Press Release
A.P.Solve Re-Launches as New International Brand Vidus
Vidus asserts quality of experience as the next benchmark in service delivery industries.
- Suppliers may think they are providing a great service, but that often results in a bad experience from the customers' point of view, and currently this is not even measured
- Delivering what was promised in the SLA does not necessarily mean the customer is left satisfied
- Service providers have run out of resource and time to do anything about it without charging the customer more. Their only option Ð work smarter
- Getting the customer experience right will mean gaining and retaining more customers Ð the most certain route to profit for service providers
On the eve of the first anniversary of its transition to independent status, a.p.solve today launches its new identity as international brand Vidus. Vidus, known for its intelligent field service automation solution taskforceª, argues that coordinating and focusing all the resources in an organization on delivering a consistent quality of experience is key to helping service providers acquire, retain and grow their customer base. taskforce is set to deliver the next benchmark for service performance in any industry where it is critical to reliably enable a quality of customer experience at the right time, the first time.
Deregulation and competition across the service industry worldwide is driving service providers to now focus on the overall experience of their customers. In an environment of growing legislative pressure and government-imposed service level agreements (SLAs), telcos and utilities, for example, are having to find new ways of managing the complexity of real world issues without driving up costs or customer dissatisfaction. One example is the introduction of the new Traffic Management Bill in the UK, which is aimed at minimising the disruption when digging up roads. In order to provide a painless experience for motorists everyone would be well served if there was a unified, up-to-the minute view of the entire resource pools across both organizations, which would allow for the management of interruptions and changes as they occur.
Delivering a service that caters to customers' requirements can be a difficult and expensive effort, as illustrated above, given the complexity and unpredictability of the real world and the many issues faced by service organizations attempting to achieve cross-coordination of their different resource pools.
Vidus' intelligent and automated software, taskforce, was designed to continuously synchronize the resources necessary to meet customer expectations. This quality of customer experience is quickly becoming the benchmark for service performance as service providers are increasingly being judged by their customers on the service experience currently delivered.
In the year since its spin-out from BT Brightstar in April 2003, (May 8 2003: a.p.solve wins £20m five year contract with BT and secures international growth funding) Vidus has seen significant growth on an international level. In the first year of independent operation, adoption of Vidus software licenses has increased by 73% and major customers now include BT, Centrica, E.ON and NTL. The organisation has established a presence internationally in Germany, Italy and Spain, and a multi-faceted partnership with US based Spirent Communications, giving Vidus early entry to the North American market.
Stuart Potchinsky, Chief Marketing Officer for Vidus says, "Our customers face a growing challenge operating in an on-demand world where their customers' service expectations are rapidly increasing. The complexities and unpredictability of synchronizing the right resources, whether it is people, expertise, equipment, timing or availability, to fulfill customer service demands have made affordable quality of experience delivery almost impossible for service providers today.Ó
Potchinsky continues, "Businesses are still traditionally structured into separate, distinct departments that are often not unified in their approach to the customer. Vidus' vision is to enable every service provider operating in a complex or unpredictable environment, whether in home services or business to business, to deliver the absolute highest quality of experience at the right price for their customers and to consistently achieve this without driving up cost or compromising service commitments.Ó
The solution has helped BT, for example, to generate 36% field productivity improvement, reduced dispatch control costs by 76%, achieve savings through automation that total £175m a year, and introduce new lucrative service offerings based on its new speed of provision and repair. Vidus will allow E.ON to manage its 1500 strong Hungarian workforce in real time with the aim of meeting two hour appointment windows in accordance with government SLAs, whilst anticipating a productivity gain of more than 30% and a 5% overall reduction in costs. Equally being able to automatically manage changes in its daily schedule as they happen will enable British Gas to transform its customer service offerings; reacting faster to customer emergencies and provide a world class service to customers at optimal cost to the business.
About Vidus
In today's increasingly complex and changing world, Vidus enables service providers to reliably provide a high quality of experience to their customers at the right time, the first time.
Vidus, formerly a.p.solve, was created to enable home service delivery providers in newly deregulated markets to deliver high-quality service experience to their customers by providing a unified, up-to-the minute view across the field service resource network. Through extensive operational research and development, Vidus' technology was purpose-built to help increase customer profitability by addressing the disconnection between customer acquisition, customer satisfaction, retention and growth.
In its first 12 months, adoption of Vidus software licenses increased by 73%. Major customers now include BT, Centrica, E.ON and NTL. With more than 100 employees worldwide, the company has a presence in the U.K., Germany, Italy, France and Spain. A multi-faceted partnership with Spirent Communications has given Vidus early entry to the North American market, and plans are in place to open US headquarters later this year.
Media Contact:
Sallyanne Wright
Vidus Limited
Tel +44 (0) 1473 696300
Email sallyanne.wright@vidus.com
