ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘artificial-intelligence’ CATEGORY

OverIT announced that, starting from October, the company will be spun off from the Engineering Group becoming an independent entity controlled by Bain Capital and Neuberger Berman.

In addition, Paolo Bergamo has been appointed as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of OverIT. Prior to joining OverIT, Bergamo was Senior Vice President Product Management at Salesforce in San Francisco, California.

In his new role, Bergamo will lead OverIT's global team, growth strategy and vision.

Bergamo has a deep knowledge of Field Service Management, with over two decades of proven global experience in the software sector. Given his track record, Bergamo is ideally placed to lead OverIT in its next phase of growth as innovator and visionary.

"The spin-off is the result of a strategic partnership between Neuberger Berman and Bain Capital, that has the goal to accelerate OverIT's internationalisation and build the global Field Service Management software leader through increased investments" said Piero Galli from Neuberger Berman.

"When searching for a new CEO to lead OverIT growth journey and reach the ambitious goals we set, we wanted someone who deeply understood not only the industry OverIT operates in, but also the ambition of our funds and the culture of a global company. Paolo has proven leadership capabilities and a track record of scaling technology businesses; we are pleased to have him join to lead the company in the next phase of growth" said Giovanni Camera from Bain Capital.

"I'm thrilled to join OverIT at such an exciting period" said Bergamo, "When Bain Capital and Neuberger Berman proposed to me the ambitious project to bring OverIT, one of the flagships of Made in Italy technology, to the forefront internationally, I felt I couldn't miss this great opportunity. I have the ambition to make OverIT an international hub for young technology talent to grow and unleash their potential".

OverIT, backed by US capital with development headquarters in Italy and main US office in Miami, is a multinational company with more than 20 years of international and cross-industry experience in Field Service Management. The firm is recognized by premier global advisory and consulting organizations as a leading vendor in FSM, Mobile Workforce Management and AR industries. providing more than 300 international customers and 150,000 Field Service users with process knowledge, innovative functionalities and cutting-edge technologies.

Bain Capital, LP is one of the world's leading private multi-asset alternative investment firms that creates lasting impact for our investors, teams, businesses, and the communities in which we live. Since our founding in 1984, we've applied our insight and experience to organically expand into numerous asset classes including private equity, credit, public equity, venture capital, real estate and other strategic areas of focus. The firm has offices on four continents, more than 1,200 employees and approximately $140 billion in assets under management. To learn more, visit www.baincapital.com.

Neuberger Berman, founded in 1939, is a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager. The firm manages a range of strategies—including equity, fixed income, quantitative and multi-asset class, private equity, real estate, and hedge funds—on behalf of institutions, advisors, and individual investors globally. The firm manages $433 billion in client assets as of June 30, 2021. NB Renaissance supports ambitious entrepreneurs and management teams with a goal to create market leading businesses. Part of Neuberger Berman since 2015, today NB Renaissance manages €2.0 billion of commitments from a pool of high-quality Italian and international investors. NB Renaissance is currently invested in 12 companies, which include some of the excellence of the Italian corporates. NB Renaissance can count on a team of 20 private equity professionals of Neuberger Berman in Italy, supported by the broader Neuberger Berman private equity platform of 245+ professionals.

Further Reading:

• Learn more about OverIT @ www.overit.it
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about OverIT on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/overIT
• Read more about AR on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/augmented-reality
• Learn more about Bain Capital @ www.baincapital.com
• Find out more about Neuberger Berman @ www.nb.com
• Follow OverIT on Twitter @ twitter.com/OverITSpA

Large-scale London property development and investment company, Almacantar, has appointed digital transformation specialist Nexer to oversee the total replacement of its CRM system, in order to facilitate increased accessibility to data and ensure the consistently high level of service expected by its clientele.

Almacantar transforms iconic property development assets in prime Central London locations, and is known for its design-led approach and focus on creating long term value. Since 2010, it has acquired more than 1.5 million sq. ft, including live projects Centre Point and Marble Arch Place.

THE OVERHAUL OF THE EXISTING CRM SYSTEM HAS LED TO MORE EFFICIENT SALES AND CLIENT ENGAGEMENT PROCESSES.

