Utilities
The Challenges
Customers are expecting higher levels of service, Opex and Capex demands are rising, the compliance burden is getting heavier and both regulators and shareholders expect delivery costs to fall. It’s the Utilities Industry ...and it’s challenging.
Whether it’s competing for customers, capital or a better deal from the Regulator; maintaining and improving operational performance is a critical success factor.
The Utilities Business Model
For utilities it’s a matter of trade-offs, between Asset & Network Management, Service Delivery and Customer Service –supported by end-to-end capabilities in Supply Chain, Resource Management and Information-driven planning & control. How big these trade-offs have to be determines your level of business performance and affects external perceptions.
Asset Management
Managing the balance between preventative and reactive maintenance of the asset base is a considerable challenge – what is the right mix? How much can and should be planned? How much of the maintenance process can be automated? How agile should the organisation be to adapt to unplanned events? Leadent recognises these challenges and has worked with numerous organisations to understand the most appropriate maintenance regimes, and the processes and technology changes required to enable them – and the appropriate organisation design changes.
Field Force Optimisation
Utilities have invested heavily in ERP and CRM solutions, consolidating back-office processes and using increasingly integrated information to manage the business. But what of the field? Is a lack of information hampering your field staff’s efficiency? Are your resources’ workloads and schedules optimised? Are you capturing up-to-date asset condition data and putting this information to work? Or are you one of the utilities that is missing out on 20-30% productivity gains in the field? Our approach to field force transformation and mobile enablement will help you capture this gain and in the process, improve the quality of your asset data and responsiveness to the customer.
Customer Service
Even with the constraints of a regulated world, the pressure to improve collections performance and automate routine contacts is ever relentless. Do you improve this yourself, outsource or even off-shore? Leadent can help you redesign processes, select and manage the appropriate outsourcing strategies and provide innovative solutions to customer self-service and proactive communications that will reduce costs and actually make your customers love you.
Supply Chain
An integral part of overall Service Delivery, and an ever-increasing component of your cost structure. Are your materials managed in the optimum way and are they available precisely where and when they are needed? Are you using the right suppliers? Are your procurement processes both internally and externally aligned to support operational performance? Leadent’s significant experience in materials management; commodity analysis; supplier rationalisation and streamlined procure-to-pay processes have provided many organisations with the supply chain competitive edge.
And what of outsourcing? In the trade-off to down-size resources or meet skills gaps, outsourcing, not only of support functions, but core operations continues apace. But how are these performing? Do they still represent value-for-money? Do their service goals match those you now need for the current challenges? Proudly independent, Leadent is uniquely placed to assess your options.
Resource Management
Ultimately, it’s all about your people. Are they skilled? Are they motivated? Are they aligned to the realities of delivering improved service with lower costs and smarter technologies? Are they organised for success? If you’re looking to optimise organisation structures through centralisation, shared services or seeking to create a new culture or mindset to support your new goals, Leadent’s tools and approach to organisation design and change management can undoubtedly help
Compliance
Burden or Opportunity? Whether it's international or European inspired legislation -or homegrown like the Traffic Management Act – compliance initiatives show no sign of stopping. They all have an impact on your business – your processes; your technology; your costs. Leadent can help turn these burdens into opportunities for improvement – and stay one step ahead.
Enterprise Solutions. Whether it's managing the implementation of business wide integrated technology, or creating new service processes and operating models, Leadent has been there, in your industry. We can help you meet these challenges.