Better Remedy paying off

By ADAM GIFFORD

New Zealand software reseller and developer Workflow Solutions is starting to earn export dollars from improvements it has made to call-centre and office automation software and from US firm Remedy.

Auckland branch manager John Clark said its call-centre template, which was built around Remedy's Action Request platform, was being resold in Asia by a Taiwanese Remedy agent.

Workflow's property management service desk application had been sold to three clients in the United States.

"While international revenue is still small, the potential is enormous," Mr Clark said.

Mini-coach operator Super Shuttle is using Remedy for its complete business system, from reservations and dispatch to accounting.

Owners Graeme Dobson and Peter King, both former Skyhawk pilots, went looking for a new dispatch system soon after buying the company in 1998, when they found its existing system could not cope with growth.

"What we liked about Workflow Solutions' proposal was the flexibility of the programming tool," Mr Dobson said.

"When you start building a system like this you don't have all the answers and won't have many until the system is up and working.

"We have a unique game - we're transport, which is generic, but the way we do it is a shared-ride concept, where we can offer reduced transfer costs by coordinating pick-ups.

"The key is we needed something to provide a collection point for reservations, and process those reservations so they could be clearly displayed to our dispatch team so they can maximise the efficiency of loading."

Super Shuttle has been implementing the system for the past year.

The first phase was to get the operations centre running, and allow the system to handle orders coming by phone, fax or e-mail.

The front end was then integrated into a backend accounting system, written in Remedy.

"We have a range of different pricing regimes and requirements, which the system had to be able to recognise," said Mr Dobson.

Phase three, being implemented now, was to create a national dispatch system, so an overseas visitor could be picked up at each centre by Super Shuttle or its associated company, Custom Transfers, on the same reservation number, he said.

Future phases would include allowing the system to notify drivers of jobs by e-mail or other data types.

Mr Dobson said that rather than installing proprietary equipment in shuttles, the company wanted to use cellphones, probably by sending data over the forthcoming CDMA network.

He said the program had information about every metropolitan area, so, for example, an operator would be prompted to ask a customer questions if there was any ambiguity - such as whether they were going to George St, Mt Eden, or George St, Newmarket.

Mr Clark said Remedy users included US retail giant Walmart and software company Oracle.

Workflow Solutions has specialised in Remedy software since 1993, and has more than 70 customers.