APi Group, Inc. Selects Astea's Service Management and Mobility Solution Suite to Fuel their Service Growth Initiative Program

HORSHAM, Pa., Aug. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Astea International Inc. (NASDAQ: ATEA), the leader in service lifecycle management and mobility solutions announces that APi Group, Inc., a leading provider of solutions for the industrial, specialty construction and life safety markets has selected the Astea Alliance solution suite to streamline and strengthen their service business reinforcing their commitment to delivering superior service to their customers and achieving corporate growth initiatives.

APi Group, Inc., with approximately 9,000 employees, has 40 subsidiaries each operating as independent companies across the US, Canada and UK. Services provided by the company's construction subsidiaries include energy conservation; industrial and mechanical contracting; industrial insulation; and overhead door installation. Other subsidiaries install fire protection, security and alarm systems; fabricate structural steel; and distribute building materials.  With nearly 200 locations, the success of APi's billion-dollar business is based on one philosophy: Offer the finest customer-driven service by using common resources and shared experiences to build a safer environment.

"Our ongoing success and competitive differentiation is driven by delivering superior, local service backed by the resources of a strong parent company. Our customers experience local, expert service and project delivery that scales to a national reach," stated Julius Chepey, CIO, APi Group, Inc. "In order to continue the level of service our customers have grown to expect, as well as grow our business, we knew we would need to deploy a cross-company service management and mobility solution. We started out by forming a cross-functional team of APi service managers and staff to develop blueprints for a consistent, improved way to deliver APi's service business. After identifying more than 200 internal and industry solutions, the selection team narrowed the list to five technology finalists who then unanimously selected the Astea Alliance solution.  Next, we conducted a full pilot implementation of the Astea Alliance solution, with 80 of our field technicians with three of our companies. After achieving positive metrics, we made the decision to roll the solution out to the rest of our service companies. We found that Astea's deep domain expertise, in conjunction with their robust solution, offered the breadth and depth of functionality, as well as the level of flexibility, that was the perfect fit for our organization's needs. We also felt strongly that Astea was a company in which we could create a long-term partnership for ongoing service success."

APi Group will be leveraging Astea's solution to:

• Improve Productivity and Streamline Processes
  • Provide field engineers access to customer service history, equipment repair records, service contracts, product information, inventory, parts availability, address and driving directions in order to ensure first time fix rates and provide the best possible service with the highest degree of professionalism.
  • All work orders on the mobile device, can be populated quickly and easily, thereby eliminating time spent on manual data entry while ensuring accurate data capture, greatly improving the work-life balance for the technician.
• Increase Service Revenues
  • Provide field engineers with the tools and information to recognize and capture additional revenue opportunities.
  • Accurate data capture, in real-time, will accelerate the invoicing process.
• Continue to Drive World-Class Customer Service  
  • Call center agents, dispatchers and field personnel are empowered with a 360 degree view of the customer, as well as powerful automation capabilities, to provide a more streamlined experience for their customers.

Astea's solution will provide APi Group, Inc. with a comprehensive and robust combination of capabilities such as Astea's HTML5 mobile workforce solution running on iPhones and iPads, field service, customer self-service, logistics, and performance management that will help to further drive and improve efficiencies across their companies, optimize  their service delivery process, as well as support their strategic growth initiative.

"APi Group, Inc. is an innovative and forward-thinking company that is always looking for ways to deliver value-added and differentiated services for their customers. Clearly, this creates a strong advantage over their competition. We are delighted that they chose to partner with Astea," said Zack Bergreen, CEO of Astea International. "Our Astea Alliance solution incorporates industry expertise and best practices to support an organization's total service operations on a single platform. APi Group is a great example of a service organization that recognizes the strategic importance that a single service management and mobility platform can have on their ability to deliver superior customer service and drive financial and operational benefits. By partnering with Astea they will also be leveraging the latest in technology and innovation to further solidify their industry leading position." 

Astea is the only solution provider that offers all cornerstones of service lifecycle management: customer management; service management; asset management; forward and reverse logistics management; and mobile workforce management with enhanced workforce scheduling optimization. Astea's solutions are seamlessly orchestrated to share and leverage information throughout the service lifecycle – removing the traditional barriers between the field and back office. With Astea's solution modularity, companies can introduce one module at a time or deploy a seamless information backbone across the entire service lifecycle continuum.

About APi Group, Inc.

APi Group is a parent to 40 fire protection and industrial and specialty construction businesses located throughout North America and the United Kingdom. We proudly trace our roots back to 1926 when A.P.I. Inc. was established as a small insulation contracting and distribution division of the mechanical company Reuben L. Anderson-Cherne. In 1980, the company launched a strategic initiative to diversify the company within the construction and construction-related industries. The company expanded into key markets, establishing both a national and international presence. Thus, the company became APi Group Inc. in 1997. Today, APi Group's projects are visited by millions of people each day. Leaders within the industrial, commercial, residential, health care and government industries continue to depend on the company to provide consistent quality and dependable services.

About Astea International

Astea International (NASDAQ: ATEA) is a global provider of software solutions that offer all the cornerstones of service lifecycle management, including customer management, service management, asset management, forward and reverse logistics management and mobile workforce management and optimization. Astea's solutions link processes, people, parts, and data to empower companies and provide the agility they need to achieve sustainable value in less time, and successfully compete in a global economy. Since 1979, Astea has been helping more than 600 companies drive even higher levels of customer satisfaction with faster response times and proactive communication, creating a seamless, consistent and highly personalized experience at every customer relationship touch point.

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

© 2012 Astea International Inc. Astea and Astea Alliance are trademarks of Astea International Inc.  All other company and product names contained herein are trademarks of the respective holders.

SOURCE Astea International Inc.