This week I attended along with 34 other Utility professionals the EUCI CIS Conference with a theme "To Revive or Rebuild?" in Chicago. This small intimate group enabled lively discussions and generated thoughtful insights into unique challenges of building a business case for change.
Kicking off the event Jon Brock of Desert Sky Group highlighted that a new CIS will rarely, if ever generate a positive return on investment and despite this fact Utilities must grapple with the decision to revive or rebuild their CIS. Updating or changing a CIS is a decision that often involves tens of millions of dollars and years of effort, so why change? Here are a few salient points as to why:
- Aging Technology Infrastructure: Dated legacy systems are sitting on infrastructure that is not manufactured or supported any more. Utilities must ask themselves if parts are required can you be assured you can get the components to continue operating your billing and customer care business processes?
- Aging Workforce: Many legacy systems are running on dated technology and the talent required to support these systems are very close to retirement. Think COBOL.
- Customers are Demanding More from their Utility: In the electronic age, customers are expecting more information and flexible access to customer service and billing information. Companies like Amazon.com are raising the bar on customer service and customers are demanding more of that type of service from their Utility Service Provider.
- Flexibility: Regulatory requirements, smart meters, and customer choice are forcing Utilities to be flexible. Aging legacy systems make for difficult configurations to respond and inflexible point to point integrations are not helping to enhance optimizing critical business processes.
- New Functionality: Can your CIS handle business processes that will optimize your operation and respond to macro economics and the introduction of new technology? Think dynamic pricing, smart appliances, electric vehicles, real time billing, customer self serve, leveraging multiple communication channels, in home displays, and remote connect/disconnect to name a few.
Change is often difficult. When you embark on a CIS implementation or change journey be prepared not to save costs or earn a return on investment but rather see it as a strategy for you to avoid costs in the future. As legacy technology ages the costs to support increasingly arise from limited availability of components to the talent that exists to support.