<div>ClickSoftware, an automated mobile workforce management and service optimisation solutions provider, was founded in 1996 by Prof Moshe BenBassatis. Traded over Nasdaq, ClickSoftware is a market leader in field service management. <br /><br /><strong>Udi Geismar, Head of India Operations</strong>, has been with <strong>ClickSoftware</strong> for more than 12 years in a variety of roles which helped him get a unique perspective and understanding of mobile workforce management and service optimisation across two very different continents. Geismar talks to <strong>BW Online's Poonam Kumar</strong> on how the company works and the opportunities in India.<br /><br /><em>Excerpts<br /></em><strong>How does ClickSoftware work? What is the idea behind it?</strong><br />ClickSoftware works on advanced algorithms that optimise the W6 method: Who does what, for Whom, With what, where and when. Today, ClickSoftware offers a full range of mobile workforce management, service optimisation, and mobility solutions, all aimed at helping service organisations to be more productive, complete more tasks each day, lower operational costs and increase customer satisfaction — all by managing time.<br /><br />Manually scheduling mobile workers and business assets are extremely challenging. In 1985, Prof. Moshe BenBassat, Chairman and CEO of ClickSoftware undertook this for the first time for the Israeli Air Force, helping them build their annual schedule plan for squadrons. This may sound simple; however, many people had tried to automate this plan via a computer with no success. Using his expertise in artificial intelligence and mathematics, an artificial scheduling model was produced and implemented, fulfilling the complex requirements that stumped so many before him.<br /><br /><strong>What kind of service do you provide for corporates?</strong><br />ClickSoftware offers highly flexible and scalable mobile workforce solutions for the enterprise and SMB market. The solutions are designed to help service organisations face head-on the challenges of inefficiency. By optimising everything from customer demand forecasts, employee shifts, job prioritisation, and even the specific routes that field resources take to their jobs.<br /><br />The company’s mobility solutions, which help connect workers to each other and the back office, can be configured with mobile business apps from the ClickAppStore. It is designed to support mobile field service users working in any kind of environment, offline and online.<br /><br />The ClickSoftware solutions for corporates and SMEs include:<br /><br /><strong>Planning</strong><br /><strong>Demand Forecasting Software:</strong> Safely predict future demand and accurately plan your resources<br /><strong>Workforce Planning: </strong>Minimise same-day risks by allocating resources according to availability<br />Shift Scheduling: Shifts can be staffed several days, weeks, and even months ahead<br /> </div><div><strong>Executing<br /></strong></div><ul><li><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Work Order Management:</span></strong> Manage customers, work orders and assets</li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><strong>Optimised Service Scheduling Software:</strong></span><strong> </strong>Manage the service delivery process from start to finish and handle unexpected events with ease</li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><strong>Customer Interaction Management:</strong></span><strong> </strong>Customers define and control their own service with web self-service</li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><strong>Mobile Workforce Management:</strong></span><strong> </strong>Real-time communicating with field workers including a direct link to all back-end systems</li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><strong>Location Based Services:</strong></span><strong> </strong>Estimate travel time accurately to provide reliable appointment windows</li></ul><div><strong>Reviewing<br /></strong></div><ul><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><strong>Business Intelligence:</strong></span> Provides in-depth analysis of current and historical data for immediate corrective and preventative actions</li></ul><div>The solution also finds the right balance in order to execute the high priority jobs with routine maintenance jobs – making certain that lower priority work still gets done, while ensuring operations efficiency.<br /><br /><strong>Will you please name a few of your clients?<br /></strong>We work with companies that range from utility providers, to office equipment leaders, to healthcare organizations and global communications proviers. Global clients include: Telus, Telstra, Portugal Telecom, Xerox and Diebold<br /><br /><strong>Do you work from your office or visit client? <br /></strong>We work strategically with each client to determine what works best for that organisation. We typically work with customers on site during implementation.<br /><br /><strong>In the age of global recession, as your Vodafone case study shows, does your solution reduce jobs?</strong><br />“Our customers aim for increased productivity and effieciency to help them grow. Most of our customers are growing companies, and have sought out amobile workforce management solution to ensure that they continue to offer the best customer service while adjusting to the normal growing pains experienced in any company. Or technology results in an increase in efficiency, meaning that customers can bring down operational costs while growing and better serving their customers.<br /><br /><strong>Please provide an overview of the company and market dynamics?</strong><br />ClickSoftware is the leading provider of automated mobile workforce management and service optimization solutions for the enterprise, both for mobile and in-house resources. As pioneers of the “Service chain optimization” concept, our solutions provide organisations with end-to-end visibility and control of the entire service management chain by optimising forecasting, planning, shift and task scheduling, mobility and real-time management of resource and customer communication.<br /><br />Available via the cloud or on-premise, our products incorporate best business practices and advanced decision-making algorithms to manage service operations more efficiently, in a scalable, integrated manner. <br /><br /><strong>What are your growth markets?</strong><br />ClickSoftware is growing in all markets, including emerging markets, including India, Latin America, and Russia.<br /><br /><strong>What opportunities do you see in India?</strong><br />The Indian market has a lot to offer in terms of innovations. We have come out with unique workforce automation offerings for India. We are a company that’s oriented for the mobile workforce. Our focus is on the companies whose workforce is required to accomplish multiple jobs in a single day. Our proposition is that, by deploying our solution, a company can simplify its process of assigning jobs and achieve an increase in productivity.<br /><br /><strong>What is ClickSoftware's market strategy for India?</strong><br />The Indian market has a lot to offer in terms of innovations. We have come out with unique workforce automation offerings for India. We are a software company that’s oriented for the mobile workforce. Our focus is on the companies whose workforce is required to accomplish multiple jobs in a single day. Our proposition is that, by deploying our solution, a company can simplify its process of assigning jobs and achieve an increase in productivity, while also improving the customer experience.<br /><br /><strong>How are Indian companies responding to ClickSoftware's services/solutions?</strong><br />Our technology allows for maximum efficiency, the ensure that operational costs can be kept down even in times of rapid growth. All service organisations, regardless of the size or number of field technicians, reap the benefits of our solutions. Because customer service is the last real differentiator between companies, customer service is becoming a top business priority.<br /><br /><strong>Will SMEs accept such a technology? How will you pitch it to them?</strong><br />ClickSoftware is targeting organisations which are having large number of resources which are working out of the office in the field on a daily basis. Our software is for every organisation whether it is a large enterprise or small and medium business. We have a different range of products depending on the needs of the organisation. in India<br /><br /><br /> </div>
