A challenging but electrifying industry segment today – the Energy & Utilities domain has been on a growing spree and is having a bright future. Multiple requirements that never cease to reduce like meeting natural resources demand, management and maintenance of assets, enhance productivity and profitability, fulfill market needs, abide by standardized rules etc. It is a tough job to handle all these comprehensively and the one single stop solution that can do it is an innovative ERP for Energy and Utilities. With a focus to align with organizational objectives, the ERP solution targets to be cost effective, swift in implementation, tailormade to suit business needs and modernized in nature.
81% of organizations are either in the process of implementing ERP software or have completed implementation. (Panorama’s 2017 ERP report)
Gone are those days of a typical traditional solution setup for this industry. There are many energy driven solutions and utility management systems that are being implemented since years but time and technology not ready to stop, these systems are unable to offer the output that the organization looks for. Highly robust and scalable ERP software solutions are in vogue since they look the enterprise a whole, attempting to fulfil workflows of all nooks and corners in the organization. After all, that is what is the beauty of a Custom ERP Software Solution for Energy & Utilities sector. Functionalities like CRM, Business intelligence & reporting, LBS, service management, repair management and what not get covered under a single roof. Not that these solutions do not exist independently but now with ERP coming into picture, there is high-end optimization of all these solutions with seamless integration with each other.
There are many enterprises who are yet not able to understand the significance of moving over from individual software solutions to ERP solutions. Yes, ERP does it have its set of challenges but not the ones which are unsolvable. In contrast to that, there are umpteen reasons why an ERP software is needed for such enterprising industries, some of which are listed herewith:
Modern ERP systems can increase on-time deliveries by 24% due to improved productivity, order tracking, and decision making (Aberdeen Group)
With the globe moving at a fast pace, dependency on this industry zone is increasing by leaps and bounds. Along with its progress, there are certain key challenges that pose before the enterprises and which need to be solved to attain business efficiency.
With assets, geographical spread, mobile workforce being the primary areas of working, managing work orders is given high importance. The work orders have to be interconnected in such a way that it binds all necessary modules together.
Right from meter to cash, the entire utility billing procedure needs to be taken care of. Certain contractual agreements with different types of customers need to be catered. A variety of rate tariffs must be managed and monitored prior to charging it to the customers.
This integrated solution assists in decreasing unintended supply interruptions and turnaround time for the water plants and treatment areas of waste water.
Solutions especially catering to the oil and gas sector maximize operational efficacy by increasing asset up-time and consumption of parts. It also sees to it that standards are followed, and productivity is maximized.
As with many industries, energy and utility sector is quite concentrated with asset management. And hence, the ERP solution must be heavily strong in terms of managing and monitoring assets instantly within a few clicks.
Since the industry is geographically spread, there is a large amount of simple information which needs geo-referencing. This increases the complexity level of the ERP solution since it has to cater to spread out information like assets, inventory etc.
For any energy company, managing and monitoring outages is a hurdle always which need to be catered to in the ERP solutions. Management of tickets registering outages and handling assets spread out geographically play a crucial role.
ERP solutions for the Energy sector assist in maximizing availability of fuel supply garnering less cost. It manages and maintains assets in a comprehensive manner offering a variety of MIS reports and dashboard for in-depth analysis. It looks at fuel / power procurement and managing transport of resources.
The ERP solution helps enhance asset dependability and reduces further losses, increases billing efficiency and thereby increases speed of execution. It also takes care of customer billing cycles in a timely and effective manner.
Like any other enterprise, this one needs customer relationship management to its finest but there is one area that need special attention for the customer. Outages are not welcomed by the customer but are bound to happen. Hence, that is a periphery that the solution needs to monitor effectively.
A certain set of Do’s and Don’ts if followed carefully, surely ensure a smooth and seamless implementation. Especially because the energy and utilities sector have a few typicality of its own that need to be taken care of:
DO’s
DON’Ts
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