March 2008
Vettro (www.vettro.com), the global leader in mobile on-demand business applications, announced a strategic partnership with IRTH Solutions (www.irth.com), the leading provider of underground asset protection software, to jointly develop and market robust mobile workforce applications for One Call centers serving underground utility operators, excavators, and locators.
The Vettro 360 core architecture will integrate directly with the IRTH One Call center back-end technology to provide GPS-based electronic white lining, mobile workforce mapping and tracking, as well as end-to-end ticket management. The integration process will be facilitated via standard GPS-enabled Motorola handsets and BlackBerry® smartphones.
“As one of the leading technology providers in the underground utility protection industry, we feel an obligation to champion innovations that will bring about tremendous process improvements for all stakeholders in our space,” said John Pascoe, vice president of sales and marketing for IRTH Solutions (IRTH). “Vettro is a leader in the mobile application arena, and we are pleased to bring its technology and expertise to the One Call industry. We are confident that this partnership will help revolutionize how underground utility protection stakeholders optimize their key business processes.”
As part of the launch, Vettro and IRTH will offer an exclusive “Fast-Track” Program designed to equip One Call centers with robust, cost-effective technology solutions that dramatically improve data flow quality, thus, reducing over-notifications, streamlining workforce dispatch, and improving critical damage prevention metrics for all users that interact with the One Call Center.
“We are excited to be able to make this technology available to Arizona’s stakeholders,” said Sandra Holmes, executive director of Arizona Blue Stake, Inc. “We believe the mobile solution will have a great impact on further improving both the timeliness and quality of information gathered on dig sites, especially in newly developing areas throughout the state where roads and streets are still being constructed and may not even appear yet on the maps.”
Based on a recently published company report, the use of the GPS-based mobile white lining functionality alone reduced the average notification area for locate requests by over 89.42% and eliminated over 8% of outbound locate tickets. The report conservatively estimates a potential cost savings of over $120 million nationally in the damage prevention process through use of the mobile application.
Vettro originally developed the One Call mobile application for use in a ‘proof-of-concept’ project (www.vapilotproject.com) with the Virginia Utility Protection Service (VUPS). They company was able to successfully measure the business impact and ROI of the technology for all involved stakeholders.
“VUPS has supported—if not directly influenced—the nationwide adoption of several best-practices in the damage prevention process,” said Rick Pevarski, CEO of the Virginia Utility Protection Service. “We are extremely pleased with the feedback we’re receiving about Vettro’s application and this partnership is a big step in the right direction for our entire industry.”
“Vettro has long recognized the demand for various types of mobile capabilities within the Utility and Energy sector, but our partnership with IRTH gives us a way to offer a very targeted solution that impacts a business metric specific to this industry,” said Matt Finkelstein, vice president of product management for Vettro. “Our participation in the Virginia pilot confirmed our belief that mobile applications have tremendous potential to benefit multiple stakeholders in the damage prevention industry, and our integration with IRTH allows us to better serve the underground utilities market.”
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