With communication and management of the client engagement process throughout the property sales and completion process being critical to achieving high levels of client satisfaction, Almacantar has partnered with Nexer to implement a Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM application that will meet its specific business needs.

Almacantar’s legacy CRM application had reached the end of its lifespan, with the business requiring an updated system that would provide increased data accessibility, improved connectivity and coordination with other applications, and smooth integration with lead generation campaigns, as well as watertight GDPR compliance and data security due to the high transaction values of its property sales.

Implementation of the new application, has delivered a more efficient and streamlined sales and client engagement process, has increased automation of client communication where appropriate, has enabled accurate tracking of all client offers, and increased operator productivity. It also provides a single source of data and document management thanks to its integration with SharePoint.

Caroline Edwards, Development Director at Almacantar Ltd said: “We chose Microsoft and Nexer for our CRM needs due to its seamless integration into the other Microsoft products in use and its adaptability to our particular needs. The Nexer team provided us with invaluable support in mapping our existing business processes into the platform and, where possible, revising these for better productivity. The result is a powerful platform that is instantly recognisable to our sales and marketing team.”

Neil Andrews, Senior Executive at Nexer said: “By selecting Microsoft Dynamics 365 for its new CRM, Almacantar has seen increased efficiency within the sales team and has improved collaboration across the related service teams.  The new platform is secure and future-proofed to support the business as it continues to grow.”

Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about Artificial Intelligence on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/artificial-intelligence
• Learn more about Nexer @ nexergroup.com/
• Find out more more about Almacantar @ www.almacantar.com
• Follow Almacantar on Twitter @ twitter.com/Almacantar_

Circle K, part of the Global Fortune 500 retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard, selects Artificial Solutions’ Conversational AI-platform to support omni-channel customer experience in multiple languages.

Artificial Solutions, a leading specialist in enterprise-strength Conversational AI, announced today that Circle K has renewed its agreement to run its Conversational AI deployments on the award-winning Teneo platform, to continue to provide support for customers and employees of its convenience retail outlets in the US and Scandinavia.

WITH THE USE OF CONVERSATIONAL AI, COMPANIES ARE ABLE TO SERVE CUSTOMER NEEDS MORE EFFICIENTLY

Conversational AI is used by Circle K to support customers through three solutions in North America and Europe:

• Kay, Circle K´s website chatbot, the one stop shop for finding the nearest location, deals and rewards
• Circle K US car wash app
• Voice bot for North American stores, that handles inquiries done via call lines, about fuel delivery times

“Conversational AI enables us to make our customers lives a little easier every day by serving their needs more efficiently. Working with Artificial Solutions has had significant benefits; Teneo has allowed the internal Conversational AI-team to build solutions faster, so that we can continue to focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences”, said Edgars Ozolnieks, Senior Manager - Digital Customer Service Solutions at Circle K.

For their deployments, Circle K is taking advantage of Teneo’s unique master-local feature. The main solution was built in English, and then exported to Swedish, Danish and Norwegian, repurposing 80% of the initial solution.

Circle K is one of the leading convenience store chains globally, and this partnership with a power-house retailer is a major validation for our technology,” said Per Ottosson, CEO at Artificial Solutions.

Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about Artificial Intelligence on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/artificial-intelligence
• Read more about Customer Satisfaction on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/customer-satisfaction
• Find out more more about Artificial Solutions @ www.artificial-solutions.com
• Follow Artificial Solutions on Twitter @ twitter.com/ArtiSol

HSO is hosting a series of three half-day thought-provoking virtual mini-masterclass on how to achieve connected field service success.

• Why do field service companies see high customer satisfaction as critical to winning new business? 
• What are the best practices regarding collecting customer feedback data? 

Find out the answers and more by registering for the first of HSO's two hour virtual mini-masterclasses on the 9th September. Live and interactive!

This is your chance to visualise the value that a fully-connected field service management system could bring to your organisation.

We have seen an increase in sophistication in the service and design strategies of the service industry, embracing technology that has been adopted, at pace, due to the pandemic.

HSO invite you to continue your digital transformation journey as they explore the shift from the first wave of service management systems, that now form the backbone of service operations, to a newer breed of service technology solutions.

