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September 2000
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Deregulation to propel utilities into the New Economy
As the utility sector prepares for full market deregulation, global business transformation leader, Convergent Group has released a new strategic blueprint for the e-transformation of utilities in Australia. Convergent Group's "Digital UtilitySM" is designed to create a seamless, digital environment that spans the utility enterprise, enabling energy companies to conduct one-stop business with their customers, partners and suppliers over the Internet, in real time.
The company recently established its Asia Pacific headquarters in Australia to take advantage of the immediate market opportunities that national and international trends towards energy sector deregulation presents for its specialist expertise in the Asia Pacific region.
The Asia Pacific operations are headed by Mincom's former Executive Vice President of International Operations of 10 years, Mr. Kim Duffy. Duffy has been instrumental in positioning Convergent Group at the forefront of the dynamic change sweeping the Australian utility market. According to Mr. Duffy, the Digital Utility helps utilities transform into an e-business, taking them to a new level in their quest to become more competitive, expand into new markets and retain
The Digital Utility is Convergent Group's vision of an IT environment where front office, back office and energy delivery operations are fully integrated so that data flows through the organisation in a friction free manner and is accessible via traditional (call centre) as well as web-based information portals. The result is a fully integrated Digital Utility with a web-enabled interface designed with e-business in mind.
"E-transformation can help shift the public image of a utility from being a traditional, monopolistic organisation to a customer-centric, service-oriented Digital Utility," Mr Duffy said.
The Digital Utility will allow utilities to reduce transaction and operational costs by enabling the end-to-end automation of its customer and business processes. It will empower customers, allowing them to review or shop for service options, sign-up or change service offerings and self-schedule service appointments - all on-line without a lengthy wait.
Convergent Group has specialised in providing business transformation solutions for the global utility sector for 15 years, and has completed more than 2,500 successful IT assignments in North America, Europe and Asia over this period.
Since February 2000, Convergent Group signed contracts totalling over US$100 million - primarily by utility clients seeking the company's Digital Utility - an increase of 51 percent over the US$65 million in new contracts signed during full-year 1999.On the Asia Pacific front, Convergent Group has been invited to present at a range of key government and industry conferences over the next three months in the Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand.
More information at www.convergentgroup.com
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