CRM - December 2007 - (Page 20)

MARKET FOCUS: ENERGY/UTILITIES TOP VENDORS IN ENERGY/UTILITIES: C trouble spots and speeding the dispatch of work crews, says Todd Julius, chief Analytics are increasingly leveraged for insight into customer behavior technology and customer solution manager. To integrate Green Mountain’s sysing in—both from a technical and cus- tems, Julius selected Oracle Real ApplicaRM takes on special meaning for utility and energy com- tomer side of things, such as electric tion Cluster (RAC). Using RAC, Green Mountain consolipanies, which often oper- meters, transformers, and customer data ate under tightly regulated from a CRM system—this is a huge asset dated the databases and servers it uses for monopolies and cater to clients who that utility companies haven’t done a its infrastructure and for its customer have very limited options in terms of good job leveraging to get the big pic- information. Green Mountain has reduced staff by nearly 50 percent, resultproviders. Still, utility companies have ture,” Zabors says. Utilities are increasingly leveraging ana- ing in an annual savings of $100,000, long made CRM part of their business strategies, and technology has recently lytics to dig deeper into customer behav- while still improving customer service. In addition, the utility company advanced to the point where they can ior and to segment residents avoided more than $2 million power up customer relations through based on their consumption of The analytics in software costs by consolianalytics and tighter integration between resources and their propensity to push is due to dating its systems.“With Orainfrastructure systems and customer data. switch providers. The analytics cle databases hooked up with “CRM has become critical because it’s push is a result of the highly reg- these firms’ the underlying premise of the new deliv- ulated environment that utility heavily regulated our phone system and powered by HP, we are able to ery model that utility companies are tak- companies typically operate in. environment. automatically mark where ing,” says Bob Zabors, a founding partner “It’s not like utility companies can at consultancy Bridge Strategy Group. go out and change their products,” Zabors outages are and have them show up on “Vendors are recognizing this more- says. “Many of these companies have road maps,” Julius says. “By using GPS integrated approach and have optimized come to realize that customer service is locators, truck locations appear on our their product based on the core processes the only way to differentiate themselves.” maps, so one person can manage the outLeading power and utility companies age effectively until the rest of the crews of utility companies. It’s allowing utility companies to address best practices ver- are segmenting customers for collections, come in. Instead of spending millions of service calls, and infrastructure monitor- dollars on software, we spend less and sus the technology.” Many utility companies are looking at ing to predict potential power failures. make better use of our existing software.” The implementation of Oracle RAC back-end database integration solutions Green Mountain Power, for example, an that link collected data with customer investor-owned energy services company also set the stage for later improvements information and work requests. “If you that supplies electricity to 87,000 cus- involving further integration of the comlook at the number of devices and the tomers in Vermont, was looking to cut IT pany’s databases. Green Mountain plans amount of data these companies are tak- costs while improving its ability to detect to add automated meter-reading to its IT portfolio, allowing meters to be read remotely every 15 minutes. The utility is also developing mobile capabilities via WHAT DO YOU THINK OF VIRAL MARKETING? laptops installed in service trucks, allow30% ing workers to schedule work, enter com9% We’re immune. pleted jobs, and have access to remote Epidemic. It doesn’t make 11% We use it, and sense for our Brain infection. locator technology that will allow them it's spreading. business. We can capture a to track power outages. “I can’t think of lot of brainshare anything with more ability to radically by going viral. 11% It’s catching. change utility practices than this,” Julius We’ve had some says. “The benefits will cascade through 17% success. 22% It’s kid stuff. the organization to reduce operating It’s going around. Viral campaigns We’re considering costs and positively impact customer are childish. our options. service, load management, system reliability, and storm resolution.” —Colin Beasty Speaking Truth to Power (Companies) 3 SAP Siebel Systems Oracle Source: Gartner The Pulse Source: destinationCRM.com reader poll 20 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | DECEMBER 2007 www.destinationCRM.com http://www.destinationCRM.com http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - December 2007

CRM - December 2007 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity SAP’s Midmarket Design A Shift in SAP’s Growth Strategy: Buy Big to Get Bigger The Buyer Is Your Owner Prime Time for Streaming TV The Word on the Floor Market Focus: Energy/Utilities: Speaking Truth to Power (Companies) The Pulse Required Reading It’s All Coming 2.0gether Power to the People Speak Up! Document Management That's a Breeze Customers Gain Traction With Off-Road Vehicles Getting Connected With Surveys Mobile Data Gets Better Reception Secret of My Success Re:Tooling The Tipping Point Pint of View

CRM - December 2007

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