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Utilities
Here, you'll find links to the information and resources you need to make an informed Utilities software selection:
Water, electricity, waste management—all sectors of the utilities industry have been experiencing major changes in recent years. Challenges for the utilities industry arise from many sources, including the need to comply with new regulations, meet consumption demands because of global population growth, and others. To help overcome these challenges, companies in the utilities industry must update their software tools and acquire the ones that best suit their needs.
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More specific challenges faced by most companies in the utilities industry are related to
overcoming geopolitical situations and environmental regulations to ensure energy supply and to diversify fuel mixes;
ensuring optimal customer service with planned maintenance processes;
dealing with budgetary and resource constraints while still ensuring service supply;
accurately identifying and managing financial risk, in order to improve strategic decision making;
complying with regulatory requirements, such as industry safety regulations;
avoiding high costs derived from production breakdowns and subsequent maintenance and repair tasks;
and applying new billing formats to speed up return on investment (ROI) and improve profits.
Utilities companies have relationships with public services, such as education and transportation, and so need to have the tools that will help them accurately measure or estimate all services provided. These companies also need to have an accurate and reliable way of billing these services to their customers. Utilities industry organizations can use software system solutions like enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and customer care and billing (CC&B) systems, each with special functionality for utilities.
Benefits of Using Software Solutions for Utilities
ERP software solutions can provide utilities organizations with the functionality to help improve overall operations, such as managing financial information, general ledger (GL), and budgeting. ERP systems can also support tasks in areas like fixed asset management, human resources (HR), and maintenance management (for resources such as vehicles, equipment, instruments, and more).
ERP systems can address supply chain management (SCM) needs, such as procurement and contract management, as well as warehousing and inventory management. Also, SCM modules can manage transportation functions like shipment and carrier operations.
ERP systems for utilities can add value with geographic information system (GIS) functionality that helps utilities organizations track asset inventory with a GIS locator, which can also be used to highlight location hotspots for service improvements or equipment maintenance. This functionality can also be used to enhance CC&B system functionality.
CC&B systems can help organizations in the utilities industry support all customer and billing operations, enabling improvements in customer service, and updates and improvements to billing systems. Mediation, provisioning, and service activation activities can also be performed with CC&B software solutions. CC&B systems can also manage sales and marketing, and offer different types of billing to meet various billing and invoicing requirements. And, as mentioned earlier, this kind of system can incorporate GIS functionality to encourage service improvements and identify service rates geographically.
THE RISKS OF A FLAWED UTILITIES SOFTWARE SELECTION PROCESS
Not having an ERP with functionality specific to the utilities industry could mean that utilities organizations do not have the means to process financial, HR, or asset maintenance tasks. Without an ERP solution, it may be more difficult for a utilities organization to efficiently manage all back-office operations. This could mean not being able to maintain or improve process times and reduce costs.
Utilities organizations that purchase an ERP system without GIS functionality may not be able to improve maintenance processes or perform customer service analysis based on geographical localization. This could mean a loss of control over service processes, resulting in general inefficiency.
Without a CC&B software solution, organizations in the utilities industry may not be able to manage vital customer care processes. And without the ability to do tasks such as mediation, organizations will not be able to record events and track them for auditing purposes, nor generate statistics based on these events. Without these features, it may not be possible to improve event processes or measure improvements accurately.
Tasks like service assignments or service activation operations, as well as sales and marketing strategies, may not be managed accurately without a CC&B system. This could result in subpar service quality and difficulty in establishing proper billing strategies. Also, ensuring customer support process improvements and improving maintenance processes may not be possible.
Why use the Utilities Evaluation Center?
Determine which functional aspects of a utilities solution are priorities for your business.
Evaluate and understand the functionality that addresses utilities requirements.
Find the utilities solutions that are most likely to serve your business.
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