Press Releases : 2006
gedas Gains Control and Monitoring of Pan-European IT Service Delivery with Oblicore
Global IT Service Provider for Auto Industry Implements Oblicore Guarantee™; Automated End-to-End Service Level Management Application Simplifies Monitoring and Reporting, Optimizes Service Delivery for gedas’ Customers across Europe
COLUMBIA, MD, February 27, 2006 - Oblicore, a leading provider of Service Level Management software and best practices, today announced that gedas, a global IT service provider with the automotive sector as its core market, has licensed and implemented Oblicore Guarantee™ for monitoring and reporting on IT services provided to customers across Europe.
gedas, formerly the IT services arm of Volkswagen, has successfully expanded its customer base and is now the leading IT service provider for the worldwide automotive industry. To ensure its continued growth inside and outside of Volkswagen, gedas management wanted to show the marketplace it could provide customers with reports that would clearly illustrate the value they were receiving from gedas’ services.
“By using Oblicore we are genuinely offering a new level of quality when it comes to verifying the provision of our services to customers,” said Wolfgang Schmälzle, global sales director, LOB Operational Services at gedas. “We have achieved one of our primary objectives, and that was to monitor our IT service provision automatically as well as transparently. At the same time, this transparency is helping us to be even more attractive in the marketplace.”
A key factor in the selection of Oblicore was its integrated, end-to-end service level management capabilities. After a brief pilot phase completed at the end of the 2nd quarter of 2005, gedas has completed implementations covering all services provided by gedas Germany and gedas Spain.
gedas is using Oblicore Guarantee to control and monitor centralized IT and business processes for many well-known customers. For the large European wood products company Pfleiderer AG, gedas uses Oblicore to optimize the availability and performance of SAP applications and networking infrastructure. At Audi AG, gedas uses Oblicore to ensure the effective operation of the luxury car manufacturer’s mainframe-based manufacturing systems.
Dashboard offers proactive IT control
Oblicore Guarantee continuously compares actual service delivery to promised levels of service performance. It communicates service status through on-demand and scheduled reports, alerts and Web-based dashboards. According to gedas, the integrated visualization of IT processes provided by the Oblicore dashboard has had a positive effect on IT management. Process-relevant staff members can now retrieve relevant information about those customers they manage at any time.
Commenting on Oblicore’s reporting capabilities, Wolfgang Schmälzle noted, “The alert functionality in Oblicore is proactive and reaches the appropriate staff member directly. Service level managers and other relevant staff members are informed immediately if anything in IT is running outside the defined threshold values.”
“Oblicore is proud of the success gedas has achieved with Oblicore Guarantee. We are very pleased they are expanding their deployment to support all of their European customers and internal operations,” said Jack Freker, chief executive officer, Oblicore. “gedas distinguishes itself by the quality and value of its service offerings. Oblicore helps drive these achievements by giving gedas unmatched visibility and control over service performance.”
About gedas
The information technology service provider, gedas, consults to companies primarily in the automotive and manufacturing industries on the development, system integration and operation of IT solutions. That said, the technical skills the company has gained in its core market and its understanding of automotive business processes also benefit numerous customers from other sectors, including the public sector. The IT service provider has developed a proprietary, integrated principle of thinking and working in the shape of “intelligent transformation”, consisting of three elements: creating technical applications, an integrated approach and a meaningful interface between people and technology. The company is headquartered in Berlin and operates at over 50 locations in 13 countries around the world. In 2004, gedas achieved revenues of EUR 567 million. More information is available at www.gedas.com.
About Oblicore
Oblicore is the leading Service Level Management software provider dedicated to delivering SLM, BSM and Sourcing Management solutions that drive business success. The company’s flagship product, Oblicore Guarantee™, is leveraged by blue chip customers around the world, ensuring critical IT-powered business processes are delivered in a manner that is compliant and predictable—reducing costs, improving operational performance and increasing shareholder value. Both service providers and enterprises alike rely on Oblicore’s business-focused, top-down approach to maintain compliance with SLAs, to increase customer retention and acquisition, and to keep critical business processes running smoothly. Headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, with offices across the U.S., Europe, Asia and Israel, Oblicore is backed by a strong, global investor base. For more information, please visit http://www.oblicore.com.
