Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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technology technology The Vista way Omnitracs says acquisition gives it tighter focus O n Nov. 25, Vista Equity Partners formally announced it had completed its acquisition of Omnitracs, but the owners already had made something clear to John Graham, the new chief executive officer of Omnitracs. Vista is a large company with numerous vertically oriented software and data-enabled businesses. Company executives told Graham that they do not know the what and why for developing software in the trucking industry; they would expect those answers to come from Omnitracs and its collective expertise in that domain. However, Vista said it would be telling Omnitracs how to do it. Norm Ellis, vice president of transportation and logistics sales, services and marketing for Omnitracs, shared his thoughts on the Vista acquisition during a CCJ interview last month. One of the things Vista brings to Omnitracs is a set of standard operating procedures that cover every aspect of software development, from gathering the requirements to writing code, testing and deployment across all industries that it serves. "They are the experts at that, and that is exactly what we need," Ellis said. "We now have a partner that has processes on how to do the development, find the requirements and achieve a return on investment customers are OMNITRACS OPTIMIZED: New thrilled about. This owner Vista brings a set of standard is Vista's intellectual operating procedures for software development. property." Ellis said he ANOTHER ACQUISITION: Vista knew about Vista's knew that Omnitracs was interested standard operating in Roadnet and decided to pursue procedures (VSOPs) the deal. before the acquisiMORE COLLABORATION: Distion, but neither he cussions between Omnitracs and nor anyone else at Roadnet are underway to find ways Omnitracs could to work together. see them until the MAKING THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS WORK FOR YOUR FLEET BY AARON HUFF Omnitracs' Norm Ellis said new owner Vista will help his company develop new software more efficiently and faster than ever. Our customers will be the greatest beneficiary a year to 18 months from now. – Norm Ellis, Omnitracs deal closed. Now that the books have been opened, Ellis said the VSOPs will help Omnitracs develop new software more efficiently and faster than ever. "Our customers will be the greatest beneficiary a year to 18 months from now," he said. On the same date that Vista announced it had finalized the Omnitracs purchase, it added news that Roadnet Technologies – a provider of routing, scheduling, optimization and mobile resource management software – will be joining Omnitracs as part of a single organization. Omnitracs was considering buying Roadnet while under Qualcomm's umbrella but had to back away when Qualcomm pursued suitors for Omnitracs. Vista knew that Omnitracs was interested in Roadnet and decided to pursue the deal on its own. "Customers expect us to grow and add on to our portfolio," Ellis said. "We now have a perfect owner in Vista. They came at the right place and the right time." Discussions between Omnitracs and Roadnet are underway to find ways to develop more collaboration between the two enterprises. This combination especially will be relevant for fleets in need of an integrated telematics and route planning system as they move into dedicated operations to replace their customers' own private fleets, Ellis said. AARON HUFF is Senior Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail ahuff@ccjmagazine.com or call (801) 754-4296. COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | JANUARY 2014 21