Do you have an opinion as to why the market reacted so positively to what you labeled a disaster quarter? Not trying to antagonize, just curious!
MDSI Announces Wireless Internet eBusinessStrategy and Strategic Partnership with OurHouse.com
February 1, 2000 09:59 AM
RICHMOND, B.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 1, 2000--
Mobile Workforce Management Leader to Provide On-Line Scheduling
and Wireless Dispatching of Home Services Through Premier Home Solutions Web Site
MDSI Mobile Data Solutions Inc. MDSI CA:MMD MDSIF has joined forces with OurHouse.com, the Internet's premier web site for home improvement, home services and how-to information, to provide customers with real time, on-line scheduling and wireless dispatching of home repair and home improvement services. The OurHouse.com partnership represents the unveiling of MDSI's comprehensive eBusiness strategy that extends the Company's reach to virtually any service provider in any vertical market, large or small.
Through a new eBusiness Division, MDSI(TM) will host Advantex(TM), its standard-setting workforce management software, and other mobile applications, and provide a wireless Internet connection to solve all an enterprise's mobile solutions needs. The Division is in discussions about other eBusiness opportunities with leading Internet, ASP and/or Wireless Providers.
"Our goal is to totally revolutionize the home services experience," says Philip Airey, founder and CEO of OurHouse.com. "Through this alliance, homeowners will be able to schedule home service, like plumbing or carpet cleaning, without hassle or delay and have the peace of mind to know that a skilled service provider will be at their door...on-time."
According to Ken Miller, CEO, MDSI, "As the Internet retail presence of Ace Hardware, a company with 5,100 retail locations, OurHouse.com is getting tremendous attention. The company has already been featured on a major day time talk show and a popular morning news show, secured all title sponsorship of the Florida Citrus Bowl and have Mr. Fix-It himself, Lou Manfredini, as a key spokesperson. OurHouse believes that it could sign up over 5000 service providers within the next four years."
The MDSI/OurHouse.com solution will be phased in during the first half of 2000.
With MDSI's eBusiness solutions, service providers of all sizes will be able to gain improvements in customer service and operational efficiency through advanced scheduling, dispatching, routing, optimization and wireless communication technologies previously only available to large organizations. MDSI will offer the solutions on a subscription or transaction basis, adding a recurring revenue stream for the Company.
The agreement with OurHouse.com "propels MDSI into a vast new business with incredible potential," said Miller. "But, OurHouse is only one opportunity. The wireless Internet has jump-started an enormous market. Literally any service company of any size in any vertical market of any size can now afford and benefit from our robust, proven solutions. It dramatically expands the opportunity for us in our traditional vertical markets and lets us enter brand new verticals very quickly."
Established in 1993, MDSI is the world's leading provider of software solutions that use bulletproof wireless data communications technologies to manage mobile workforces and link them to crucial enterprise information resources. "We ensure that the right person gets to the right location at the right time, with the right tools, materials and information resources," said Miller. Widely recognized as the category's best-of-breed, Advantex has been tailored specifically to meet the needs of several vertical markets to date, including telecommunications, cable, electric, water, gas, insurance, and state and local government service providers. "Today, we have over 450 people dedicated to providing solutions to tens of thousands of mobile users in nearly 100 major customers around the world. No other company can match our track record," added Miller.
MDSI is offering its wireless Internet eBusiness solutions, including Advantex, other mobile applications and the wireless infrastructure necessary to enable all of an enterprise's mobile solutions, through a Company-hosted site. The solutions will be offered through relationships with major service aggregator sites like OurHouse.com, major vertical-focused ASP's, Wireless Providers, and directly to customers. Further developments are expected soon.
MDSI is able to bring industry-leading Advantex applications to the World Wide Web thanks to the extensive development effort behind its next-generation software platform that will be released later this quarter.
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