Workmate gives WELtech another grip in US market

By ADAM GIFFORD

Auckland software house Enterprise Performance Solutions has struck a deal which will see its Workmate asset and infrastructure management software sold in North America by WEL Technology.

Rob Levison of Spectrum Resources, the listed technology investor which owns WELtech, said Workmate was ideally suited to the power and gas utilities which are buying WELtech's PV2 power billing and network management software.

"It's a classic piece of vertical software. It can sit well in the utility industry," Mr Levison said.

Spectrum is also interested in investing in EPS, he said.

"We would try to add value like we did with WELtech."

About 40 New Zealand sites run Workmate, including the Wiri oil terminal, James Hardie Building Products, Trustpower's 13 hydro stations, coal miner Solid Energy, Douglas Pharmaceuticals, Sanford Fisheries and Foodstuffs.

EPS director John Brabazon said overseas research indicated asset management software could reduce maintenance costs by up to 30 per cent.

The company had been looking for other distribution channels into the US where International Data Corporation and Automation Research estimate the maintenance management software market is set to grow from $US900 million ($2114 million) to $1.9 billion over the next two years.

"The market is highly fragmented, with the market leader having less than 10 per cent share," Mr Brabazon said.

The Workmate software, with built-in Powerbuilder running on a Sybase database, currently runs on Windows machines and over networks using Citrix.

A single user licence costs about $7000, but with consulting and other services most sales in New Zealand so far have been for between $40,000 and $140,000.

The next version, to be released on November 15, can be run by an ASP (application service provider) for rent over the internet on a per user, per month basis.

"Moving the software to an ASP platform will be of significant benefit to customers with lots of remote sites and those who need to manage a multitude of subcontractors," Mr Brabazon said.

"At the moment people buy a licence and some run the software over a VPN (virtual private network. But a VPN can't be used by contractors, and the trend is for organisations to outsource their maintenance."

The software is designed to reduce downtime for maintenance and improve inventory management, he said.

Specialised plant and equipment often required long lead times for maintenance, particularly if parts had to be imported from the other side of the world.

"When companies are making capital expenditure decisions to repair or replace equipment, they need systems which give them accurate information on the real costs.

"Workmate also ties in with OSH requirements, such as warning users what permits are needed to do electrical work. When a job sheet is produced, it will include all procedures which need to be followed."

He said customers are including details such as "how to" videos, photographs, CAD drawings and wiring diagrams in the Workmate database.

"One of our clients has more than 2000 wiring diagrams in their system."

It allows scheduling for up to five years, which means, for example, that if a crew is called to do an emergency repair on a remote site, they can check the schedule to see if there is any routine work they can do at the same time.

Mr Brabazon said while there are other powerful maintenance scheduling product available, many are attached to extremely expensive ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems which put them out of reach of many companies.

"They're also not user friendly. Workmate is designed for the people there on the shop floor."

Mr Brabazon said EPS is heading up the growth curve. "Revenue this year is five times last year, but it's still modest. But once you get critical mass in software [you] tend to get bigger. I expect growth next year to be five times this year's.

"We're excited about the opportunities out there. One big area of opportunity still in New Zealand is local bodies - the majority don't have any asset maintenance systems and many are managing billions of dollars of assets."