Press Release
Vidus Selects Martin Knestrick as New CEO
Industry Veteran to Lead Growing International Field Service Automation Solution Provider
17 June 2004: Martin Knestrick, a high-tech industry veteran with established international experience, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of rapidly expanding field service automation software provider Vidus (formerly a.p.solve).
Knestrick, who has been involved with Vidus in an advisory role for the last twelve months, will now lead its growth and global expansion as it strengthens its market position as provider of the next generation of intelligent field service automation solutions. The company is focused on enabling service providers in the international telco, utility, cable and enterprise markets to reliably provide a higher "quality of experienceÓ to their customers, at dramatically reduced cost to the enterprise.
Knestrick brings over 20 years of experience in the high-tech industry to Vidus and has held a variety of board-level and executive positions including CEO, COO, Partner, Director and Advisor. He co-founded and grew the Pacific American Institute from two partners to 125 full time and 1000 part time employees in three years; has concluded approximately 20 acquisitions, corporate partnerships, licensing and joint venture deals totalling $200 million; and has managed companies in the early stages of their growth in several different technology areas and in many geographies across North America, Asia Pacific and Europe.
Commenting on his appointment, Knestrick says, "I have worked with many high-tech management teams, and have seen a lot rapidly changing markets. But, until now, I have never come across a situation with Vidus' unique history and growth opportunity. Vidus is a dynamic company with a strong team of highly qualified people and a product in taskforceª that fundamentally changes the rules of delivering world-class field service. The management team is experienced, and is committed to making Vidus the market leader in solving the complex and unpredictable issues involved in delivering customer service in the field.Ó Knestrick has been involved with Vidus since its spin-out from BT Brightstar in April 2003. As a director for the company, his responsibilities were to help drive the organisation's business plan and build a three-to-five year international growth strategy.
Vidus maintains that "quality of experienceÓ is the next true benchmark in service delivery. Its taskforce intelligent field service automation solution was designed for service organizations who have a high degree of complexity and unpredictability in their service delivery processes and must be able to address 'real-life' service challenges in order to provide a better customer experience.
Knestrick concludes, "As customers' expectations for on demand service continues to rise, the market is undergoing a major business transformation as companies realise the overwhelming need to differentiate on the way in which service commitments are set, delivered and met. Service providers recognise that they can no longer compete on cost and operational efficiency alone, but must also provide an exceptional experience for their customers every time, without compromise. Vidus has a proven solution providing real benefits today that other IT providers have tried to deliver, but failed."
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
a.p.solve
Tel: +44 (0)1473 696 300
Email: sallyanne.wright@apsolve.com
www.apsolve.com
Jo Timmins/Dan Roche
The itpr Partnership
www.itpr.co.uk
Email.anthonyd@itpr.co.uk
Tel.+44 (0)1932 578 800
