Managing the Mobile Enterprise

Industry Trends
The environment in which utility companies operate is changing. Industry trends are re-defining both the types of solutions that utilities seek.

Key Business Trends
Several business key trends are driving demand for enterprise workforce management solutions.

Deregulation—Competition arising from deregulation increases focus on operational efficiency and customer-oriented service practices. The ramification is that utilities want best of breed applications that automate and enforce best practices. At the same time, they need solutions that are fast and simple to deploy to seize or maintain competitive advantage. Solutions must minimize initial customer investment both in terms of money and implementation time. The time from purchase decision to benefits must be short.

Mergers and Acquisitions / Globalization—M&A activity and globalization mean that divergent work practices across the organization and change management are the norm. Utilities need solutions that are flexible enough to meet the different needs of separate groups within the organization, extensible to accommodate the needs of new groups as they join the corporation, adaptable to business processes changes, and scalable to grow with the organization. Solutions must be localized to address local cultural, language, and presentation needs. Changing roles means that the user interface must be personalized to deliver the information that each user needs to work effectively. End users want a role-based, personalized single access point that gives them fast and convenient access to everything they need from a Web browser.