Company: Road America Motor Club
Company Description: Road America was founded in 1978 as a motor club company. Road America has a management team that has more than 145 years of combined experience in the motor club industry. Today, Road America is a leader in the North America roadside assistance market, where it maintains long-term partnerships with significant corporations and services over 40 million of their customers.
Nomination Category: Information Technology Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Information Technology Department of the Year

Nomination Title: Road America Corporate Software Development Department

1. Tell the story about what this nominated department achieved since January 1 2013 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

As an international service company with a substantial technology and telecommunications infrastructure, Road America’s Corporate Software Development Department is one of the most important teams to the company’s overall success. As such, the department is routinely challenged with the ongoing development, enhancement, and maintenance of corporate proprietary enterprise applications used to conduct business throughout the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Among the department’s many accomplishments, one of the most notable has been the development of the Receive and Dispatch application, RADIISNT®, which integrates a variety of advanced technologies such as fully integrated CTI; Phone Location Services (LocateMe in collaboration with AT&T); and Automatic Dispatch Notification/Confirmation through a third-party targeted IVR solution with features such as text to speech, interfaces to Telematics devices, and interactive mapping to pin point the breakdown location of customers calling for assistance.

The architecture of the RADIISNT applications is based on self-replicating Oracle databases using Oracle Streams allowing for robust real-time 24-7 business continuity. In 2013 the application was enhanced to support an infrastructure of three remote Oracle database servers replicating via 3-way streaming. This enhanced infrastructure greatly increased the performance of the application and provided an even more robust environment for business continuity in the event of a disaster affecting one of the call centers. It also provided the extra capacity for the fast growth experienced by the company.

Also in 2013, the department successfully replaced MapQuest with Google Maps, achieving better performance and more precision in obtaining driving distances to breakdown and destination locations. In the same year, the department also developed a platform-independent web application (Drive On) that was released simultaneously for the three-major mobile device types: iPhone, Android, and Blackberry.

Additionally, the team developed a new Claims Management Systems in support of Insure & Go – a new business launched in 2013 to sell travel insurance in the US.

Another major accomplishment for the year, was the development of an automated system for dispatching providers to assist customers: Road America Digital Dispatch System. This solution has been integrated with the major third-party suppliers of digital dispatch solutions such as Beacons’ Tow Magic. This system is capable of dispatching tow operators in a matter of seconds to assist customers.

While any of these accomplishments is impressive on its own, what is remarkable is that all of these achievements were completed successfully by a very small department of only (X) team members. It is a testimony to the caliber and professionalism of this team that their contributions have been a significant factor in the company’s ability to win big and grow fast in 2013.

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2. Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated department:

Enrique Santos is the Director of Road America’s Corporate Software Development Department. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Arkansas State University (Fayetteville) and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Marquette University (Milwaukee). He is also a graduate of General Electric’s Edison Program. Enrique’s 30-year includes work with General Electric’s Medical Division where his research resulted in patents; Hewlett Packard Media Lab where he received numerous Star awards; and Walt Disney Feature Animation for credited work in several classic animated films including The Lion King.

Enrique joined Road America, a MAPFRE Company, in 2005 and has leveraged his leadership and expertise into applications that serve every department of the company through rigorous software development methodologies and recognized industry standards.