Electric Utilities Mobile Adoption Report

By Syclo LLC

Utility companies have taken great strides in employing the latest technology to manage their work forces, assets and operations. Many have invested significantly in EAM and outage management software, scheduling tools, remote meter reading systems and private communication networks. These tools have delivered marked improvements in productivity and the quality of many processes, empowering electric utilities to provide a consistent and reliable product. Yet many electric light and power (ELP) organizations are finding that improving back-office operations is not enough and are seeking other ways to get more done, collaborate better and further the efficiency of their day-to-day activities.

Why? There are many reasons. The ELP industry is becoming more prices competitive with continuing deregulation. The transmission and distribution infrastructure is aging and is in some instances well past its planned service life. The workforce is aging as well, and qualified people are increasingly scarce and more expensive to hire. Customers are demanding 100 percent availability, environmental awareness, accurate billing and quick fault resolution. Government and industry compliance regulations are becoming stricter. All of this — and more — is business as usual for electric utilities management.