Indus International Gets Real(-time)

Indus International launched Indus Real-time Performance Management (RPM), a data warehouse and BI tool to improve asset, field service, and customer service operations. Designed in conjunction with Business Objects and Informatica, Indus RPM will provide customers with metrics and dashboards that monitor the performance of individuals and departments. This includes operational and customer-facing metrics, such as worker productivity, SLA compliance, first-time resolution rates, and other KPIs, according to Steven Roth, vice president of marketing at Indus International. Indus RPM can be integrated with Indus's core suites--Service Suite, Asset Suite, and Customer Suite--or with other data warehouse and BI products. Performance management tools enable companies to improve on key customer service areas like dispatching service personnel into the field, supply chain management (SCM) and inventory control, and customer billing and processing. These solutions benefit companies in many industries, but most notably those in utilities, high-tech, and telecommunications industries. To help deliver the performance management functionality, Indus RPM provides reporting and dashboard capabilities. Role-based viewing will let end-users tailor dashboards and reports for either the executive or manager. Process optimization will link KPIs and strategies associated with performance areas, such as customer loyalty, asset performance, and SCM. Finally, a new toolset will integrate RPM with BI technology form Business Objects and data warehouse technology from Informatica. The biggest obstacle to the deployment and/or advancement of this technology is the costs associated with integrating the hardware, software, and infrastructure into the existing business environment, according to Vigoroso. To assist customers with this, on Wednesday Indus also launched Process Improvement Practice a service to help clients develop business improvement strategies that capitalize on the capabilities of RPM. "Customer field service has become a competitive trump card," says Mark Vigoroso, vice president of service chain management research at Aberdeen Group. "Eighty percent of best-in-class firms said they were aiming to leverage superior customer service to edge out competitors. Faster response times and more first-call resolutions are building blocks of increased field technician productivity." Related articles: Mobile Field Service is a Priority in 2006 Siebel Leads the FSM Quadrant Again