Book your complimentary place now and join HSO for three 2 hour sessions where you will gain new thoughts, ideas, and initiatives that will put your organisation on the right track to exceed your customer expectations and achieve connected service success. This series is applicable to all manufacturing, service, field service, retail, public sector, or any company who would like to further develop their service measurement techniques.

Each company that attends a virtual mini-masterclass session will be eligible to receive a complimentary half-day of consultancy, consisting of 2 x 2 hour meetings, approximately 2 weeks apart.* 

Join HSO experts, plus our special guest, Kris Oldland from Field Service News, on the 9th September at 9.30am.

Check out the agenda and book your place here. 

Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about HSO on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/artificial-intelligence
• Book your spot at the Masterclass event @ www.hso.com/field-service-mini-masterclass-series/
• Find out more more about HSO @ www.hso.com
• Follow HSO on Twitter @ twitter.com/HSO_Tweets

The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)--the 159 year-old maritime organization tasked with preserving life, property and maintenance of marine and offshore assets--is launching AI-powered chat and voicebots to bring automated, conversational support to shipping companies globally.

ABS is launching enterprise-grade, AI-powered chatbots and voicebots on its ABS My Digital Fleet™ risk management platform together with yellow.ai, the world’s leading Conversational AI Platform. This marks an important industry first as no such digital solution has previously been deployed to provide shipping companies with helpful information and support in a conversational manner on a global scale. It is the latest addition to ABS My Digital Fleet’s Alliance Program. 

TECHNOLOGUY CAPABLE OF CONVERSING IN 100+ LANGUAGES DELIVERS INSIGHTS FOR SHIPOWNERS AND CHARTERERS IN A SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRY FIRST

yellow.ai’s industry-leading technology offers ABS My Digital Fleet users data-driven insights from the ocean of information streaming off vessels, increasing efficiency in managing operational risk. The AI chatbot acts as a virtual fleet manager to assist users with critical fleet tracking information, including weather, equipment and fuel monitoring, carbon intensity indicator (CII) monitoring, route optimization, generating easy-to-view dynamic charts on demand and more through the ABS platform. 

ABS My Digital FleetTM is the only customizable risk management platform that seamlessly integrates data to provide real-time insights for driving sustainable operations and reducing operational risks. The ABS My Digital Fleet Alliance Program nurtures an ecosystem of industry trusted intelligence and technology providers enabling integrated insights for clients on one unified platform.

“We are proud to be the first in our industry to employ a conversational AI-based virtual fleet manager as part of our My Digital Fleet platform,” said Smarty Mathew John, Vice President, of Digital Solutions at ABS. “As a shared solution for shipowners, ship managers and charterers, this will allow us to provide actionable insights for each stakeholder regarding which vessels from the fleet need their attention and why in a fast, helpful and conversational manner. Questions asked can be as simple as which vessels are not meeting charter party requirements or EEOI targets or have non-functioning critical equipment or where to bunker for lowest fuel cost. There are a lot of possibilities. With yellow.ai, ABS can continue building on its commitment to deliver cutting-edge insights and an unrivaled user experience.”

“Our deployment with ABS shows just how critical a role conversational AI can play in supporting the organizations that are tasked with keeping people and property safe,” said Raghu Ravinutala, CEO and Co-Founder of yellow.ai. “We are very proud to be working with ABS to take chatbots to the vanguard of their potential while demonstrating how our cutting-edge technology is setting the pace for innovation in the industry and redefining how people interact with an organization’s intelligence.”

More information on ABS My Digital Fleet is available here.

Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about Artificial Intelligence on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/artificial-intelligence
• Read more about Fleet Management on Field Service news @ www.fieldservicenews.com/fleet-management
• Learn more about ABS My Digital Fleet @ ww2.eagle.org/my-digital-fleet
• Find out more more about ABS @ ww2.eagle.org
• Learn more about yelllow.ai @ yellow.ai

Augmented reality (AR) has replaced artificial intelligence (AI) as the most disruptive emerging technology, according to a survey by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s latest report, ‘Emerging Technology Sentiment Analysis Q2 2021’, reveals that 70%* of industry professionals surveyed stated that AR would disrupt their industry most out of a selection of  seven emerging technologies AI, cybersecurity, cloud computing, IoT, blockchain, and 5G, in addition to AR. This was a sharp increase from the previous quarter, where only 51% selected AR. In addition, 58% said they had become more positive towards the technology over the last 12 months.

