Change is slow in the Utilities industry. The last 120 years have brought about just a handful of technologies and process changes that have had long-term impact. But the impact of digital technology – and changing customer behavior – is now being felt across Utilities. Cloud and mobile technologies are creating enormous changes in the way information is managed, distributed and used. Today’s customers want to be in control of their utility consumption and billing. They have become accustomed with exceptional digital and mobile service from their telecom providers, retail businesses, banks, travel and the hospitality industries. They want the same experience from Utilities as well. That is why Customer Information Systems (CIS) are becoming critical for Utilities keen to engage and retain their customers. CIS is not a new topic of discussion for Utility executives. Various forms of CIS have been around for the last 30 years. They have been debated largely around a single question: what should be the correct Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for a CIS implementation? It has been difficult to arrive at an acceptable consensus on TCO that leads to action. 

What makes CIS essential and affordable?

However, with increasing deregulation, growing competition and ballooning regulatory oversight, the need to understand customers, improve customer service and develop better products to increase revenue has become acute. Further, CIS cannot be ignored. With metering and newer needs (from smart grids and smart systems, etc.), CIS has become essential to the meter-to-cash (M2C) process, to the creation of new products and optimizing supply. It also helps reduce cost to serve and makes way for a variety of customer- friendly payment systems. In parallel, another development has proven to be encouraging. CIS systems from providers such as Oracle and SAP have matured. Their pre-built components can be quickly configured and deployed with the assistance of System Integrators (SIs), who bring along their template-based solutions and accelerators. This leads to reduction in risk and implementation time, in turn resulting in lowered costs. Over the last few years, integrated systems have matured to the point where CIS as a Service (CaaS) has become a reality. The advantages of using CIS as a Service are varied and immediate

Delivering extraordinary results and changes

Although apprehensions around CaaS exist, we have seen progressive Utilities step up and adopt CaaS with extraordinary results. One example is of a municipally owned and operated utility in the Ohio Valley of the US. The utility provides water to about 235,000 accounts. It adopted CaaS and is now planning to offer it in the form of a Service Bureau that allows other water utilities to share the infrastructure. Similarly, a progressive power utility in Denmark adopted the model and became operational within 6 months of initiating the project.There are five important reasons why Utilities will find CIS replacement orupgrade irresistible.

• Low Total Cost of Ownership: The TCO for CaaS, as compared with traditional implementations, is at least 40% lower and the run cost can be between $1 and $2 per meter per month, depending on the size and services needed 
• It is a fully functional solution: CaaS makes the Utility future ready with fully functional solutions for enhanced customer experience, digital and mobile services, and superior M2C lifecycle processes
• It is state of the art: The latest versions of CIS solutions from leading providers are available in the as-a-service model. Other components such as analytics and Cloud CRM can be added based on requirement
• Utilities get off to an immediate start: Traditional systems take 18 months or more to implement. By comparison, the modular pre-built components, templated solutions, data migration tools, test packs and other accelerators provided by a competent system integrator can reduce implementation time to 6 months
• It is fully secure: Data can be stored in a fully-secure data center in a geography of the customer’s choice in an Oracle, Azure or Amazon Cloud environment CaaS is not a concept for the future. Customers who have become early adopters have begun to harvest its advantages and are creating a blueprint for a future-ready Utility. There is a definite window of opportunity available to other Utilities to gain an advantage in the form of enhanced customer engagement and improved bottom lines.