iQNewsletter February 2010

In this Edition:-

IQMarket

ARC Advisory Group Review - Oniqua Manage MRO the Right Way.

Oniqua recently gave ARC a thorough demo of Oniqua Analytics Suite (OAS), which is their unique, comprehensive set of solutions for managing MRO materials.  While most EAM and ERP systems have modules for managing MRO materials, Oniqua’s solution takes this to the next level, enabling owner/operators to optimize their performance in this critical aspect of Asset Performance Management (APM).  

Having the right MRO materials on hand is critical to ensuring high availability of asset-intensive operations.  At the same time, MRO materials are a major expense for owner/operators, representing hundreds of millions of dollars in annual expenditures for many organizations.  So reducing MRO materials has become a key focus for many APM initiatives.  Balancing these two conflicting goals is the essence of good MRO Material management and Oniqua’s OAS solution provides the tools users need to accomplish this. 

For the full article and review - please CLICK HERE (Registered Visitors to the ARC site can obtain copies).

Back to Top

IQHightlights

Oniqua Celebrates 20 Years of Success in Optimizing the Performance of Fortune 500 Companies and
Other Asset-Intensive Organizations

This year, Oniqua celebrates 20 years of proven success in optimizing the business performance of asset-intensive organizations. The company has laid a strong foundation for its milestone year by increasing its global footprint, launching new strategic product initiatives,signing new customers and expanding deployments across existing clients..

Over the course of the year ending December 31st, 2009, Oniqua signed new and expanded agreements with some of the world’s leading organizations across the mining, oil & gas, utilities and transportation industries, including ConocoPhillips, Ergon, Energex, ActewAGL, Vale, Alcoa of Australia, Lihir Gold, Xstrata Copper and Orange County Transportation Authority.

These new and expanded clients enhance Oniqua’s ever-growing client base, which includes seven of the world’s top 10 mining companies, two of the top five oil and gas companies, utilities customers spread across two continents and other global industry leaders such as Anglo Coal, Minara Resources, BHP Billiton, BP, Freeport McMoRan, Newmont Mining Corporation, Integral Energy, Ok Tedi Mining, Rio Tinto and Santos.

“We are very pleased and humbled by the commitment our customers have demonstrated to Oniqua over the years,” stated Andy Hill, CEO, Oniqua, “and we’re extremely honored by both the quality and quantity of the world-class organizations that continue to rely on our solutions for their business needs. They clearly recognize the benefits that the Oniqua Analytics Suite and our services can bring to their bottom line, and their loyalty is a strong testament to the reliability and performance of our solutions offering.”

In addition to many new client engagements, other key milestones achieved and strategic initiatives launched by Oniqua in the past twelve months included:

• Enhanced product offering, including:
• Oniqua Analytics Online, a new software-as-a-service OAS offering;
• Major upgrade to its flagship Oniqua Analytics Suite;
• Web-based catalog standards dictionary;
• New sustainability initiative
• Increased global footprint:
• Oniqua expands North American office;
• Oniqua moves headquarters to larger building to accommodate for continued growth;
• Company expansion:
• Oniqua hires new core team to provide enhanced focus on Utilities industry;
• Oniqua fortifies consulting and services teams;
• Industry accolades:
• Oniqua awarded two prestigious awards from the Premier of Queensland in Australia;
• Increased customer engagement:
• Oniqua launches new User Advisory Forum;
• Oniqua conducts Oniqua User Forums and Regional Workshops in both the U.S. and Australia.

“Oniqua’s asset performance management and analytics solutions were first developed back in 1990, following original and ground-breaking research that led to the creation of unique statistical algorithms specifically applicable to the demand profiles experienced by asset-intensive companies,” stated Lindsay Clarke, president of Oniqua, Inc. “Our internal development team’s efforts continue to produce feature-rich analytic capabilities, while our services, support and delivery teams continue to help our clients perform more efficiently and effectively in their respective industries. We look forward to continuing and extending our leadership position for many years to come as we work closely with our blue chip customer community.”

Oniqua New Appointment

Oniqua are pleased to announce that Greg Krason has joined us as Senior Technical Consultant for The Americas, and will be based in our Denver, Colorado office.  In this role, Greg will be providing first point of contact for the Denver Help Desk (1-888 ONIQUA1), and will be assisting customers with technical support enquiries. Mr Krason has a very strong technical and applications support background, including reporting solutions such as Business Objects and Crystal Reports, which are used by Oniqua Analytics Suite (OAS). He also has a thorough knowledge of ERP systems like Mincom Ellipse Reporting Solution (MERS), ranging from the installation and configuration of Business Objects, troubleshooting performance issues with the Web Intelligence suite of reports, designing and developing universes  and developing tailored reports for customers.

Oniqua Analytics Online

Take advantage of Oniqua Analytics Suite online. Delivered to your organization via a Software as a Service (SaaS) model you can access Oniqua's analytic products through the internet without the need for hardware investment or supporting infrastructure. For a single monthly fee, Oniqua will provide:

• Provide access to the hosted analytic environment for select modules - Inventory, Procurement and Maintenance.
• Ensure the environment is secure and regularly backed up to ensure high-levels of availability
• Conduct the monthly periodic update (assumes option selected)
• Perform system administration functions necessary to ensure reliable access to environment
• Implement software updates (patches and point releases)
• Discuss and quote to implement major software updates (eg new functionality)
• Support desk

The client is responsible for the following:

• Operating the environment in accordance with Oniqua's recommendations
• Ensuring monthly data extracts from their host ERP system are posted on the Oniqua Analytics Online FTP site.
• Ensuring host ERP system updated (eg ROP/ROQ) recommendation are implemented promptly.
• Providing access to Oniqua's Analytics On Line Service using Remote Desktop services through the internet (may require firewall configuration and bandwidth).

Find out more:- talk to David Watkins (APAC) or Steve Sotwick (US), our Analytics Online specialists.

ARC Advisory Forum Wrap Up

February 8-11, Oniqua attended the 2010 ARC Advisory Forum, which was held in Orlando, Florida. Many attendees and presenters travelled to Orlando from distant corners of the globe, including Oniqua’s own CEO,Andy Hill. Others fought the somewhat bizarre weather to attend — including more than two feet of snow in the Washington, D.C. area!

The ARC Forum provided Oniqua a unique opportunity and gathering place to network with industry analysts, potential partners, customers and prospects. It is through these combined efforts that Oniqua works to improve and expand its products and services to customers by refining and clarifying our messages; researching and assessing complementary products that might further enhance our solutions offering; and exploring additional channels of distribution to maximize product accessibility and delivery.

In addition to keynotes, breakout sessions and one-on-one meetings, some of the more popular activities were the panel discussions. Andy Hill participated in one of these panels, entitled “Winning IT Strategies for Asset Performance Management”.  This session began with case-studies of the Asset Information Management strategies being adopted by leading companies to gain control of their information assets. Following this Sid Snitkin, a leading ARC analysts, facilitated the panel discussion, which included Andy Hill and other owner/operators and IT solution providers, and discussed current challenges and future directions in IT technology and solutions for Asset Performance Management.  

Overall, the Oniqua team that attended the event saw it as a major success! So much so that we will likely attend the event next year, and are open to potentially teaming up with one of our customers to co-present a case study. Any takers?