Risk Matters X.0

From Projetech to Naviam: Reshaping the Reliability Landscape

• ABS Group • Season 2 • Episode 3

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In this episode of the Risk Matters X.0 podcast, host Frank Morphis sits down with Darrell Tucker, Director of Business Development at Naviam, to explore the company's bold rebrand and its impact on the asset management landscape. They discuss how Naviam, formed by uniting nine top-tier Maximo-focused technology companies, is driving innovation and efficiency for global clients. Tucker shares insights on the rebrand’s role in enhancing commercial networks, streamlining operations and delivering quick wins for organizations at any stage of their asset management journey. This engaging conversation highlights the exciting future of Naviam’s partnerships and its commitment to transforming risk and reliability for enterprises worldwide.

Frank Morphis:

Welcome everyone to the newest episode of the Risk Matters X.0 podcast with ABS Consulting. My name is Frank Morfis and I'm your host. Our goal continues to be bringing our listeners insights from experts from all industrial sectors, ultimately aimed at getting their take and highlighting their value in all things, risk and reliability. I'm honored to be joined today by Darrell Tucker, director of Business Development with Naviam. Darrell has worked with Naviam and formerly Progetech for just about 15 years and is an expert in helping organizations in their asset management journey in multiple capacities. Darrell, it's so good to have you, man. I appreciate you joining the podcast today.

Darrell Tucker:

Hi Frank, thanks for inviting me, absolutely.

Frank Morphis:

Absolutely. This one's going to be fun. Darrell and I have spent a ton of time together Super excited to see where we go with this podcast. And, daryl, we won't hold this against you, but, if I'm correct, you're an avid Cincinnati Bengals fan, correct?

Darrell Tucker:

I am a diehard season ticket holding member of America's team, the Cincinnati Bengals.

Frank Morphis:

Being a Cowboys fan and some of the other folks out there. We might disagree with that last statement, but that's OK. What do you?

Darrell Tucker:

think and high expectations for the upcoming season. I think that if you can score 40 points against us, you'll win, because we're going to give up. We're going to give up 38, 39 a game, so we'll see what happens.

Frank Morphis:

Fair enough, fair enough. I can imagine you guys are slinging the ball around the field, though. So awesome. Well, we'll get down to business here. Obviously, I've kind of mentioned it a little bit, not only you and I going back the last couple of years, but I know that you and ABS Consulting go way back back to our days, probably as Genesis Solutions, and I'd like to kick things off by having you share a quick story about the partnership that you've had with us for the last couple years. How has that evolved?

Darrell Tucker:

Yeah, it's kind of wild when you think about it. My first engagement with your team was 10 years ago. It was January of 2015. I think we were literally just helping out a small municipality and then fast forward to today we're now partnering on, you know, some massive projects. You know, obviously, your specialty. You know life sciences and pharmas were in that, or utilities and manufacturing and just ultimately it's just been this incredible ride for both teams to watch everyone grow, evolve, take on these bigger and bolder challenges and you know it's kind of a little bit of humbling beginnings to now we're attacking these enterprise level, you know, customers together and so the journey is. That's where the journey has kind of taken us. It's exciting, absolutely.

Frank Morphis:

Yeah, and I think we'll touch on a lot of those points in the podcast today, or at least a handful of them. But I think the coolest thing to me is is in working with you guys, just being able to meet folks wherever they are in their journey in the beginning, um, kind of being raw, being new to those that are in the middle and those that you know feel that they have it mastered. Uh, so it's. It's been a pleasure working with you folks and, you know, looking forward to to what we have in the future. Um, so I'd love to give you an opportunity here for those that are new to Naviam, allowing you your elevator pitch for who you guys are, where the name came from. This is probably the hot topic for the podcast.

Darrell Tucker:

Yeah. So Naviam, the name, it's new and I think I'm still kind of working on that elevator pitch. I tried it a couple of times to a certain level of degree. So Naviam N-A-V-I-A-M the N-A-V-I stands for navigating, the A-M is asset management. So navigating, asset management is ultimately how we came up with the name. So it might be a new name but, trust me, the foundation is kind of built on where we came from, so it's still rock solid.

Darrell Tucker:

So ultimately it was, you know, a bold move. So we united initially, a couple months back, we initially brought together seven top tier technology companies in the Maximo space, each specializing in asset management. Fast forward, just a couple months later we're already up to nine and so that number is going to grow and each one of them kind of brings this crucial piece into the puzzle of streamlining and optimizing, modernizing the asset management journey. So the impact ultimately, itizing the asset management journey so the impact ultimately it's already been very massive. And so if we were going to say elevator speech, you know today Naviam, we are a team of 350 plus professionals. We're spread out across four continents, we're supporting in some capacity over 900 maximum environments.

Darrell Tucker:

Yeah, and that's not just impressive, it's kind of a reflection of scale and trust and consistency that we're trying to bring forward with the brand as a whole. So the purpose of this consolidation it's really to advance asset management, to drive innovation in the cloud services, unlock real, tangible value for customers, bundle our IP and services for customers as part of our core offering. And then, from my perspective, you know, I'm honored to commercially help lead the global cloud services division, so I get to work with this incredible team that's rolling out this next generation solutions across the globe, and so this is more than a rebranding, this is kind of a rebirth and it's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun.

Frank Morphis:

Yeah, that's exciting. We're all excited, both my group, abs Consulting and, I'd imagine, a handful of the folks that are listening to this. So, yeah, thank you for walking us through that Kind of talking to the driving force there right behind why you guys rebranded. I know that M&A is huge right now. The economy's booming. Things are crazy. Some would say Things are exciting. Others would probably reference it that way. I would imagine that you personally were pretty close to this venture and to these engagements. Could you shed some light on what this process has been like for listeners that are going through something similar or maybe are even in the consideration phase of something similar?

Darrell Tucker:

Yeah. So I had a unique opportunity to be a little bit of a fly on the wall during the whole merger and when I say fly on the wall, I'm talking about a fly on the wall way back there. So thankfully I was invited into a couple of the grown-up meetings. My mentor allowed me to stay a little bit engaged again, from far away, but ultimately I got the opportunity to listen in, to learn, quietly, root for positive outcomes and, candidly, obviously I'm very ecstatic with where we landed, I guess this Maximo ecosystem. So it's deep into what I call the great consolidation, the shift, this change.

Darrell Tucker:

It didn't begin with us, it didn't. It started five plus years ago with some firms that we both know quite well. Our approach might be a little different, maybe unconventional, but it kind of reflects what I believe is a natural evolution of the space. So ultimately, I feel the Maximo customer base it is maturing. There are larger customers, companies they're more complex organizations rising expectations, unfortunately rising cost.

Darrell Tucker:

The market is super competitive and Maximo isn't the only game in town anymore, right? So every player in our world, in this ecosystem, no matter how talented, how much IP you have, your value drivers, they need to be thinking about how to do more smarter, how to build, to scale, and so that's why I truly believe what we're seeing is the start of what could be more mergers in the future. It's not just a consolidation, it's a recalibration of the market, a way to, ultimately, each of us to position ourselves, to be leaders and not just survive, because I guess, at the end of the day, it's all about delivering value to the customer and the day it's all about delivering value to the customer, and in that we're all kind of on the same journey ultimately. So, yeah, I think it's going to continue.

Frank Morphis:

Yep, yeah, daryl, I appreciate you going through that, but it leads me really into one of the next topics that I had for today, and you referenced IBM, maximo and as a nod to different technology integrations. There are some folks that are utilizing Maximo now. There are some that have utilized it in the past and may even be considering going down that route in the future, or even now, right. So, in terms of commercial networks, we both know that they're super critical for the folks that are listening to this podcast and the folks that we work with day in and day out. How does this rebrand strengthen those networks, especially in terms of reliability and efficiency?

Darrell Tucker:

Well, let's start with efficiency. So, from our perspective, we have a sharper focus on operational efficiencies and we think that's going to be a game changer for us. We've updated our brand messaging. We've made it clear we're building systems that reduce friction. So, you know, think fewer delays, clearer workflows, smoother transactions. It's like tuning up the engine of a commercial network. Everything runs cleaner, faster, it's more predictable. You know this is going to help our network of partners like ABS, so it's going to hopefully build trust with the process and the platform. It's going to create this domino effect. So fewer interruptions, faster resolutions, a lot less guesswork.

Darrell Tucker:

From, I guess, a reliability standpoint, I think this is where it gets even more interesting. So Naviam isn't just saying we're reliable, we're building the infrastructure to prove it. So that includes our investments in various companies and technologies and innovations that reinforce this system. Resilience, and so, if you think predictive analytics and scalable solutions and streamlined communications, things get very, very interesting. What does you know ultimately, frank, does that mean for the network? Well, it's going to mean fewer outages, more uptime, a platform you can count on, a platform that the customers can count on when they need them most. So some really good things with reliability.

Frank Morphis:

Yeah, that's awesome, and you mentioned uptime there, right? I think that any of these episodes that could be the title and it would draw people in. I think that's what we're all driving for.

Darrell Tucker:

Absolutely, I 100% agree Absolutely.

Frank Morphis:

So I'll ask you this one, and it's typically a tough question, right? But most folks, when they're on their path in reliability or they're looking at efficiency, so many people are looking for that quick win, right, that feel good. Why are we doing this? And here's a short answer to it that keeps us going right. For those that are focused on reliability specifically which you and I would both say should be everyone there are a lot of benefits. But for those that are in the infancy of their journey they're just starting what specifically can they look forward to?

Darrell Tucker:

You know, I just had this conversation with a customer a couple weeks ago. It's a brand new customer for us. It's actually a brand new customer in this asset management space Not a very large one at all. So they, too, were looking for your words quick wins and so what we talked about was we were talking about visibility, specifically from this person's role as an administrator in the organization. How was this person going to share with his team lead?

Darrell Tucker:

This was the right decision for them, and so the conversation quickly moved to topics like data. One of the first benefits quick wins that needs to be brought to the table is this cleaner, consolidated visibility. So, even if you're just starting out, this means finally seeing your data in kind of one place, in real time, without having to chase it across various emails and spreadsheets and dashboards. So that's huge, because you know, at the end of the day, you can't fix what you can't see, and when you can trust your data, you can start making smarter calls, even without a massive digital transformation budget like these folks happen to have. So I think that might be one good example.

Frank Morphis:

Yeah, daryl, thank you so much for that. The next thing I want to move to and we've touched on it a little bit we've touched a little on customers, without name dropping. Obviously. We've also touched on partners and some of the work that we've done with you guys as a partner. Sadly to say, there are many partners of yours out there Focusing on that a little bit. What do you see changing for partners? Is there now more business opportunity with Naviam or is it strictly just kind of streamlining offerings? Can you?

Darrell Tucker:

shed some light on that for us, frank, more business opportunities period, with us being able to sharpen our value proposition around our global cloud services and our IP. We can bring to the table. We not just reposition ourselves. We're expanding the size of the playing field. Ultimately, that means new markets, new enterprise clients, and they're all being drawn into this network. So, especially if we're looking into areas that ABS excels at, like modernization, reducing risk, wanting to scale at a smarter you know some of the things that your customers are asking for. You guys have deep roots into risk management and asset optimization and compliance. So it's a green light for new solutions and co-selling opportunities that I believe that we're going to be able to present to you.

Frank Morphis:

Awesome. Yeah, we love it. We love it. And for the Maximo community specifically, does this rebrand mean new tools, new integrations? I think you've alluded to some of that Support models. Does that change? I would imagine it grows. What should we be excited about?

Darrell Tucker:

It might be the single most exciting piece for me. So all the tooling from the multiple companies that we're acquiring that have come on board. It's not being shelved. That tooling isn't being shelved, it's not being sunset. It's being evaluated, optimized, integrated into something greater. So think like a unified out-of-box offering that's going to be seriously robust that we can take as the market. So what does that mean in practice? Solution bundles that actually solve needs, part of our core offering. And that's where it's starting to get a lot. It's starting to become very fun day in, day out, as we actually think about what is not imaginable. We're starting to bundle that stuff together and package that stuff.

Frank Morphis:

Yeah, absolutely, and if we're being honest, you know we run into organizations all of all the time that are that are utilizing multiple partners or utilizing multiple you know different practices or products or or whatever that may be right. Being able to consolidate those things is, I would imagine, something that everybody listening here is is super excited about.

Darrell Tucker:

We're excited to show you what's next.

Frank Morphis:

That's awesome. It's a little forecasting there. I like it. So, talking some more about the opportunities, there are some that you and I are working now or our organizations are working together now and the folks that we're talking to. We had one, last week actually, where we had to explain the Naviam rebrand and what it meant moving from the name Progetech being on paper right. That feedback was folks were excited. Has the excitement been consistent across the board? I mean, I hate to ask the question, but has there been any negative feedback or confusion?

Darrell Tucker:

So there's definitely buzz there, definitely excitement about, about what's going on right now. I guess, uh, uh, negative excitement or negative feedback. I, I, we, we do find ourselves answering many questions around. Why does the project tech website not work anymore? Yeah, are you still gonna have swag at the shows? Are you going to have socks and shirts with your name? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, if I can sweet talk, marketing to free up some money, yes, but everything's been great. Everything's been great.

Frank Morphis:

That's awesome. I've got a couple pairs of socks and they're pretty good, so as long as I'm still allowed to wear those as we go out and walk trade show floors, we'll be good to go. Yep, awesome, well, great, I appreciate it. And just kind of wrapping things up here, we always like to provide our listeners with just some forward-thinking insights, reinforcing the benefits for reliability professionals, for end users, for other folks that, as I mentioned before, may be partnered with Naviam. If you had to sum up this rebrand in one sentence, you know, for maintenance and for reliability leaders, managers, whoever that may be I don't know if this is your you know hashtag or your LinkedIn blurb, but what would you say to sum up Naviam's rebrand?

Darrell Tucker:

For maintenance or a reliability manager. Yeah, specifically Naviam is like going from a toolbox full of random IKEA parts to a NASA control center, but without the anxiety.

Frank Morphis:

Yeah, I'll be honest, I got two little girls and I've had to put together a couple of IKEA furniture, whatever's, and it's a brutal process. So I think a lot of folks can get behind the excitement there. Yeah, that's fantastic. And the last thing that I'll ask you is for parting wisdom, leaving our audience here with a little bit of inspiration or confidence Again. We've talked about M&A. We've talked a lot about asset management journey Anything that you can add to either of those items as parting wisdom for listeners, you know I get a lot of questions about what we're going through, what we're doing, what we're trying to accomplish now.

Darrell Tucker:

I would say the topic always goes back to growth, and so my position is growth isn't just about acquiring and buying companies. It's about building a bigger table so everyone has a seat at the table, and maybe that means we just have to buy a few extra pizzas.

Frank Morphis:

Sure, yeah, that's really good and I think we've alluded to it multiple times but just doing whatever we can, however we can, to just strengthen the operational components of what the organizations that we work with are doing. Operational components of what the organizations that we work with are doing right, making them more reliable, giving them confidence in everything that they do, whether that's technically or, you know, in terms of reliability, it doesn't really matter what it is, and it's exciting to see what you guys are doing on the Naviam side. So, darrell, I just want to thank you again for joining today. It's been a pleasure. Look forward to any opportunity to do this with you. Again, thank you for inviting me. This was a blast, awesome, and I do want to urge all of our listeners to visit abs-groupcom and Naviam to learn more about our partnership and how we are transforming risk and asset management. Until next time, I'm Frank Morphis. Thanks for joining.