strategies for growth. This requires effective collaboration
across global functions, new decision-making capabilities and an underlying
integrated service technology solution to support those processes. Prior to
the merger, the service market lacked a single, comprehensive solution
specifically designed to meet complex SLM business needs. As a result,
companies have been slow to capitalize on the post-sale service opportunity
to increase revenue and profits, while enhancing customer loyalty.
"The combination of Click Commerce SNS and Servigistics brings together
the pioneer in service parts planning with the leader in strategic service
management," said Bruce Richardson, chief research officer at AMR Research.
"This pairing also brings strong vertical expertise. Click Commerce SNS
dominated aerospace and defense, while Servigistics owned high tech. Together
the two will be a strong force in the emerging opportunities in life
sciences, consumer goods, retail and logistics."
"For more than a decade, aerospace and defense organizations have
experienced tremendous inefficiencies and rising costs, bolting together
multiple point solutions to plan, optimize and execute programs in their
extended service chain," said Danny Hale, deputy of the business operations
division, Air Logistics Center, United States Coast Guard. "With this
announcement, Servigistics and Click Commerce SNS have taken the first step
in making a single platform approach to service lifecycle management a
reality."
The new Servigistics SLM solution will enable asset-intensive service
organizations, such as manufacturers, to optimize all components of the
complex SLM process, including contract and warranty management, workforce
management, service parts management, knowledge management, warehouse
management, sourcing, repair and returns, and service analytics.
"Industry reports indicate 87 percent of all manufacturers still use
spreadsheets to manage their mission critical, post-sale service resources,
leading to the sub-optimization of enormous investments in field technicians,
mobile fleets, spare parts and service knowledge," said Eric Hinkle, CEO of
Servigistics who will continue as CEO of the new company. "Our newly combined
company is now the clear market leader and uniquely positioned to deliver
unprecedented business value to our clients."
"Together, Servigistics and Click Commerce SNS will enable companies to
adopt a single technology solution to access the significant value hidden in
their service businesses, rather than piecing together disparate components
from different sources to manage service operations," said Dave Barboro,
former president of Click Commerce SNS and executive vice president of the
new company. "The new solution, which will provide planning, optimization,
execution and analytics tools, will enable companies to transform their
global service operations by dramatically increasing service revenue and
profitability, cash flow and customer loyalty."
The new company will serve a global client base of more than 240 marquee
companies across motor vehicles, aerospace and defense, heavy equipment,
high-tech, consumer and industrial products, and utilities. The new company
will be headquartered in Atlanta with operations worldwide, including
regional headquarters in Tokyo, Japan; Bristol, UK; Gurgaon, India; and field
offices in Austin, Texas; Warwick, UK; Rochester, N.Y.; Irvine, Calif.;
McLean, Va. and Chicago, Ill.
To view the article on line click here.
