Business process management provider scores U.K. customer win, earns praise for Sarbanes-Oxley solution
Vienna, VA July 30, 2004 Business process management (BPM) specialist HandySoft made a splash on the other side of the Atlantic recently with the announcement of a new U.K. customer and a favorable report on the provider's Sarbanes-Oxley solution from a European technology analyst firm.
U.K. development, building and maintenance company Rok Property Solutions has selected a BPM solution from HandySoft in a bid to improve the efficiency and visibility into its business processes, improve customer service, bring automation to field force management and generate management data to improve business strategy.
Elsewhere, Hull, England-based technology research company Butler Group has released an audit of HandySoft's Sarbanes-Oxley Accelerator (SOXA 2), a solution that the provider said offers the capabilities that public companies need to meet the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in the United States.
Rok Property Solutions has a network of 27 offices across the United Kingdom, providing services to develop commercial, industrial, retail and leisure premises, as well as to provide construction and maintenance services.
The company will implement BizFlow, HandySoft's BPM enterprise platform, in a three-year project reported to be worth close to $900,000. BizFlow will initially be implemented across the Rokforce division that provides maintenance and repair services to clients ranging from national retail chains to underwriters fulfilling buildings insurance claims. Rok will then evaluate extending the implementation to other parts of the business.
"HandySoft's BizFlow has a quality pedigree, and we judged it to be the best fit for Rok's business needs," said Phil Copperwheat, IT project manager at Rok. "Rok is undergoing a period of rapid growth, and we have to manage this phase very carefully to ensure that it is sustainable. As we expand our business, we need a reliable means of enforcing best practice and high service standards throughout the company."
BizFlow will control and manage Rokforce's maintenance and repair business processes. Local service coordinators (LSCs) handling customer enquiries will have a real-time overview of the available resource pool, allowing them to allocate technicians to tasks that are scheduled in Microsoft Outlook. Technicians then receive job instructions via handheld devices and inform the LSCs once the task is completed.
Rok's LSCs will be in a position to view the exact status of a job or callout, enabling them to better respond to customer enquiries, HandySoft said. Management can identify customer service bottlenecks and make rapid changes, implement best practice procedures and enforce and monitor new processes. Triggers can be put in place to preempt problems or under-delivery of service.
"We have invested in BizFlow to ensure our high service standards are maintained and improved as we grow to become the U.K.'s leading 'local' builder-developer," Copperwheat noted. "We are avoiding the restrictions of unwieldy and costly paper-based processes, and we are gaining access to an up-to-the-minute analytical view of how the business is running and where we can enhance existing processes."
"Rok's usage of BPM highlights how companies can utilize this technology to strengthen customer service in an industry where customer satisfaction is paramount," George Bennett, vice president of international sales for HandySoft. Bennett added that the Rok deal represents a first step in HandySoft's plans to expand into new vertical markets in the United Kingdom and Europe, part of the company's drive to maintain its 40 percent quarter-over-quarter growth rate from Q1.
Meanwhile, IT research firm Butler Group has just released a technology audit of SOXA 2, HandySoft's Sarbanes-Oxley Accelerator, citing the solution's potential for very rapid deployment and the graphical development interface suitable for non-IT users.
According to HandySoft, SOXA 2, built in partnership with Plumtree Software, provides the capabilities public companies need to establish the rigorous internal controls and reporting procedures that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 demands.
"By integrating its 'best-of-breed' BizFlow BPM tool, with the presentation, collaboration and communication features of Plumtree's corporate portal, HandySoft has created a rapidly deployable solution that can be run by business users," wrote Mike Davis, senior research analyst at Butler Group in an eight-page review of the solution. "The use of templates and the roll-up is particularly impressive, and the solution will be of benefit to all U.S.-listed companies and others that wish to monitor and improve the processes of their business. Two direct business benefits are the meeting of statutory responsibility and the avoidance of potential damage to corporate reputation. This is a well thought-out and intuitive application, which can be rapidly implemented."
Davis added that SOXA Accelerator version 2 offers a Web-accessed solution for all companies addressing the process and reporting requirements of the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002. "A thoroughly thought-out solution, encapsulating best practice, it is applicable to any company that is U.S. listed. Butler Group believes that SOXA Accelerator is a first-rate tool to help address the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley," Davis concluded.
For more information on solutions for business process management, see "BPM Rising," the Net Best Thing column in the October/November 2002 issue of iSource Business.
For more information on Sarbanes-Oxley, read Parts 1 and 2 of the recent SDCExec.com series on Contract Management: Five Myths of Contract Management, and Contract Management: Improving Corporate Governance.
