Posted by Perry Lewis on Thu, Oct 29, 2009
Back in our early days (1976 to be exact), we hired a wise gentleman at the end of his career who helped us out a great deal. One of the valuable lessons I learned was to ask “what business are you in?”. At that point in time, we were trying to be all things to all people, and spreading our expertise too thin. This is the single most important question that you need to ask yourself about your organization, which may not even be a for-profit business. In addition to all the rules you work with, there is probably some overriding business process or decision-making process that can help you define your organization. Sometimes this is called a ‘core competency’, but I tend to look at it more from the point of view of answering that one simple question.
For the past 30 years, if someone contacts us and asks if we can automate the scheduling for their long-haul trucking fleet, it’s pretty easy to say, no, we can’t do that for you. If a client asks us to upgrade the operating systems on their computers, we can also say no, we’re not in that business. By the same token, it can be really illuminating to put your decision-making processes through the same filter. For example, what if a customer calls and asks if you do plumbing or electrical repairs? You may have the expertise in-house to do that, but for many very good reasons, may want to decline. On the other hand, if your business revolves around installing energy-reducing appliances, you may answer that question differently. It may be that your organization is missing out on some opportunities that will also make your customers happier.
There is even another way that asking “what business am I in?” can be useful. For example, I have worked with more than one public utility billing office who, in addition to their primary job of CRM and billing, are really in the Delinquency Processing business. All of their efforts (and much of their revenue) revolves around collecting late charges. One utility was actually HAPPY when someone didn’t pay their bill; indeed, the entire organization was moved to action over that. While I didn’t personally agree with the philosophy, it would have been very helpful had I understood the focus from the beginning of the project.
The crux of all this is simply to encourage you to understand your own business processes in relation to your stated (or unstated) goals, and make sure they are in alignment.
Photo Credit jhoweaa
Posted by Perry Lewis on Sun, Oct 25, 2009
The Federal Government is putting a lot of resources into infrastructure improvements for utilities. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has just released the first draft of a document that will provide a framework for future ‘smart grid’ and AMI implementations.
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/smartgrid_interoperability.pdf
Although this document is not great bedtime reading, it identifies the standards in the technology race to come. It’s still a draft (version 1.0), but the NIST did a good job of identifying the issues. The United States is behind Europe in terms of implementation, but that may change over the next 2-5 years. Any new meter deployment should take this into account.
Posted by Perry Lewis on Thu, Oct 15, 2009
Dateline: Far East. I was on a hike a few days ago; but not just any hike. It was with a group of people on an adventure tour of China, and we were climbing a part of the Great Wall near Xi’an that is not often visited. For some, it was the highlight of the trip as we scrambled over a broken path with a view of the wall all the way to the horizon. We were alone and about a mile into the hike, when one of us “noticed” that the sole of his boot was flapping in the breeze. Somebody had some tape, but it wouldn’t hold for more than a couple of minutes and there was no way this guy was going barefoot…
Like the Boy Scout I am, I realized that the shine-in-the-light gizmos I had snagged at an industry trade show just might be useful. These were little Velcro fasteners that I often use when biking to keep my trouser leg clean. I hooked a couple of them together ‘commando style’, and voila! They held the sole onto the boot. Indeed, they worked for the next 7 miles, and our little band of happy hikers finished the day thanking teleWORKS for their nifty lime-green doo-dads. I hope they’ll send me some more….
Posted by Perry Lewis on Sun, Oct 11, 2009
Welcome to the first post on The Compass Blog. You and I know just how dynamic the customer service and billing side of the utility industry has been for at least the past decade. Yet, whenever someone I meet asks the invariable “what do you do”, and I answer that I provide software and tools for the public and private utility industry, there’s usually a “deer in the headlights” look, rarely followed by another question. Admittedly, being a doctor, a lawyer or even an “Indian Chief” sounds a lot more interestingto the man on the street. But I’ve always been fascinated by the requirements, responsibilities and needs of our industry. Like everyone else, we are constantly charged with doing more with less, all the while putting a more helpful face on customer service.
As we head into the next decade (with more and more rules to follow) the one thing we know is that we will be tasked with better reporting, more interfaces to all kinds of systems, and the need to justify our expenditures, both to our leadership and to our customers. There may be a few side diversions, but primarily, this blog will be about how to navigate the constant change you are experiencing, with hopefully a lot of help along the way. Your comments are welcome.
Photo Credit: Refmo