As the utility industry evolves into a more digital and smarter ecosystem, modern and cloud-based solutions have become imperative for companies to survive and thrive. To remain competitive, utilities need to ditch outdated legacy customer information systems (CIS) that restrict their ability to adapt to emerging industry requirements and meet ever-changing customer needs. Thanks to Smartflex’s future-proof design, utilities can connect technology to customer operational management, better customer experiences, and sustainable business growth.
There is no doubt that technology is transforming our world, and companies are adapting to ensure their sustainability and resilience. Utilities are no exception, as they’ve been steadily working on increasing their investment in modernization and digitalization, focusing on creating value, outstanding customer experiences, and operational efficiency. In fact, according to Gartner®, 38% of utilities will invest in application modernization and 48% will invest in cloud platforms in 2023 [1], reassuring the idea that digital transformation is shaping the future of utilities.
The problem with a traditional approach
Unfortunately, many utilities are counting on old legacy systems to run their operations which are holding them back from digitally evolving their businesses. Imagine this – using a typewriter to write a novel may have been a great idea decades ago, but now that we have computers with advanced writing software, it would be limiting to stick to the old method. Similarly, legacy systems may have worked well for utilities in the past, but in today’s world of digital transformation, they lack the flexibility and functionality needed to take advantage of emerging technologies. These systems are rigid, heterogeneous, and challenging to integrate, resulting in missed opportunities to leverage new and improved solutions and can even restrict utilities from addressing new market challenges.
M2C Functionalities*: Account management, utility services management, order processing, rate design, billing, payment processing, accounts receivable, credits & collections, and statement preparation.
Typically, legacy customer information systems are streamlined to manage utilities’ meter to cash processes. They are built on obsolete architectures that cannot be scaled effectively, making it difficult to respond to new demands and will most likely leave utilities looking for additional specialized solutions to try and plug the empty holes in the solution to stay afloat. The integration of processes within a legacy system often includes hidden maintenance costs, requires complex implementations, and specialized IT skills. This creates additional challenges for utilities to upgrade their systems or implement new technologies. These struggles of working with an outdated IT system can be significantly worse than the cost of adopting a modern solution and to make matters worse, most utilities with old legacy systems are reaching the end of their IT support.
Embrace the power of modern solutions
To meet the digitalization needs of today, utilities should replace their outdated legacy CIS solutions for a modern CIS that not only supports traditional lines of business, but is extended and future proof, allowing for continuous evolution.
A modern CIS design consolidates traditional and advanced functionalities to increase operational efficiency, optimize resources, reduce costs, and enhance customer experiences. These modern systems are cloud-focused, designed to be scalable, and have a high level of modularity, making it easy to add or remove services as needed, fitting every utility’s size and budget.
Modern solutions are also designed to be flexible, allowing utilities to integrate new technologies and upgrade the system without incurring significant costs. This makes utility digital ecosystems flexible enough to adapt to new demands and requirements efficiently. This flexibility is an essential prerequisite to work on new business models and trends like an accelerated energy transition, or economic threats like water scarcity.
By adopting a modern CIS that is built on a customer centric approach, utilities can enhance their customer experiences and increase satisfaction levels. Such systems provide customers with access to digital omnichannel communications, self-service portals, and online sales capabilities, among other features, resulting in higher customer retention rates and business growth.
Accelerate your modernization journey with Smartflex
To empower utilities to become smart digital enterprises that can thrive in an ever-changing market landscape and meet unprecedented demands, Open International created Smartflex, a modern and flexible billing and customer care solution equipped with innovative capabilities and cutting-edge technologies. This system offers a modern CIS that extends its capabilities to three dimensions: digital customer experience (DCX), meter data management (MDM), and mobile workforce management (MWM), to cover the critical aspects of utility customer operations.
Smartflex empowers utilities with flexible and future-proof functionalities to efficiently ride the wave of the industry’s digital transformation while focusing on customer experience (CX) and increasing business turnover. Here are three powerful characteristics of Smartflex that support utilities evolution:
To empower utilities to become smart digital enterprises that can thrive in an ever-changing market landscape and meet unprecedented demands, Open International created Smartflex, a modern and flexible billing and customer care solution equipped with innovative capabilities and cutting-edge technologies. This system offers a modern CIS that extends its capabilities to three dimensions: digital customer experience (DCX), meter data management (MDM), and mobile workforce management (MWM), to cover the critical aspects of utility customer operations.
Smartflex empowers utilities with flexible and future-proof functionalities to efficiently ride the wave of the industry’s digital transformation while focusing on customer experience (CX) and increasing business turnover. Here are three powerful characteristics of Smartflex that support utilities evolution:
CX-Focused:
To stay one step ahead of customer requirements, Smartflex offers CX-driven functionalities like digital omnichannel interactions, a multi-device self-service portal, personalized next-best-actions, and e-sales capabilities. These features integrated with emerging technologies like AI through chatbots, heuristics, and business rules help utilities draw comprehensive and end-to-end customer journeys to perform meaningful and satisfying interactions.
Proactive digital interactions:
To support event-driven and contextualized experiences, Smartflex provides an innovative tool called proactive interactions, a simple and efficient way utilities interact and engage with their customers in a personalized manner and anticipate their demands. By analyzing data from multiple points, designing event-triggered actions, and using chatbots through instant messaging platforms, utilities understand customer needs, even before they know they have them, and send out communications to provide unique and connected experiences.
Unapparelled flexibility:
To increase business revenue streams, Smartflex allows utilities to model and deliver suitable offers for everyone, from traditional services like electricity and water to non-traditional ones like prepaid services, maintenance and warranty services, or non-banking financing programs for white, brown, or green goods and services. With a configurable product catalog, utilities gather data across interactions, transactions, and operations to understand their customers and provide the right solution to satisfy each customer’s specific needs.
Evidently, with the utility industry rapidly moving towards a digital transformation, utilities must act now to be prepared for the future. Legacy IT systems are falling behind and simply cannot provide the flexibility, functionality, and scalability required for the market’s changing dynamics and customer needs. This leaves utilities with one obvious choice: investing in a modern CIS, like Smartflex, to remain competitive and resilient in an ever-changing world. By doing so, they can improve customer experience, reduce costs, and increase profitability while ensuring they are meeting the demands of the modern utility landscape.
References
[1] Gartner (2023) Infographic – 2023 CIO Agenda Insights for the Utilities Industry https://emtemp.gcom.cloud/ngw/globalassets/en/information-technology/images/infographics/2023-cio-agenda/2023-cio-agenda-infographics/2023-cio-agenda-utilities-infographic.pdf0
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
