Xcel Energy Licenses Indus Service Delivery Management Suite For Multistate Implementation
Field Service and Asset Management Capabilities Help Drive Performance and Reduce Costs
Indus International Inc. (NASDAQ: IINT), a leading Service Delivery Management (SDM) solution provider, today announced that Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) has licensed and implemented an Indus SDM solution that integrates advanced field service management and asset management capabilities across 10 states in 80 services centers to help improve customer service performance and reduce costs at the company.
The implementation is the outcome of Indus' Workflow Optimization project, part of Xcel Energy's Utility Innovations (UI) initiative announced in May 2005. Xcel Energy created Utility Innovations to leverage the creativity, knowledge and skills of its technology partners to develop technology solutions that improve customer service, optimize the management of local electric grids and reduce cost structure. Indus' Workflow Optimization is the first of the UI projects to be applied to the entire company's day-to-day operations.
Indus' integrated SDM solution gives Xcel Energy a comprehensive view of all work and resources in the field, enabling the company to optimize work crew schedules, equipment and materials through automation. The solution also provides Xcel Energy with the means to better manage the supply and demand of resources, giving them better control of the company's performance levels and costs of service. As a result, Xcel Energy already has realized financial savings in 2005 with the Indus products and anticipates additional savings as the products are rolled out across the entire 10-state service territory.
"Utility Innovations was created to transform the way Xcel Energy does business, improving our customer service and enhancing our ability to manage complex distributed assets. The Indus Workflow Optimization project proved to be highly effective in accomplishing this goal," said Ray Gogel, vice president and chief information officer at Xcel Energy. "The results achieved by this important project, as well as the way our employees have embraced the new solution's capabilities, demonstrate that the Utility Innovations approach is producing real-world benefits to our company."
Indus SDM solutions will be particularly helpful to the company's transformation by integrating the new capabilities of Indus Service Suite software with its existing Indus Asset Suite solution. Service Suite will provide a view of all work and resources and leverage mobile technology to improve field force effectiveness. Indus Asset Suite provides automation of maintenance and inspection processes, timely status work completion reporting and cost-effective decision support. With Indus' Service Suite and Asset Suite combined, Xcel Energy will have a more process-centric approach to their services by automating the flow of work from call centers all the way through the billing process.
"The foundation of our Service Delivery Management vision and strategy is empowering companies to do the kinds of things Xcel Energy wants to do: transform the company to improve customer service and reduce costs in the business," said Greg Dukat, president and CEO of Indus. "Xcel Energy is providing visionary industry leadership by deliberately setting a course for dramatic improvement in their business processes through partnership and innovation. By combining Indus' Service Suite and Asset Suite solutions to achieve this, Xcel Energy validates that our SDM strategy is effective. Indus is pleased to play a critical role in such a successful transformation."
About Xcel Energy
Xcel Energy is a major U.S. electricity and natural gas company with regulated operations in 10 Western and Midwestern states. Xcel Energy provides a comprehensive portfolio of energy-related products and services to 3.3 million electricity customers and 1.8 million natural gas customers through its regulated operating companies. In terms of customers, it is the fourth-largest combination natural gas and electricity company in the nation. Company headquarters are located in Minneapolis. More information is available at www.xcelenergy.com.
About Indus International
Indus is a leading Service Delivery Management (SDM) solution provider, which help clients in a broad array of industries optimize the management of their customers, workforce, spare parts inventory, tools and documentation in order to maximize performance and customer satisfaction while achieving significant cost savings. Indus customer, asset and workforce management software products, professional services and hosted service offerings improve our clients' profitability by reducing costs, increasing capacity and competitiveness, improving service to their customers, facilitating billing for services and ensuring regulatory compliance. Indus solutions have been purchased by more than 400 companies in more than 40 countries, representing diverse industries -- including manufacturing, utilities, telecommunications, government, education, transportation, facilities and property management, consumer packaged goods and more. For more information, visit our Website at http://www.indus.com.