AR IS EXPECTED TO BECOME MORE DISRUPTIVE THAN AI, 5G, BLOCKCHAIN AND OTHER EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES.

Filipe Oliveira, Senior Analyst at GlobalData, commented: “This change in how people see AR will likely be long term, and not just a temporary blip. It is clear that people are warming towards the technology, even if they don’t believe that it will make a big difference tomorrow.”

When asked when AR will disrupt their industries, survey respondents were cautious. They expect the impact to be felt later in the decade. While more than half of Q2 respondents said that cybersecurity and cloud computing are already disrupting their industries, only 24% said the same about AR. Moreover, only 10% think that the disruption will come in the next 12 months.

The same pattern was observed when respondents were asked which technologies would live up to all their promises. More than 60% expected cloud computing and cybersecurity to deliver fully, but only 26% expected the same from AR. Further, 50% of respondents said that the technology was hyped, but they could see a use for it.

Oliveira added: “The contrast between the large share of respondents that said AR is disruptive and the low share that said AR was already disrupting their industry suggests that there is some way to go before AR becomes ubiquitous in business. However, several conditions are aligned to make the promotion of AR as a business tool easier.”

COVID-19 has put some AR use cases in the spotlight, namely in healthcare and ecommerce, and new uses are continuing to emerge. For example, in April, Delta Air Lines announced that it would equip all flight attendants with AR technology delivered via 5G to enhance training and help staff with in-flight catering.

Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about Augmented Reality on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/augmented-reality
• Read more about Artificial Intelligence on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/artificial-intelligence
• Find out more more about GlobalData @ www.globaldata.com
• Read more about GlobalData on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/globaldata

The largest telecommunication company in the Americas has selected OverIT's SPACE1 to help transform the customer experience for their broadband and television services for their users in the Americas.

SPACE1's unique ability to combine augmented reality-powered remote assistance with guided digital instructions delivered improved interactions between agents and customers, resulting in the telco group choosing SPACE1 during testing to replace their existing remote assistance platform.

This Telco giant was looking for a solution that could support the following: 

1. Real-time customer engagement from SMS or WhatsApp for session control and collaboration
2. Digital work instructions for agents
3. Intelligent indexing and re-purposing of interactions for training and knowledge management

Agents being able to interact easier with end-customers by having preliminary virtual calls to triage results in reduced field technician visits to customer homes by 50% and improved first-time fix rates by 70%. Using Artificial Intelligence, agents from 7 different call centers are equipped with more efficient tools in real-time. They can interact, capture, and record their experiences with the end-customer, which are then processed by and shared within the entire organization.

One of the Telco group's essential requirements was the ability for SPACE1 to integrate seamlessly into their current tools. SPACE1's proven track record with integration has presented them with the right choice for their business compared to other AR providers.

"The selection of OverIT's SaaS offering by the largest Telecommunications group in the Americas marks a new milestone for OverIT's SPACE1 supporting B2C business models. OverIT's industrial-grade AI-based remote collaboration and knowledge management platform is unparalleled in the industry and the only capable of offering complex virtual collaboration scenarios. This contract definitely strengthens the explosive growth of the subsidiary in North America", said Alejandro Nestares, SVP and GM OverIT Americas.

Backed by US capital with development headquarters in Italy and main US offices in Boston and Miami, OverIT is a multinational company with more than 20 years of international and cross-industry experience in Field Service Management. The firm is recognized by premier global advisory and consulting organizations as a leading vendor in FSM and AR industries. 

Further Reading:

• Learn more about OverIT @ www.overit.it
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about OverIT on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/overIT
• Read more about AR on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/augmented-reality
• Follow OverIT on Twitter @ twitter.com/OverITSpA

Leading global provider of consulting, compliance checks and engineering support for the security, reliability and cyber security of industrial products, H-ON Consulting relies on OverIT's SPACE1 to provide users with an advanced, immersive and unprecedented remote collaboration experience.

The company's remote collaboration system called DIV-CO Collaboration System, for the technical management at customers' facilities, required integration with a component to be dedicated to certification processes and product compliance inspections of industrial manufacturing end customers remotely, with significant benefits for more agile and efficient procedures.

