When Technology Infrastructure Can no longer keep up<\/h3>

Most utilities still operate on technology infrastructures designed for a market that no longer exists. Customer Information Systems (CIS), for example, were originally designed for the sole purpose of predictably billing consumption in a one-way model where the customer only consumed, and the utility only collected.<\/p>

That design no longer fits today\u2019s operational reality. Prosumers feed energy back into the grid; on the other hand, flexibility contracts require dynamic settlements, while regulators change the rules at a pace that rigid technology cannot match. According to Gartner\u2019s Market Guide for Utility Customer Information Systems, modernizing CIS platforms has become a key criterion for assessing a utility\u2019s ability to sustain its commercial operations in the medium term [1].<\/p>

The gap between what the market requires and what technology can deliver creates tangible costs: slower response times, greater regulatory risk, and customers who compare their utility experience with that of any other digital industry.<\/p>

This mismatch is, ultimately, a lack of operational flexibility. It separates utilities that are prepared to compete from those that are simply trying to stay afloat.

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Smartflex: One flexible platform for modern utilities<\/h3>

This is where Smartflex comes in, the unified customer operations platform from Open Intelligence, designed to sustain the level of adaptation the market demands today. Rather than managing each business area through separate, disconnected systems, Smartflex integrates five dimensions of flexibility into a single source of truth: regulatory, energy, commercial, product, and customer experience flexibility.<\/p>

Each dimension is supported by a specific technical component, but all share the same underlying principle: configure instead of developing. This capability allows changes to be executed in days or weeks, rather than the months or even years required by traditional software development.

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Regulatory Flexibility
Intelligent orchestration from months to hours<\/h3>

Complying with new regulations should no longer mean an IT project. Through a request configurator with a graphic no-code\/low-code interface, Smartflex allows business teams to design, adapt policies, and structure new contracts at scale without relying on costly traditional code developments.<\/p>

By parameterizing these rules, companies can roll out changes across the entire commercial cycle on a large scale, transforming a process that once took months into an agile implementation completed in 24 to 48 hours. This substantially reduces regulatory risk and non-compliance.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Energy Flexibility
Synchronizing the grid with people<\/h3>

Once regulatory rigidity is resolved, the next bottleneck usually appears in field operations. With the evolution toward smart grids, technical coordination has ceased to be static and now demands constant synchronization between grid events and the field teams responding to them.<\/p>

Smartflex addresses this operational complexity through a workflow engine with an advanced configuration tool that visually models and automates complex processes at scale, such as service contracting and technical resource allocation. The engine makes it possible to configure operational rules that distribute and control millions of work orders in parallel based on workforce location and skills.<\/p>

This large-scale automation ensures full traceability and rigorous operational control. One utility serving 1.7 million users reduced work-order assignment time by 80% and work-order execution time by 96% after implementing this workflow engine.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Commercial Flexibility
High-volume processing and parameterized rules<\/h3>

Regulatory and operational agility loses value if billing cannot keep pace. That is why Smartflex features an intelligent, flexible business rules engine that allows for the massive, parametric configuration of critical processes such as billing, credit policies, and collection strategies. This setup enables the business to model complex settlements and adapt them to new commercial guidelines without altering the platform’s base code. As a direct result of applying these parameterized rules to millions of accounts simultaneously, operators achieve a 43% reduction in billing processing times within a year.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Product and Service Flexibility
Moving beyond commodities toward the services of the future<\/h3>

To move beyond the traditional commodity commercialization model, utility operators need to diversify their offering by incorporating advanced solutions and multiservice products. Smartflex makes this possible through a flexible product and service catalog, giving customers full operational autonomy to configure, bundle, and deploy complex commercial offerings at scale.<\/p>

Thanks to its configurable architecture, commercial teams can design and launch new services or cross-selling bundles for different customer segments without technical friction. This sharply reduces time to market, transforming a process that previously took months into one that can be completed in weeks or even days.<\/p>

An example of this versatility can be seen in a utility that successfully modeled a service for prosumers, doubling its customer base and increasing its revenue. Similarly, another company in the sector implemented a new business line focused on a non-bank financing program, which enabled it to increase revenue by between 15% and 17%.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Customer Experience (CX) Flexibility
Omnichannel service and a unified data foundation<\/h3>

Today\u2019s customers expect seamless experiences, transparent omnichannel interactions, and robust self-service capabilities without the friction of human intervention. Smartflex responds with a comprehensive customer view that consolidates information previously scattered across channels and systems into a single database.<\/p>

This shared data foundation serves two purposes: it powers self-service portals so customers can resolve their own requests, and it equips agents, when human interaction is needed, with the customer\u2019s complete history, allowing them to make informed decisions without rework.<\/p>

By eliminating information silos and automating responses at scale, utilities can significantly improve service delivery, reducing customer request resolution times by 87% while achieving a 97% collection effectiveness rate.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Operational Flexibility as a Sustainable Advantage<\/h3>

Utilities that rely on legacy systems face continuous pressure from more agile competitors. Those that adopt a unified platform capable of supporting flexibility across these five dimensions can turn every new requirement, regulatory, energy-related, commercial, product-related, or customer-experience-related\u2014into an opportunity for differentiation rather than an operational threat.<\/p>

Smartflex is positioned as a natural choice to support utilities on this path because it does not address these forms of flexibility in isolation. Instead, it integrates them into a common architecture governed by a rules engine, intelligent workflows, and a low-code environment that shifts the ability to adapt from the IT department to the business itself.<\/p>

In a sector where speed of response increasingly determines which companies lead, and which simply survive, integrating these five types of flexibility into a single platform is no longer a competitive advantage, it has become a condition for survival.<\/p>

Reference<\/h3>

Gartner, 2025. Market Guide for Utility Customer Information Systems.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discover how Smartflex enables configurable utility operations at scale, helping utilities adapt to regulatory changes, automate complex processes, launch new services, and improve customer experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":52092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-articles","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n