Real time rosters promise prompt payback

Beverley Head
Monday, 28 March 2011 13:54

Business IT - Technology

A system developed for real time scheduling of personnel is being introduced to Australia by enterprise software company IFS which is touting to its four local prospects the 10 per cent efficiency savings European customers routinely reap and the product's typical nine month payback period.

In October last year IFS bought UK based firm 360 Scheduling, which developed the software. Its largest customer is France Telecom which uses the system to schedule the workdays of its 18,000 technicians who provide service on the last mile of cable.

Internationally 360 Scheduling has 50 clients, mainly in telecommunications, utilities, hospitality, medical equipment and resources. This is its first Australian foray.

On a trip to Australia this month Laurent Othacehe, ceo of the 360 Scheduling division of IFS, said that although the company recognised the potential of Australia as a market for the product, it had not had the wherewithal to sell here until the IFS takeover. IFS, which has a team of 20 people in Australia, has already identified four local prospects according to managing director Rob Stummer.

The company is agnostic about how it will sell the tool - either integrated with its own enterprise resource planning software, standalone or integrated with third party ERP systems.

According to Mr Othacehe the tool quickly pays for itself, although he acknowledged most organisations need to engage in about six months of business process re-engineering in order to use the tool effectively. He said that an industrial washing equipment company was able to increase the number of daily service calls a technician made from three to four jobs a day.

'For a mid sized customer with 1,000 technicians, the cost of running that group is around $100 million a year,' said Mr Othacehe.

'Our customers will typically get 10 per cent efficiency savings - although France Telecom gets more than that. Ten per cent of $100 million is $10 million,' he said.

According to Mr Othacehe after the initial six months business process most organisations could expect a return on their investment within nine months.