H-ON Consulting choose OverIT's SPACE1 Augmented Collaboration, a high-tech product combing Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence. SPACE1 offers advanced collaboration features for connecting H-ON Consulting's expert technicians with their clients, conducting inspections, tests, certification processes and compliance checks on industrial machinery entirely from remote, relying on real-time sharing of audio/video streaming, product checklists, 3D models, multimedia files and AR notes.

The integration of SPACE1, has resulted into major benefits for H-ON Consulting, such as a 20% increase in the efficiency of its operational staff, improved safety in the execution of product certification operations and significant time and cost savings, thanks to a 30% reduction in travel and the consequent downtime for the execution of large projects.

"In choosing OverIT, we were certain that the solutions provided would exceed our expectations," says Francesco Rosati, Marketing Director at H-ON Consulting. "In addition to the most apparent advantages, such as those related to cost and time reduction, the integration of SPACE1 has allowed us to access advanced post-intervention reporting features and to improve the organization of works both internally and for our customers, enabling us to collaborate remotely even in noisy environments with poor connectivity."

H-ON Consulting is an international provider of consulting and engineering services for the safety and reliability of industrial products. They provide engineering consulting for product safety and technical support for product certification.

Backed by US Capital with development Headquarters in Italy and main US offices in Chicago and Miami, OverIT is a multinational company with more than 20 years of international and cross-industry experience in Field Service Management. With more than 500 professionals, OverIT supports over 300 customers and more than 150,000 Field Service Users. The firm is recognized by premier global advisory and consulting organizations as a leading vendor in FSM and AR industries.

Further Reading:

• Learn more about OverIT @ www.overit.it
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about OverIT on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/overIT
• Read more about AR on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/augmented-reality
• Learn more about H-ON Consulting @ h-on.it
• Follow OverIT on Twitter @ twitter.com/OverITSpA

In this article we look at how the adoption of new digital technologies can help your business grow with simPRO, leading field service management solution for service, maintenance and project contractors.

Businesses in the building services sector are increasing efficiency and growing their business faster, by trading outdated manual processes for new digital technologies.

At the top of the list? Cloud-based job management software that streamlines project, service, and maintenance workflows in one end-to-end solution.

Harnessing this technology and its mobile features lets you access the most accurate and up-to-date information pertaining to project progress, billing and invoicing, scheduling and dispatch, inventory and more, all from one central location. This eliminates wasted time spent linking essential data from disparate sources, gives full visibility into your numbers, and streamlines communication from the office to the field. So how does digitising your operations help your business grow? Here are the top benefits of cloud-based job management software.

1. Streamilined Team Management

With all information accessible in the cloud, teams are able to view real-time awareness of job progress and location of field staff, in turn, enhancing job scheduling capabilities. You can make scheduling changes as they happen, closing gaps and keeping your team productive.

2. Improved Productivity

Field staff can access job information, site history and even request inventory without returning to the office. Any updates from the field sync in real-time via a mobile app. By giving your team the information they need, when they need it, you reduce travel time, increase productivity and expand capacity to find new revenue streams or take on new jobs.

3. Clear and Effective Communication

Communication between office and field should not end once a job has been dispatched. It should be ongoing and instant, enabling efficient processes and a seamless experience for the customer. Cloud-based job management software streamlines all communications in one easy-to-access portal.

4. Optimised Business Management

Investing in software to digitise your business leads to reduced overheads through automated workflows, centralised data and integrations with third-party applications. In the office, replacing manual, time consuming tasks such as data entry with automated workflows frees up resources to focus on value adding activities and minimises error.

5. Clearly Identify Where You Are Making and Losing Money

Capture all of your data from each job, in one centralised location, accessible from anywhere. You can also clearly identify where you are making and losing money through job costing and profitability reporting, and use collected data to optimise workflows, analyse the profitability of customers and inform hiring decisions.

Learn more about how simPRO can help grow your business at simprogroup.com.

Contact:

T: 0800 622 6376

W: simprogroup.com

Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Learn more about simPRO @ simprogroup.com
• Read more about simPRO on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/all-about-simpro 
• Follow simPRO on Twitter @ twitter.com/simprosoftware