Archived Copies of Warranty Week

December 2002 to Today

Extended Warranty Software: Unlike most other solutions, which are designed to integrate with passenger car dealer management systems or retail point of sale software, the new Mize offering is aimed at manufacturers engaged in the business-to-business sale of commercial service contracts.
September 14, 2017
PCMI & Ancillary Products: As the protection plan industry broadens from just break/fix coverage, new software platforms have enabled sellers to more efficiently make their offers and print the paperwork, and new ways of delivering those platforms have allowed smaller startup companies to launch and administer innovative new products.
February 4, 2016
Tavant Partners with Salesforce.com: As a platform heavy with sales force automation tools drives deeper into after-sales service and support, it gains a partner with a very deep base of knowledge in warranty management. And Tavant, gains a pathway into cloud computing and software as a service.
June 26, 2014
PCMI's Extended Warranty Management System: Service contract administrators and underwriters need software that helps them manage both claims and revenue. And increasingly, they need multilingual and multiple-currency systems that can travel with them as they expand internationally.
September 5, 2013
Warranty Workshops: Three of the four pre-conference workshops at this year's WCM Conference are built around analytics, but none require much math. Instead, they lay out the business case for analytics, and the benefits the software and services can provide. Another workshop promises to show diversified manufacturers how to gain a global view of their warranty operations.
February 21, 2013
Warranty Software Report: IDC Manufacturing Insights has documented the spectrum of claims processing tools available to warranty providers and extended warranty administrators. And like it did in March with its warranty analytics vendor assessment, the crew once again looked at each company's current capabilities, target customers, industries served, and future strategies.
July 26, 2012
Warranty Analytics Study: IDC has profiled nine of the top providers of warranty analysis software and services, ranking them on both capabilities and marketing strategies. And while SAS gets the highest score, the companies closest behind them are somewhat unexpected.
June 7, 2012
Warranty Software Acquisition: Engineering wants to talk to warranty and so does manufacturing. And warranty needs user manuals and parts from them. No single company's software can make them all talk to each other, not even a CAD/CAM company like PTC. So it bought warranty software company 4CS to round out its product line.
September 15, 2011
Implementing iWarranty: 4CS Inc. has a long history of outfitting agricultural and construction equipment makers with its Web-based warranty claims processing software. More recently, it's added a pair of electric car makers, along with two of the biggest construction equipment makers headquartered outside the U.S.
October 28, 2010
Used Auto Warranties: Signs of life are beginning to appear in the used auto industry as partnerships are formed and annual sales increases are claimed. One of the latest deals is struck between the makers of electronic contract and tax form software and a veteran administrator of service contracts sold by used car dealers.
August 6, 2009
Warranty Experts: It's one thing to hear software salesmen talk about the benefits of their products. It's something else when that company's own customers stand up and say how happy they are, despite the challenges they had to overcome. And when warranty professionals gather next month in Orlando, multiple warranty experts from major manufacturing companies will do just that.
February 20, 2009
Warranty Software: SigmaQuest debuts a new root cause analysis module that helps manufacturers reduce the scope of product recalls and cut warranty costs. It's also priced by the month and uses a Web interface to reduce the cost, time and effort needed to begin using it.
November 6, 2008
Warranty Analytics: The Warranty Chain Management Conference in San Diego next week will feature both a workshop on loss cost analytics aimed at extended warranty providers and a warranty analytics software enhancement aimed at engineers and quality managers.
February 28, 2008
Fulcrum Analytics: New software tools give warranty and service contract providers new insights into cost, revenue, and profitability. But those who use them won't talk about them, to preserve the competitive advantage these analytical tools give them.
October 10, 2007
Warranty Conference Exhibitors: In between all the keynote speeches and panel discussions in Tampa this week, WCM attendees will have an opportunity to take a look at the offerings of a diverse cross section of warranty software and service providers.
March 13, 2007
High-Tech Warranties: Designing products that can be fixed easily or replaced quickly will reduce warranty expenses. What's required, though, isn't so much better software as better teamwork and planning. Meanwhile, a hunt for patterns and anomalies also works for fraud detection.
April 11, 2006
Warranty Software: Good planning pays off as Ingersoll-Rand converts its first, second, and third business units to a new Web-based warranty claims processing system. Now, as other departments eye all that warranty data, the company looks for better reporting and analysis tools.
February 28, 2006
Warranty Analysis: Rather than becoming another "accidental" warranty software vendor, SAS Institute was driven into the market by customers such as GM and Ford.
August 16, 2005
Warranty Software: Rather than selling warranty analysis software, PolyVista sells analysis software that can look at warranty claims as easily as it can look at airline flight data or oil and gas trading records.
July 19, 2005
The Nine Lives of Entigo: After numerous name changes and shifts in focus, Entigo has returned as a player in the warranty chain management software market.
June 21, 2005
Early Warning Systems: The benefits, we suspect, are huge. But so are the costs. In an era when investments in new computer software must show a return or else, what will be the ROI for warranty analytics?
June 7, 2005
Warranty Analysis Software: Skeptical buyers and long sales cycles can be overcome with relevant demos using a customer's own data.
January 25, 2005
Warranty Seminar: Last month, a business intelligence software developer sponsored a morning seminar on the topic of the TREAD Act and warranty claims. For those who couldn't make it, here's a brief overview of the proceedings.
July 27, 2004
The Accidental Warranty Software Developer: Manufacturers pressure an electronics testing software vendor to do more to help them avoid warranty costs. As has happened to so many others, they find themselves pulled into an industry they barely noticed was there all along.
July 20, 2004
Warranty Intelligence Software: How does one launch a warranty software company that attracts John Deere and Whirlpool as early customers? And how does one attract the CIA as both an end user and an investor? Perhaps it takes equal parts skill, spunk, and luck.
May 11, 2004
Warranty Software: Is there such as thing as a company conceived and launched to provide nothing but warranty claims processing software? Apparently not, but at least two companies decided a year ago to focus almost exclusively upon warranty.
August 4, 2003
Warranty Software: In the automotive market, sooner or later virtually every software package has to interact with warranty data. And why not? Warranty is a $9 billion activity for vehicle manufacturers, with a direct impact on the bottom line. It's also one of the best available measures of a product's quality and reliability, and it could be as useful to the engineers as it already is to the accountants.
July 28, 2003
Warranty Software: There's no heading in the software catalog for it, yet all manufacturers of warranted products have to use it. At Hewlett-Packard, two companies that don't even call themselves warranty software vendors are helping the company manage its warranty costs with analytical tools that weren't designed with warranty in mind.
July 21, 2003
Don't TREAD On Me: Part 2: Service providers and software vendors assess the costs and benefits of TREAD Act compliance.
April 7, 2003