Columbia Gas Wins AberdeenGroup's Achievement Award for Process Excellence: Syclo's Mobile Product Suite Enables Columbia Gas to Win the Process Excellence Award

The Aberdeen award recognized companies that understand the value of mobile technology as a best business practice and the efficiencies it introduced to their operations. Recent winner, Columbia Gas replaced its paper-based system with Syclo's mobile products to automate and streamline such functions as work order management, equipment condition monitoring and electronically prepare federal government-required audit reports.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. (Issues Wire / PRWEB) November 29, 2007 -- Syclo, a leading provider of mobile computing solutions, announces that its customer Columbia Gas Transmission received the Aberdeen Achievement Award for Process Excellence at the Chief Service Officer's Summit in Boston, MA. The annual Summit is hosted by AberdeenGroup, a Harte-Hanks company, to outline best-in-class service chain practices and deliver actionable recommendations for service chain leaders worldwide to take back to their organizations for heightened post-sales service.

This award recognized a company that understood the value of mobile technology as a best business practice and the efficiencies it introduced to its operations. Columbia Gas replaced its paper-based system with Syclo's mobile products to automate and streamline such functions as work order management, asset condition monitoring and electronically prepare federal government-required audit reports.

Columbia Gas Transmission, a natural gas energy distribution company and subsidiary of NiSource Inc., was one of the organizations highlighted in the AberdeenGroup 2007 report titled "The Convergence of Field Service and Asset Maintenance" by Mickey Long and Sumair Dutta. The company first came to the attention of AberdeenGroup researchers when they read a case study issued by Syclo about Columbia Gas Transmission's use of its mobile product suite to extend the functionality of its data backend system to its technicians in the field

The report said the company is "Using Technology to Drive Maintenance Excellence." Since implementing mobile in 2001, Columbia Gas has reaped benefits in many areas. For example, the time the company takes to prepare government-mandated compliance audits decreased from weeks to a few hours, saving it 19-28 labor weeks per year.

"Our research team found that Columbia Gas Transmission is the perfect example of a company which has made significant positive process change , recognizing the value of mobile technology as a best practice that now touches so many aspects of its operations," said Micky Long, Research Director, Service Chain Management, AberdeenGroup. "We honored the company for being at the forefront of adopting a technology that is now the standard among best-in-class organizations."

"We congratulate Columbia Gas Transmission for receiving the Process Excellence Award for the leadership they demonstrated in their service chain. Their vision and adoption of mobile technology makes them a model of excellence for other companies to emulate," said Joe Granda, Executive Vice President of Marketing, Syclo. "The use of mobile technology is a trend that will continue among the leading-edge companies like Columbia Gas Transmission."

About AberdeenGroup, a Harte-Hanks Company
Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen ™ for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information -- Opportunity -- Insight -- Engagement -- Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen at http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.

About Syclo
With 12 years of experience and unmatched execution expertise serving over 750 customers, Syclo helps organizations with mobile workforces who must streamline workflow and improve productivity. Syclo delivers quick ROI by offering rapidly deployable mobile software applications built on a 100% configurable mobile Agentry™ platform. Syclo's SMART Suite includes prepackaged and preintegrated applications for the fastest path to mobilize enterprise systems. Unlike other mobile solutions, Syclo simplifies enterprise wide deployments with a leading strategic architecture for one or more mobile applications while letting you concentrate on business processes. Syclo also sets the standard for adapting to rapid change. For more information, visit www.syclo.com, or email info@syclo.com.

Syclo and Agentry are trademarks of Syclo LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

Copyright 2007 Syclo LLC. All rights reserved. 10075500-423

For product information contact Angela Nikolaros
+1 847.713.9110
Syclo EMEA office contact David Hartwell
+44 1488 639109
Media inquiries contact Mark Curatolo
+1 847.713.9101

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