A recap of the European Utility Week 2017 (EUW 2017) event and more.
It’s now been just over a few weeks since we took a stand at the European Utility Week event in Amsterdam. The theme of our booth was aligned with our global Industry Experts campaign and was a look back at the original founders of our company where, as many of you will know, “It all started in a tent.” The message that resonates here within the company is that we operate close to the customer and have deep industry insight and expertise. That was also evidenced this month at the Advisory Council we hosted in Copenhagen. This is an opportunity for customers to come together, hear what our plans are and comment on our future direction, specifically at this gathering in the Strategic Asset Management area, but more of that later.
Back to EUW2017, as you can see from the picture, we continued the tent theme by laying grass on the floor to welcome visitors and let them sample the culture and DNA of the company. As Innovation Sponsors at the event, we had the opportunity to showcase two important stories that really reflect the wide offering we now have for this space.
Never before have we had so much to offer energy and utility customers
Irrespective of the systems that you are currently running, I’m confident we have a solution that will enhance your day to day operations and more importantly, provide you with a real competitive edge on your competition.
My fellow industry director Mark Brewer used his presentation to set the energy consumer front and center in all dealings. His piece talked specifically about the many smart meter programs around the world and the importance of the customer behind the meter. He also spoke about solutions such as our new omni-channel customer engagement solution and the more established IFS Planning and Scheduling Optimization (PSO) offering for workforce resource optimization.
It’s these products that will allow us to maintain a leading position in the field service environment, which is ultimately the requirement necessary to deliver benefits such as:
- Decrease in service response times
- Dramatic improvement in service desk efficiency
- Huge reduction in need for planning and dispatch overhead
- Delivering proactive outbound customer marketing campaigns
The other solution that we touched on at EUW was our Enterprise Operational Intelligence (EOI) offering. The subject of many earlier posts, EOI is integrated into a digital transformation program that gives you the ability to visualize operational intelligence. It also links to the strategic aspirations of an organization, providing valuable insight into the changing consumer landscape in energy retailing.
Energy & Utility Advisory Council members excited by hands-on innovation experiences
As mentioned, one of the other specific energy and utility activities this month was a gathering in Copenhagen with a group of our most important customers. The Advisory Council is a fantastic opportunity for us to listen to the plans that our customers have and receive feedback on our strategy for the product.
In addition, it provides amongst other things an excellent opportunity for networking. The Energy & Utility Advisory Council provides the capability for them to input into the future development of IFS Applications. One of the most impressive parts of the meeting was the opportunity to try out a Microsoft HoloLens live and really experience the potential benefits an engineer could experience presenting all the critical asset maintenance procedures directly.
We continue to take a leading approach to the roll-out of Smart Meters and at the Smart Metering event in the UK in the next few weeks. One of our customers who has an innovative approach to smart meter installations will be showcasing their story at the Smart Metering event. Please contact me directly if you are interested in hearing more.
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