The Competitive Edge: Mobile Computing and Deregulation

Advent of competition
With the advent of deregulation, utilities are preparing for competition. In the contest for customers, winners will be the ones who provide more (better service, to more customers with higher expectations) with less (lower cost, in less time, with fewer people).

What utilities lack in time and resources, they’re gaining in technology, communication and mobility. And since the majority of a utility’s work force is in the field -- up to 65 percent, according to estimates from EPRI -- mobile technology is connecting these mobile workers to customers quickly, conveniently and cost-effectively.

Whether it’s stopping trouble before it starts, or correcting it once it does, today’s mobile workers need to be on-site, in-time, with tools in-hand. Increasingly, these tools are mobile devices that are as capable at computing as they are at communicating.

Responding to trouble
There’s an old Irish saying, “Even a small thorn causes pain.” And from the perception of a utility customer, any problem -- regardless of size or scope -- is still a problem.

In today’s competitive environment, the economics of winning and keeping customers greatly increases when the perception of service is good, and sharply declines when the perception is poor. And at no time are the stakes of perception higher than at the onset of trouble. In order to respond quickly and effectively, utilities are relying on mobile devices to send people and information where they’re needed most, when the need is greatest.

Dispatch
The central nervous system of any response effort is central dispatch. Coordinating the location of mobile crews is more than good planning, it’s good business. The ability to prioritize -- and re-prioritize -- work crew schedules is often the difference between success and failure, customer retention and customer loss.

With the advent of handheld mobile communications, this process begins at the start of each day, and continues throughout that day and into the next.

Before automation with mobile devices, field crews typically would report to a central dispatch facility, pick up assignments and leave for a day in the field. At the end of their shift, they would return to the office, enter data from the field into a record-keeping system, and return home.

Now, field workers can send and receive their assignment from home automatically over phone lines or wireless connections. In fact, the new communicators can be programmed to wake up at a pre-ordained time, dial a pre-determined number and synchronize with a database. And since updates can be sent electronically throughout the day, field crews don’t need to physically report to a company location, except to restock supplies.

This capability saves the utility on travel time and increases productivity. It also improves customer service. In the course of the day, if an emergency arises, dispatch is able to pinpoint the proximity of the closest crew, match the work that’s planned against the unexpected trouble site, and re-assign resources to the most critical place at the time critical time.

Mobile Computing Use Profile A
An automated field system implemented by an East Coast utility has produced tremendous gains in customer service productivity. Before automating the dispatch procedure, field crews were dispatched using traditional paper-based methods. Since the process has been automated, field crews are now able to service an additional trouble call in the morning and another at night.

Such productivity gains come largely as a result of the inherent communications benefits of mobile devices. Rather than travel back and forth among a central dispatch facility and customer sites, crews are able to take their trucks home at night and transfer data electronically.

The award-winning program has been so successful that the utility is now considering extending the program to include the trucks themselves. By outfitting the vehicles with mobile automation devices, crews will automatically be able to determine when levels of inventory are running low or when maintenance should be scheduled.