• Companies sign deal with Denver Water; Utility is latest to select joint customer information system (CIS) solution
REDWOOD SHORES, CA, & MCLEAN, VA, May 14, 2008 -- BearingPoint Inc., one of the world's largest management and technology consulting firms, and Oracle, the world's largest enterprise software company, have announced they will implement a customer information solution for Denver Water, making it the latest utility to select the BearingPoint/Oracle offering.
BearingPoint will work with Denver Water to implement Oracle® Utilities Customer Care and Billing and Oracle Utilities Business Intelligence to help the utility improve billing accuracy, enhance customer service, and better understand customer needs.
"We selected BearingPoint and Oracle Utilities because their proven functionality and industry expertise will help meet our needs. Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing has a very flexible rate engine that will also allow us to easily migrate to monthly billing and restructure our rates to better accommodate our customers and our board's requirements," said David LaFrance, director of finance, Denver Water.
Denver Water, which ensures a continuous supply of water to the City and County of Denver and nearly 50 percent of Denver Water customers who live in the surrounding suburbs, wanted to move from bi-monthly to monthly billing, but its current system would have required massive programming changes to accommodate such a requirement. With the deployment of Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing, Denver Water will be able to move to monthly billing immediately upon implementation, helping the utility to realize revenue more quickly.
"Smart utility companies like Denver Water are working harder than ever to provide excellent service and contain costs for their customers. We look forward to teaming with Oracle to deliver a solution that will help Denver Water achieve these goals," said Reid Morrison, senior vice president of BearingPoint's energy practice.
Denver Water is also planning to restructure its rates to promote water conservation. Sending price signals that encourage wise water use will urge customers to minimize run-off while watering lawns and -- over the long term -- install efficient irrigation systems, appliances and fixtures. The new Oracle Utilities solution is expected to make this transition much easier by integrating with other systems within the utility and providing the real-time information critical to efficient operations and strategic decision-making.
Further, the technologies utilized in the Oracle Utilities solution are widely understood and supported, which will improve system operations and reduce maintenance expenses. Many manual back office processes and functions can be automated within the standard Oracle Utilities solution. The new system will also provide greater customer self-service through Web-based capabilities.
"These recent wins and implementations underscore the continuing success of a 14-year alliance between BearingPoint and Oracle in delivering innovative business solutions to clients worldwide. Denver Water is committed to water conservation and providing its customers with high-quality customer service. Our customer information system solution and BearingPoint's implementation expertise will help Denver Water streamline payment processing, collections, field service and meter management -- further helping the utility to meet its long-term and short-term goals," said Quentin Grady, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Utilities.
BearingPoint Inc. is one of the world's largest providers of management and technology consulting services.
Oracle Utilities delivers the proven software applications that help utilities achieve competitive advantage, business performance excellence and a lower total cost of technology ownership.
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