Market view: Mobile changes everything

David Shirk says enterprise mobile technology – when applied to utility services – has the potential to improve efficiency, productivity and even customer relationships.

The adoption of mobility within utilities – especially among field service teams – has the potential to transform traditional business processes, improve efficiency, increase productivity and improve customer relationships.

You only need to consider how two utility company stalwarts, ESB Networks (ESBN) and SGN are adopting enterprise mobility to understand the role that mobile, along with wider digital transformation initiatives, is having on utilities. Today, it is necessary to incorporate mobile apps into customer management and field service strategies for utilities to thrive.

In addition, what has become clear is that all utilities must embrace digital and mobility to retain or grow competitive advantage among customers. This is vital when you consider the relationship customers and employees have with their apps and their phones.

To highlight the importance of apps, PWC Utilities pointed out in a recent study that those utilities that have successfully deployed mobility solutions achieve productivity improvements of 20 to 30 per cent. For those firms investigating ways to deliver gains in their organisations, this underlines how important enterprise mobility has become.

As competition and tension among traditional and challenger utilities rises, so does the need to support newer digital technologies.

This is taking place both at the back and front office, online and in the field, making it crucial for utility firms to consider the wider role that digital transformation and enterprise mobility is playing in their organisations.

Furthermore – when you consider the growing smart home arena and the continuing growth and influx of mobile devices across organisations – estimated to reach 50 billion by 2020 – it stands to reason utility firms must embrace digital transformation to get ahead of the game.

Today, therefore, firms must investigate, develop and implement enterprise mobile strategies that improve customer service and business processes, not only across the back office, but especially among field service teams that are often on the front line when dealing with customers.

ESBN: streamlining work orders

ESBN is one of the leading utilities in Ireland. It has more than two million customers, and it works with enterprise mobility company Kony to support it with mobility projects for its field service teams.

Previously, ESBN’s field service teams used a mobile app to streamline work orders and improve overall efficiency. Field technicians used this application to install and maintain metering assets, manage meter exchanges and reconnections.

Although the mobile application met ESBN’s needs, the software it used had reached the end of its life. As it was operationally important to ESBN, it became critical for the company to locate an alternative technology provider to keep operations running.

So, instead of modernising the application, it chose a longer-term solution that would fit with its wider mobile needs. This meant that any future mobile strategy would have to take this into account, enable ESBN to continue its current operations, improve data management and fit into a wider omni-channel strategy.

Also, any future app would have to be more intuitive to use; provide excellent offline functionality, with data replication, so the app remained usable when no network connection was available; offer enhanced security; and integrate with ESBN’s enterprise back end system.

The application developed gave ESBN several benefits. For example, it retired 300 bulky handsets in favour of iPhones and a much faster, more modern app; integrated the application with Apple Maps to provide a map view of work order locations; and developed the ability to work offline and synchronise data quickly and effectively when connectivity became available, all of which increased overall efficiency.

SGN: embracing field service transformation

Like ESBN, SGN was keen to reap the benefits of mobility to better serve its 5.9 million customers across the south of England and Scotland. This meant there was a need to strengthen customer service, increase employee productivity and streamline any technology integration with enterprise back-end systems.

Also, while developing its app, SGN’s team was aware that today’s customers are more tech-savvy than ever before and they expect information about key events affecting the business and their customer service.

To meet this demand, SGN realised it had to change the way its applications operated in the field to enable its workforce to capture, access and share data on the fly. However, the company was also fully aware that it could not just develop a new app to solve this problem. Any mobile app development would have to be accompanied by advanced data management, and an ability for field engineers to access a composition of simpler tools to facilitate critical tasks, such as bar code reading and scanning capabilities through their mobile phones, which is something Kony and SGN worked together to deliver.

Field service teams can, now, automatically and rapidly upload data gathered in the field through the cloud for integration with SGN’s enterprise systems.

For example, it has integrated Sigma Seven’s field-based mapping system, which has enabled it to access real-time and up-to-date map information about SGN’s underground pipelines – this was previously a slow process implemented using paper-based maps. Furthermore, SGN can communicate with employees across multiple devices in real-time.