2008 Articles
September 02, 2008
First Thing Monday Blog: "Servigistics adds first retail customers"
Bruce Richardson, Chief Research Office, AMR Research, meets with Mike Landry, founder and CTO of Servigistics, as part of his Southern Fried Software tour.
We opened the conversation with a discussion of some of the company’s recent wins in the strategic service management market. When we were in Atlanta last summer, Servigistics was abuzz about a recent win at a well-known consumer goods company. Today, the project is live with workforce management and scheduling, and has also added the Command Center application, which provides a live display of the company’s service personnel, vehicles, and inventory.
The excitement, this year, was over a recent win at a well-known retail chain. More than half of the retailer’s service calls resulted in a follow up visit because the repair person lacked the right parts. Multiply poor fill rates times thousands of vehicles and you have a costly customer service nightmare. Servigistics is supplying software for parts pricing and workforce management. The parts pricing software can be especially profitable for less price-sensitive parts (such as a part for an air conditioner during a heat wave). The company is also installing a knowledge management system to help new hires find their own answers rather than calling experts.
“We can find $25M in 90 days … Interested?”
Servigistics has grown to nearly 150 customers. About one-third of revenues come from outside the US, with fairly even representation between Japan and Europe. Deals are also getting larger, with two said to be in the high seven figures. Part of the growth in deal sizes is the promise of huge potential savings. As Mr. Landry put it, “We can find $25M in 90 days … are you interested?”