By Mike Smith
The water and wastewater industry continues to go through unprecedented change as public officials look for ways to improve customer service, bottom line performance, and the availability of information for business decision support. Add technology, regulatory issues, and the new emphasis on security to this mix, and running a utility is no longer a "business as usual" proposition.
Fortunately, many utilities are rising to the occasion in these challenging times. One such example is at Central Arkansas Water ("CAW"), a "new" utility formed in July 2001 with the merger of Little Rock Municipal Water Works and the North Little Rock Water Department. CAW serves a population of approximately 360,000 in the greater Little Rock area. The merger was driven by a move toward creating more tangible benefits for the customers of these two previously separate entities, both of which were recently recognized with Environmental Protection Agency Excellence Awards.
While the merger of two organizations can create numerous technical and organizational challenges, CAW executives saw this as an opportunity to take a leap ahead in how they use technology to better serve their customers. At the heart of this improvement is implementation of a customer information system (CIS) and related enterprise applications. CAW staff selected and installed "Utility Suite 7.0" from Systems & Software (www.ssiutilitysuite.com) to enable them to integrate the two previously disparate organizations and to give them the capability to make tangible steps forward on the customer service front.
As CIS implementations go, this project went smoothly and quickly. After the selection and negotiation process was completed in 2001, there were some basic planning meetings held in late 2001 and early 2002. The Systems & Software staff was on-site in Little Rock a period of approximately three weeks in March and April 2002, with a "Go Live" date of April 1, 2002. The resulting system runs off an IBM RS 6000 server and is accessed by PCs; there are 100 concurrent users on the system.
Building on Success
The merger of two organizations of any size is a difficult proposition, and it is important to establish successes that can be built on. The CIS was one of the key successes in making CAW a reality, according to Jim Harvey, Chief Executive Officer of CAW.
"We knew that we had to have a few basics in place to ensure that CAW would be a viable, functioning organization," Harvey said. "The CIS gave us a tangible, early success which proved to be critical in the formation of the new entity."
In achieving a successful CIS implementation, Harvey points to several key benefits that were realized:
- Customer Service: Given that one of the stated goals of the creation of CAW was an increase in tangible customer benefits, the CIS represents a "real world" example of how this is being achieved. For instance, a customer can call in and get information such as last payment information or account balances via an automated system, and when the customer needs or wants to talk with a customer service representative, the response time is seconds.
- Revenue Generation: With 117,000 accounts, problems with a CIS translates to lost revenue. The smooth implementation process that resulted from what Harvey described as a "partnership" between CAW and Systems & Software ensured that revenue streams would be maintained, even during the installation phase.
- Political/Organizational: As with any sweeping change, the creation of a new utility will have its share of supporters, followers, and detractors at all levels of the organization. The CIS served as a focal point of success that the new organization could build on and, as Harvey points out, "rallied our supporters and gave the merger detractors one less obstacle to cling to."
Lessons Learned
The CAW experience is one that other utilities can draw from. Harvey points to three critical factors in making the CIS implementation a success, not only unto itself, but as an important part of the merger: planning, communications, and staff training.
"We had everything so well planned out and rehearsed that we had few unexpected problems or surprises," said Harvey. Given the number of "war stories" of failed system implementations that litter the utility IT landscape, that is a very telling statement.
On the communications front, Harvey stressed working with all levels of the organization, including the political leadership, to keep all appraised of progress. Utility staff also made presentations to a variety of public and civic groups.
Harvey said staff training is something not to be overlooked. CAW staff participated in training both on-site and at the Systems & Software training center. As a number of CAW staffers became more proficient on the system, they were able to conduct more formal and informal in-house training.
By providing tangible improvements in customer service, revenue generation, and bottom line performance, the CIS at CAW is one of many examples in the utility industry where technology can be a tool for meeting the challenges in the competitive environment.
In summing up CAW's CIS implementation experience, Harvey said, "Our CIS enables us to not only better serve our customers, but improves our competitive position given the competitive pressures that are the operating reality in today's utility industry."
About the Author:
Mike Smith is Principal Consultant at KLN Group, a utility automation/IT marketing consulting firm. He can be reached at [email protected]. Editor's Note: For more information about Central Arkansas Water, go to www.carkw.com.
