EDF Energy Extends Mobile Workforce Management With ClickSoftware
09 Fevereiro 2009 - 11:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Major UK Energy Company to Expand Usage of ClickSchedule to Cover
Hundreds of Sales Representatives Across South East Region
BURLINGTON, Massachusetts, February 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. (NasdaqCM: CKSW), the leading
provider of mobile workforce management and service optimization
solutions, today announced it signed a contract with EDF Energy,
one of the UK's largest energy companies and a wholly-owned
subsidiary of the EDF Group, for additional licenses and services
to manage and optimize an additional mobile workforce. These
licenses will be used to automate the scheduling and route
optimization for around 500 field sales representatives. EDF Energy
is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the EDF Group, which is among the
largest of Europe's energy groups. Generating nearly a quarter of
the UK's electricity, EDF Energy employs nearly 20,000 people, and
delivers power to 7.9 million customer homes and businesses through
its electricity networks. "We are delighted to continue to work
with ClickSoftware," said Lisa Lewis, EDF Energy project manager.
"We started with improving scheduling efficiencies around
meter-reading and expanded that out to cover meter operations.
Recently we started looking for a solution that could handle the
challenge of scheduling our field sales teams. Our successful
partnership with ClickSoftware made it a natural solution. Using a
single platform for managing our field resources within the
Customers function will mean we can leverage all of our resources
in the future to deliver improved customer service." EDF Energy has
been using ClickSoftware's optimized scheduling solution,
ClickSchedule, within its Customers function. This deals with all
domestic customers, handling everything from signing up new
customers to dealing with billing queries. It covers small to
medium enterprises (SME) and large companies. In 2001, EDF Energy
selected and deployed ClickSchedule to support the company in its
strategy to offer responsive multi-utility meter reading services
to UK energy suppliers. At the time they were looking for a proven
and usable solution to help improve work management and customer
satisfaction. In 2005 ClickSchedule was expanded out into the meter
operations group, where scheduling demands differed; requiring
lower volumes of people for one job to be managed. Now, in the
meter operations unit, up to 5,500 jobs are scheduled each week for
225 technicians. ClickSchedule provides appointment bands ranging
from AM or PM only, to two hour slots or all day appointments. In
addition, within the meter reading unit EDF Energy completes up to
10 million meter reads a year, of which 80% are electricity and 20%
are gas. ClickSchedule provides 450 meter readers with up to 150 to
200 jobs a day in urban areas. The system will now be used to
manage a sales force of several hundred door-to-door field people
who encourage households to switch energy providers. The benefits
of managing this workforce within an optimized scheduling solution
include making the process more efficient and responsive to local
market requirements. For example, if the marketing team was
planning a local campaign to encourage people to switch from their
current supplier to EDF Energy, then they would make sure to send
the appropriate number of sales people to that area to best
leverage the campaign. "It is always pleasing when an existing
customer demonstrates the confidence and satisfaction with our
solutions by leveraging them into new parts of the business," said
ClickSoftware President and Chief Operating Officer Hannan Carmeli.
"The ability of ClickSchedule to handle almost any business
scenario in human capital management is a major benefit to
organizations looking to consolidate the number of IT systems as
well as drive greater efficiencies. Scheduling sales people is a
new and exciting challenge for ClickSoftware and we look forward to
working with EDF Energy to further expand our footprint within the
organization." ClickSchedule automates scheduling by considering
myriad variables such as resource availability, skill, location,
equipment, etc. as well as real-time events in the field like
unscheduled emergencies or jobs that take longer than expected.
Factoring such information enables ClickSchedule to send the right
person to the right job, ensuring efficient work completion and
increasing customer satisfaction. About EDF Energy The combination
of EDF Energy and British Energy forms one of the UK's largest
energy companies. The combined business is the UK's largest
producer of electricity. With a current installed capacity of
around 16.5GW, we produce almost one-quarter of the nation's
electricity from our nuclear, coal and gas power stations, as well
as combined heat and power plants and wind farms. We provide power
to a quarter of the UK's population via our electricity
distribution networks in London, the South East and the East of
England and supply gas and electricity to over 5.5 million business
and residential customers. Through Our Climate and Social
Commitments we have launched the biggest environmental and social
packages of any UK energy company. The company is also a key player
in national infrastructure projects including management of private
electricity networks serving four London airports and the Channel
Tunnel Rail Link, the country's first major new railway in 100
years. EDF Energy and British Energy together employ nearly 20,000
people at locations across the UK. The combined companies are part
of EDF Group, one of Europe's largest power companies. EDF is the
official energy utilities partner and sustainability partner of the
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. About ClickSoftware
ClickSoftware is the leading provider of mobile workforce
management and service optimization solutions that create business
value for service operations through higher levels of productivity,
customer satisfaction and cost effectiveness. Combining
educational, implementation and support services with best
practices and its industry-leading solutions, ClickSoftware drives
service decision making across all levels of the organization. From
proactive customer demand forecasting and capacity planning to
real-time decision making, incorporating scheduling, mobility and
location-based services, ClickSoftware helps service organizations
get the most out of their resources. With over 100 customers across
a variety of industries and geographies, and strong partnerships
with leading platform and system integration partners -
ClickSoftware is uniquely positioned to deliver superb business
performance to any organization. The company is headquartered in
Burlington, Mass. and Israel, with offices in Europe, and Asia
Pacific. For more information about ClickSoftware, please call
+1-781-272-5903 or +1-888-438-3308, or visit
http://www.clicksoftware.com/. This press release contains express
or implied forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section
27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements include, but
are not limited to, those statements regarding future results of
operations, visibility into future periods, growth and rates of
growth, and expectations regarding future closing of contracts,
receipt of orders, recognition of revenues and deferred revenues.
Such "forward-looking statements" involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or
performance to differ materially from those projected. Achievement
of these results by ClickSoftware may be affected by many factors,
including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding
the general economic outlook, the length of or changes in
ClickSoftware's sales cycle, ClickSoftware's ability to close sales
to potential customers in a timely manner and maintain or
strengthen relationships with strategic partners, the timing of
revenue recognition, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations,
and ClickSoftware's ability to maintain or increase its sales
pipeline. The forward-looking statements contained in this press
release are subject to other risks and uncertainties, including
those discussed in the "Risk Factors" section and elsewhere in
ClickSoftware's annual report on Form 20F for the year ended
December 31, 2007 and in subsequent filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. ClickSoftware is under no obligation to (and
expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its
forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. Contacts: Joanna Giannotti
ClickSoftware, Inc. +1-781-272-5903 x2235 DATASOURCE: ClickSoftware
Technologies Ltd CONTACT: Contacts: Joanna Giannotti,
ClickSoftware, Inc., +1-781-272-5903 x2235,
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