Other recent SDCExec.com articles on Sarbanes-Oxley:
Vienna, VA July 30, 2004 Business process management (BPM) specialist HandySoft made a splash on the other side of the Atlantic recently with the announcement of a new U.K. customer and a favorable report on the provider's Sarbanes-Oxley solution from a European technology analyst firm.
U.K. development, building and maintenance company Rok Property Solutions has selected a BPM solution from HandySoft in a bid to improve the efficiency and visibility into its business processes, improve customer service, bring automation to field force management and generate management data to improve business strategy.
Elsewhere, Hull, England-based technology research company Butler Group has released an audit of HandySoft's Sarbanes-Oxley Accelerator (SOXA 2), a solution that the provider said offers the capabilities that public companies need to meet the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in the United States.
Rok Property Solutions has a network of 27 offices across the United Kingdom, providing services to develop commercial, industrial, retail and leisure premises, as well as to provide construction and maintenance services.
The company will implement BizFlow, HandySoft's BPM enterprise platform, in a three-year project reported to be worth close to $900,000. BizFlow will initially be implemented across the Rokforce division that provides maintenance and repair services to clients ranging from national retail chains to underwriters fulfilling buildings insurance claims. Rok will then evaluate extending the implementation to other parts of the business.
"HandySoft's BizFlow has a quality pedigree, and we judged it to be the best fit for Rok's business needs," said Phil Copperwheat, IT project manager at Rok. "Rok is undergoing a period of rapid growth, and we have to manage this phase very carefully to ensure that it is sustainable. As we expand our business, we need a reliable means of enforcing best practice and high service standards throughout the company."
BizFlow will control and manage Rokforce's maintenance and repair business processes. Local service coordinators (LSCs) handling customer enquiries will have a real-time overview of the available resource pool, allowing them to allocate technicians to tasks that are scheduled in Microsoft Outlook. Technicians then receive job instructions via handheld devices and inform the LSCs once the task is completed.
Rok's LSCs will be in a position to view the exact status of a job or callout, enabling them to better respond to customer enquiries, HandySoft said. Management can identify customer service bottlenecks and make rapid changes, implement best practice procedures and enforce and monitor new processes. Triggers can be put in place to preempt problems or under-delivery of service.
"We have invested in BizFlow to ensure our high service standards are maintained and improved as we grow to become the U.K.'s leading 'local' builder-developer," Copperwheat noted. "We are avoiding the restrictions of unwieldy and costly paper-based processes, and we are gaining access to an up-to-the-minute analytical view of how the business is running and where we can enhance existing processes."
"Rok's usage of BPM highlights how companies can utilize this technology to strengthen customer service in an industry where customer satisfaction is paramount," George Bennett, vice president of international sales for HandySoft. Bennett added that the Rok deal represents a first step in HandySoft's plans to expand into new vertical markets in the United Kingdom and Europe, part of the company's drive to maintain its 40 percent quarter-over-quarter growth rate from Q1.
Meanwhile, IT research firm Butler Group has just released a technology audit of SOXA 2, HandySoft's Sarbanes-Oxley Accelerator, citing the solution's potential for very rapid deployment and the graphical development interface suitable for non-IT users.
According to HandySoft, SOXA 2, built in partnership with Plumtree Software, provides the capabilities public companies need to establish the rigorous internal controls and reporting procedures that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 demands.
"By integrating its 'best-of-breed' BizFlow BPM tool, with the presentation, collaboration and communication features of Plumtree's corporate portal, HandySoft has created a rapidly deployable solution that can be run by business users," wrote Mike Davis, senior research analyst at Butler Group in an eight-page review of the solution. "The use of templates and the roll-up is particularly impressive, and the solution will be of benefit to all U.S.-listed companies and others that wish to monitor and improve the processes of their business. Two direct business benefits are the meeting of statutory responsibility and the avoidance of potential damage to corporate reputation. This is a well thought-out and intuitive application, which can be rapidly implemented."
Davis added that SOXA Accelerator version 2 offers a Web-accessed solution for all companies addressing the process and reporting requirements of the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002. "A thoroughly thought-out solution, encapsulating best practice, it is applicable to any company that is U.S. listed. Butler Group believes that SOXA Accelerator is a first-rate tool to help address the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley," Davis concluded.
For more information on solutions for business process management, see "BPM Rising," the Net Best Thing column in the October/November 2002 issue of iSource Business.
For more information on Sarbanes-Oxley, read Parts 1 and 2 of the recent SDCExec.com series on Contract Management: Five Myths of Contract Management, and Contract Management: Improving Corporate Governance.
Other recent SDCExec.com articles on Sarbanes-Oxley:
- Synchronize to Survive
- Sarbanes-Oxley: The Next Y2K?
- Survey Reveals New Findings on Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance
- Most Companies Working on Sarbanes-Oxley
- Survey: Most Companies Have Not Budgeted for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance
