The cloud-based modeling software Capital Predictor, announced in a news release last week, uses industry-specific algorithms and data to predict how government assets such as buildings will age over a period of five to 100 years or more. The news release said that rather than planning three years out, chief financial officers will be able to use Capital Predictor to look ahead to the next 10 to 20 years in their budgets.
“Organizations, particularly in the public sector, oversee extensive infrastructure and asset portfolios. And as infrastructure ages and the rate of decay increases, budgets are increasingly under significant pressure,” said the company’s chief product officer, Jodi McDermott, in a statement. “There is rarely enough funding to remedy these concerns all at once, which is why it’s critical to be able to understand how best to prioritize spending and to prove the need for additional resources.”
Dude Solutions’ new product functionally resembles one it already offered, Capital Forecasting, although that software didn’t claim to predict an asset’s wear and tear more than 30 years out. The new product draws from the expertise of Assetic, a strategic asset management company founded in 2006 which Dude Solutions acquired in March.
Capital Predictor is a byproduct of both Dude Solutions’ ongoing interest in helping governments manage operational costs, and its business model of acquiring competitors to either launch new products or improve existing ones. As recent examples, in 2018 Dude Solutions incorporated Paladin Data Systems’ SmartGov software into its licensing suite; and in 2019 it acquired EnergyCenter from New Energy Technology, a partner whose technology Dude had been selling under the name Energy Manager, so Dude could further develop that product on its own.
