GIV Solutions: 10 years of excellent partnership with Infor

Meir Givon, CEO

Providing cutting-edge Vertical Solutions with Infor EAM

Since its inception in 2001, GIV Solutions has been a leading provider of world-class, cutting-edge enterprise management solutions and services. Leveraging the power of Infor EAM, the company develops advanced EAM suites that cater to specific verticals of the industry. Through this, the company wants to help their clients coordinate and combine human efforts, physical assets, and technology for efficient planning and maintenance. A constant gold partner of Infor, GIV Solutions represents and implements Infor EAM. The following conversation with Meir Givon, CEO of GIV Solutions, provides deeper insights into the company and its partnership with Infor.

Could you elaborate on your partnership with Infor and your customers?

We are now celebrating ten years of partnership with Infor. In 2008, after working as project managers and consultants, representing the client’s needs, we decided to work with Infor EAM for enterprise asset management as best EAM platform. Our primary focus is on smart cities, smart organizations, transportation needs and markets. The companies in this market are challenged to maintain their assets and infrastructure at low costs throughout their asset’s life-cycle, efficiently and safely, at low risks to the public and the users. We are considered to be the first company to offer solutions to a lean operational organization by helping them combine the operations, service, the maintenance, the logistics, and the financial budget. We support companies in water and Energy industry, facility management, and also smart cities and smart campuses. We are recognized and awarded as global leaders, not in terms of quantity, but in terms of functionality and innovation in smart cities and transportation infrastructure. We have our H.Q. in Israel that addresses companies in Europe, and we also have offices in North America, South America, and China.

What are the different solutions and services that you offer to your customers?

We have created vertical solutions to a variety of industries that bring the “last mile” functionality. We have GIV-CITY™ that handles Smart City activities and infrastructure management providing decisions based on data and rules. It aids in sharing real-time data between managers, employees, and tenants for constant improvement of processes and rules. We also have GIV-CAMPUS™ management system that manages Academy/Education/Training organizations in smart comprehensive software solution. It includes the complete operations and education processes at the campus by using and operating the infrastructure and resources most efficiently to provide the appropriate services and to achieve satisfaction and well-being while ensuring on-going improvement. The other vertical solutions that we offer include GIV-RMS™, for management of Operational transportation organization and infrastructure; GIV-BMS™, for bridges, tunnels and road structures management; GIV-RAIL™, for Railways and Metro Infrastructure management.

What are some of the challenges faced by your customers?

The regular ERP systems are not the best choice for asset lifecycle management of infrastructure organizations, although some vendors try to implement these solutions to them. The organizational software solutions that we offer are proven to help our customers manage their assets in a lean manner which is also cost-efficient from the customer’s point of view. Many customers in Israel have already realized that “heavy” ERP systems are not suited for their use and have switched to solutions that are based on Infor EAM. We are currently focusing on the R&D to monitor different aspects of the operation and to integrate to real-time monitoring and structural health monitoring for optimization of the assets and infrastructure by increasing the automated flow of data. We have received appreciation for this from Infor, from customers and from IT community.

In 2008, after working as project managers and consultants, representing the client’s needs, we decided to work with Infor EAM for enterprise asset management

What are the differentiating factors that help you stand out from the competition?

We have a professional team with over 20 years of experience as EAM experts who are committed to realizing our customers’ goals. We execute turnkey projects in the sense that we take full responsibility for achieving the results. We take the customers hand-in-hand to the goal and then we do not let go until the destination is reached. We take responsibility for training and assimilation, while implementing their processes.

WIN-WIN-WIN Concept: I believe these three legs are crucial for the long-term sustainability of the company—the company entity, the customer, and the professional team. When you are a knowledge-based company, you must keep the knowledge, you must keep the expertise, and you must keep the people satisfied in order to give the best service. So the added value is shared with our team of professionals which keeps them satisfied and makes them feel valuable in the company. I think the main point is that we always try to bring the highest value to the customer.

Our in-depth knowledge of R&D is another key to our success. We are supported and approved for R&D by the Innovation Authority of Israel.

Could you share some real-world use case scenarios of your solutions?

Most of the roads and bridges in Israel are managed by leveraging our solutions. Israel’s largest water company based in Tel Aviv, training academies of the Israel Police and Ground Corps of Israel Defense Forces, and smart cities form a part of our clientele.

In July 2009, the National Road Company selected Frenchizer for a 20-year outsourcing of a PFI (Private Finance Initiative) project which included rehabilitation, operation and maintenance in the north of Israel. Several solutions, both, local and global were tested to answer the contract demands regarding maintenance management software of road structures after which GIV solutions was chosen to provide a total solution. Within seven months, the system was implemented and became fully operational, and it was executed within the financial, functional, and time constraints of the National Road Company, as testified by the customer in the case-study appreciation letter.

What does the future roadmap of the company look like?

Our prime focus is on global expansion. Unlike other companies who first go out with the marketing and acquiring of funds before they have a functional or operational product, we first develop, crack the challenge, implement, test, do projects and then deliver vertical solutions that have been proven and are fully operational. We are in accelerated growth, and we are looking to get more projects in cooperation with Infor.

Currently, we are also engaged with other projects of Infor globally. In some we offer our enhancements as vertical. In the last two years, we have been getting into the distribution and implementation of additional INFOR products with full cooperation and blessing of INFOR executives, including Charles Phillips who visited Israel and met with me.