ARDI @Road (MM)

@Road, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDI), a global provider of next-generation solutions for Mobile Resource Management (MRM), today announced the introduction of the @Road(R) Dynamic Capacity Management (DCM(TM)) Suite. DCM is a powerful capacity management solution designed to optimize field service planning, capacity control and appointment management by using intelligent automation that can continually synchronize available resources in line with ever-changing customer needs and preferences. DCM builds on existing @Road capabilities for Field Service Management and is available to both new and current customers. "As field service delivery becomes more complex, it becomes increasingly difficult and expensive for businesses to meet customer demands and commitments," said Leo Jolicoeur, @Road chief marketing officer. "DCM helps businesses overcome these challenges through a multi-tiered approach that is designed to enable field service organizations to plan what activities should be performed in what locations, help them control capacity usage throughout the organization, and allow them to negotiate commitments with the customer on actual and planned capability." Within the @Road DCM Suite are three key components: an Intelligent Appointer; a Capacity Controller; and a Capacity Planner -- each designed to work in tandem while interacting in real-time with the flagship @Road Field Service Management solution -- Taskforce -- for a seamless cycle of field service optimization. More specifically, the Capacity Planner is designed to plan what activities and resources should be in what location based on key performance indicators (KPIs) and forecasting systems. The Capacity Controller, on the other hand, is designed to execute against the plan and control capacity usage throughout the organization. The Capacity Controller is also designed to balance demand versus available capacity working on known demand -- originating from Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and reconciling it with Taskforce. The Intelligent Appointer, meanwhile, is designed to make base commitments on actual and planned capability, make detailed feasibility checks on commitment times where needed (for both appointed and non appointed tasks), and then reserve the customer-agreed appointments. The Intelligent Appointer can also make an initial check to determine whether sufficient capacity exists to make a customer appointment, and then if necessary makes a more precise assessment by looking within the live schedule to return the cost/risk of the commitment. "Our research shows that 83% of leading companies indicate field service optimization is core to improving their competitive positions," said Mark Vigoroso, vice president of service chain management at Aberdeen Group. "True field service optimization requires service organizations to maintain the most cost-effective, productive, and profitable service chain at all times -- especially in the face of a myriad of constraints and interruptions." A key capability of the @Road DCM suite is that it has been designed from the outset to integrate with Taskforce as a comprehensive solution for Field Service Management. Therefore, the same methodology and sets of tools in Taskforce, which control scheduling of resources, also control capacity. This provides for an integrated approach to business planning and execution. The established Taskforce(TM) product also provides extensive capabilities for the optimized management of appointed and non-appointed work. Taskforce's dynamic scheduling is designed to optimize work both in terms of cost and value. It is designed to quickly deal with events that could otherwise reduce the quality of the schedule. "We designed DCM to integrate with and leverage our Taskforce solution so that the right level and type of resources could be planned for each field service area," Jolicoeur said. "Feedback from Taskforce into DCM on actual work is designed to ensure that the full benefits of this integration are dynamically maintained." The main business case for the @Road DCM solution is that it is designed to give businesses and field service organizations improvements in the following areas: -- Service delivery offering -- supporting short response times for high value work streams as well as maintaining quality of service -- but avoiding over-committing the resources -- Cost control -- giving a comprehensive view of resource assignments vs. workloads and costs -- Field efficiency -- dynamically and optimally controlling the flow of multi-skilled resources to where they are needed at the point of commitment, and avoiding under-committing the resources -- DCM also delivers Automated KPI management -- the ability to automatically manage the Service Delivery Function based on Key Performance Indicators -- with minimum human interaction. About @Road @Road, Inc. is a leading global provider of solutions designed to automate the management of mobile resources and to optimize the service delivery process for customers across a variety of industries. @Road delivers Mobile Resource Management solutions in three key areas: Field Force Management, Field Service Management and Field Asset Management. By providing real-time Mobile Resource Management infrastructure integrating wireless communications, location-based technologies, transaction processing and the Internet, @Road solutions are designed to provide a secure, scalable, upgradeable, enterprise-class platform, and are offered in on-demand software delivery, on-premise or hybrid environments that can seamlessly connect mobile workers in the field to real-time corporate data. @Road is headquartered in Fremont, Calif., and has a global presence with offices in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information on @Road solutions, visit www.road.com. Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. These factors, risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, customer acceptance of the DCM Suite; the ability of Taskforce and/or the DCM Suite to decrease customers' costs, improve their productivity or increase the quality of services they provide; and general economic and political conditions. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the @Road Report on Form 10-K dated March 22, 2006, and in @Road's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. @Road, the @Road logo, and Taskforce are trademarks or registered trademarks of @Road, Inc. and its subsidiaries.