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Wessex Water Implements ClickSoftware to Improve the Management of the Mobile Workforce and Field Service Operation

Posted on: Thursday, 11 December 2008, 07:02 CST

BURLINGTON, Massachusetts, December 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd (NasdaqCM: CKSW), the leading provider of mobile workforce management and service optimization solutions, today announced that Wessex Water, one of the UK's largest water suppliers, has selected and started to implement ClickSoftware's ServiceOptimization Suite. This includes ClickSchedule, ClickPlan, ClickForecast and ClickAnalyze to ensure its field technicians arrive on time, work productively and meet customer and regulator expectations.

Wessex Water provides water services to 1.2 million people and sewage services to 2.5 million people over a 10,000 square-kilometer region in the Southwest of England. The company had been using an in-house system to enable 30 schedulers to allocate work to more than 700 technicians in the field. The system required schedulers to manually match technicians to jobs, which was labor-intensive and often delayed response.

"Our mission is keep our customer satisfaction rate at 99.7% or better," said Dave Copeland, head of IT at Wessex Water. "That's not easy to do with manual processes. Following an extensive evaluation of products in the market, it became obvious that the proven experience of ClickSoftware in the utility and water industry, in conjunction with their comprehensive suite of solutions to manage the entire service chain, would drive enormous benefits both now and into the future. ClickSchedule, ClickForecast and ClickPlan will play integral roles in our IT infrastructure, which will also feature a new asset management system."

Wessex Water will deploy ClickSoftware's ServiceOptimization Suite to manage field technicians across several lines of business including clean water, waste water, infrastructure, metering and customer appointment booking. First to be implemented will be ClickSchedule to ensure all on-site visits for installation, maintenance and repairs occur on time and efficiently. Street-level routing capabilities will automatically provide the best route for technicians to take between jobs, ensuring they spend more time serving customers, not traveling.

The company will use ClickForecast to predict future demand for maintenance and repair on the hundreds of thousands of pumps and other equipment it has installed. ClickPlan will ensure Wessex Water has the right capacity to meet the demand for all of the maintenance, repair and installation work predicted by ClickForecast.

"Knowledge is everything when it comes to effectively managing your field operation, and ClickSoftware will give us the knowledge and decision-support tools to better serve our customers," said Copeland. The company will have further insight into technician productivity and the effectiveness of its service operations using information gathered in ClickAnalyze business analysis software. ClickAnalyze will provide a holistic view of everything from on-time arrivals to repair times, while allowing managers to track service-level indicators like travel, workload, asset repair and maintenance. This information will prove invaluable when reporting back to the industry regulator OFWAT.

"Wessex Water already has a solid reputation in the industry and among its customers," said Professor Moshe BenBassat, Chairman and CEO of ClickSoftware. "It is laying the groundwork to build on that reputation by deploying our integrated, end-to-end service optimization solution across the business. Wessex Water joins a growing list of companies that have recognized that effective management of the field operation starts way before the day of service. Combining proactive management, utilizing forecasting and planning, with real-time, dynamic scheduling enables organizations to truly streamline service delivery management, maximize resources, minimize costs and gives customers confidence they'll receive the service they need, when they need it."

About Wessex Water

Headquartered in Bath, Wessex Water is the regional water and sewage treatment business serving an area of the Southwest of England, covering 10,000 square kilometers including Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, most of Wiltshire and parts of Gloucestershire and Hampshire. It is a subsidiary of YTL Power International of Kuala Lumpur. For more information, visit http://www.wessexwater.co.uk.

About ClickSoftware

ClickSoftware is the leading provider of mobile workforce management and service optimization solutions that create business value for service operations through higher levels of productivity, customer satisfaction and cost effectiveness. Combining educational, implementation and support services with best practices and its industry-leading solutions, ClickSoftware drives service decision making across all levels of the organization. From proactive customer demand forecasting and capacity planning to real-time decision making, incorporating scheduling, mobility and location-based services, ClickSoftware helps service organizations get the most out of their resources. With over 100 customers across a variety of industries and geographies, and strong partnerships with leading platform and system integration partners - ClickSoftware is uniquely positioned to deliver superb business performance to any organization. The company is headquartered in Burlington, Mass. and Israel, with offices in Europe, and Asia Pacific. For more information about ClickSoftware, please call +1-781-272-5903 or +1-888-438-3308, or visit http://www.clicksoftware.com.

This press release contains express or implied forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those statements regarding future results of operations, visibility into future periods, growth and rates of growth, and expectations regarding future closing of contracts, receipt of orders, recognition of revenues and deferred revenues. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or performance to differ materially from those projected. Achievement of these results by ClickSoftware may be affected by many factors, including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding the general economic outlook, the length of or changes in ClickSoftwares sales cycle, ClickSoftwares ability to close sales to potential customers in a timely manner and maintain or strengthen relationships with strategic partners, the timing of revenue recognition, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, and ClickSoftwares ability to maintain or increase its sales pipeline. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are subject to other risks and uncertainties, including those discussed in the "Risk Factors" section and elsewhere in ClickSoftware's annual report on Form 20F for the year ended December 31, 2007 and in subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Clicksoftware is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd

Source: PR Newswire

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