Astea International and Baxter Planning Partner to Deliver a Fully Integrated Field Service Management and Service Parts Planning Solution

HORSHAM, Pa., April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Astea International Inc., a leading global provider of field service management and mobility solutions, announced today a partnership to integrate Baxter Planning's service parts planning software into the Astea Alliance Enterprise™ field service management and mobility platform. The integrated solution will offer large, complex service organizations managing parts in multi-echelon logistics networks a cohesive approach to field service management (FSM), service parts planning and inventory replenishment, enabling them to reduce total inventory carrying costs and maintain higher and more consistent service levels. The announcement comes two weeks before the Field Service Palm Springs 2019 conference where Astea will be showcasing its FSM platform at Booth #201 and Kiosk #W3 and Baxter Planning will be showcasing its service parts planning software at Kiosk #W4.

"Service organizations are constantly asking themselves two questions: what is our optimal inventory stock level and where should we store the spare parts in order to meet our service level agreements?" said Emily Hackman, Director of Global Marketing, Astea International. "There is a balancing act between keeping their inventory carrying cost low and having enough stock in the right location to fulfill their SLA obligations. This challenge is compounded by recent efficiencies that enable manufacturers to produce new models faster. With new products being introduced to the market at an increasing rate, service providers now have multiple models of installed products that they are responsible for, and the spare parts might not be compatible across all the different models. Baxter's software helps service companies overcome these challenges by utilizing an algorithm that determines the optimal quantity of spare parts they should keep on hand and the optimal location."

Integrating Baxter's service parts planning software with Astea's Alliance Enterprise will enable service companies to manage contracts and warranties, customer sites and assets, technicians, inventory and spare parts all from one comprehensive platform. Alliance Enterprise will provide master and transactional data using a standard integration model, which will minimize deployment time and investment from customer IT teams.  Baxter's solution will provide optimal inventory target stock levels and drive continuous improvement with planning analytics that automatically diagnose root causes for incomplete service calls due to lack of part availability.  This cohesive solution will help customers optimize their service supply chain and improve first time fix rates.

"Technician inventory can't be optimized using traditional methods applied to central warehouses and forward stocking locations. Unless the supply chain plan considers technician training and team assignment details found in field service management solutions, the supply chain and field service teams will not be aligned. Baxter's integration with Astea's FSM platform enables inventory optimization built upon technician attributes not considered by other supply chain planning systems," said Phillip Kennedy, CMO & EVP, Sales, Baxter Planning.

To learn more about the integrated solution, see the Astea International and Baxter Planning teams at Field Service Palm Springs 2019 or visit: Astea.com/resources/blog/2019/03/5-reasons-to-integrate-field-service-management-and-service-parts-planning-software/.

About Astea International
Astea International is a global leader in field service and mobile workforce management, including all the cornerstones of full service lifecycle management: customer management, service management, asset management, forward and reverse logistics management and mobile workforce management and optimization. Astea technology helps the world's best service-driven companies generate higher profit while properly balancing customer satisfaction and service levels through proactive communication that creates a seamless, consistent and highly personalized experience at every customer relationship touch point. Astea's solutions unify processes, people, parts, and information to focus the entire organization on the creation of sustainable value in highly competitive, global markets.

www.astea.com.   Service Smart.  Enterprise Proven.

© 2019 Astea International Inc. Astea, Astea Alliance and Astea Alliance Enterprise are trademarks of Astea International Inc. All other company and product names contained herein are trademarks of the respective holders.

About Baxter Planning
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with employees around the globe, Baxter Planning was founded in 1993 by Greg Baxter, who saw the need for a solution to address the lack of planning technologies in the market.

Now a worldwide leader in aftermarket supply chain software, Baxter helps customers plan billions in service parts inventory every day. The list of Fortune 500 enterprises and growing startups deploying solutions from Baxter include Verizon, RICOH, Stanley Black and Decker, NetApp, SONY, Johnson & Johnson, and many others. Baxter's differentiated combination of a SaaS platform featuring Planning as a Service (PaaS) enables supply chain organizations to deliver dramatic improvements in post-sales service levels while increasing profitability and cash flow.

Baxter has been on SupplyChainBrain's "List of 100 Great Supply Chain Partners" for 15 consecutive years and recognized multiple times as a "Best Places to Work in Austin." For more information, visit www.baxterplanning.com or email us at [email protected].

SOURCE Astea International Inc.

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