No one can argue that COVID-19 has fundamentally changed society. It extends to the way we interact with each other, how we deal with vendors and service providers, and how we communicate and work. Recent events have pushed businesses in all industries to use technology in ways that otherwise might not have been attempted for years to come—including utilities.
Take the case of Pinellas County Utilities. Pinellas County Utilities (PCU) provides water and wastewater services to more than 120,000 customers on the west coast of central Florida. PCU chose to implement VertexOne’s product suite and enter into a long-term partnership with VertexOne to host and manage the following at a fixed price over 10 years to modernize their meter-to-cash process offering an efficient interface for city staff.
And then the unexpected happened. Two weeks before the planned go live, the United States was effectively shut down because of COVID-19. Working together, PCU found a way forward and the entire solution went live in the industry’s first 100% remotely delivered go live.
Our 100% virtual go-live of VertexOne CIS Enterprise™ and Customer Self Service platform for Pinellas County Utilities (PCU)—with the entire country on lockdown—was a first. It highlighted just one of several ways such a pivotal crisis can change businesses, their customers and their operations forever.
Pinellas County Utilities Goes Live withVertexOne CIS Enterprise™ and Customer Advantage in Only 7 Months
Remote isn’t a luxury, but a necessity
Many industries have equipped their employees with laptops to facilitate remote work, and utilities are no exception. The current climate has shown that working from home is not only essential but also efficient and cost-effective.
Originally, the PCU go-live was planned to be conducted on-site, but circumstances forced a change of plans. Despite having used "remote hands" before, both our team and the PCU project teams were expected to be physically present. The rapid spread of COVID-19 and subsequent shelter-in-place orders made travel impossible, compelling Pinellas’ IT team to swiftly establish the infrastructure necessary for remote work. Following a successful trial run, PCU management approved a fully remote go-live.
This experience demonstrates that large-scale technology projects can be successfully executed remotely. A utility and its technology partner can collaborate, design, implement, test, train, and go live without being physically co-located, and can continue to support the system and its users from any location. For Pinellas, the swift adaptation to remote infrastructure showcased the utility’s commitment and resolve.
While not all companies can pivot as quickly, other utilities should see this as both a crucial opportunity and a necessity for future planning.
Virtual and self-service adoption will further accelerate
The ability to check and pay one’s utility bill from a browser or mobile app just got way more important. No one likes to wait in line, which is why most utilities—like other service providers—offer some type of self-service option via a customer portal or mobile app. That’s been beneficial in the long term, particularly in light of the shelter-in-home orders. Because while providing utilities may be considered an “essential service,” providing a walk-up window, kiosk or lobby service may not be.
Adoption of web and mobile self-service have been on the rise for years. Unlike the online experiences offered by merchants and other tech-savvy companies, utilities often lag behind. Those that offer very limited capabilities and payment options may have found themselves in a hard place.
Although self-service technology adoption may be crucial during a crisis, many customers still prefer old-school, in-person interactions. There will always be customers who resist change. However, one of the biggest surges in adoption for online grocery shopping during COVID-19 are the elderly—90% of whom say they will continue to use it. By that indication, even the resistors will grow accustomed to online self-service by necessity—and most won’t go back once the crisis is past us.
Automated hands-off infrastructure will surge
As with self-service portals and mobile apps, the adoption of hands-off infrastructure among utilities is on the rise. Automatic meter reading (AMI) and smart meter technology exemplify this trend. AMI eliminates the need for meter readers to physically traverse neighborhoods, offering substantial labor cost savings and increased efficiencies. During a crisis like COVID-19, this technology also minimizes potential exposure risks for both utility staff and consumers. While initiating such implementations amid a pandemic isn't ideal, it does present an opportune moment to plan and schedule these advancements.
AMI is just one illustration of hands-off infrastructure that could gain momentum during and after the pandemic. The transition to cloud infrastructure is already well underway in many industries, and utilities, traditionally slower to adopt, are now catching up—as demonstrated by Pinellas County Utilities.
The cost efficiencies are clear, and cloud adoption alleviates much of the technology infrastructure burden from the utility’s staff. With a reliable technology partner, utilities can avoid the complexities of building, maintaining, and supporting custom software solutions, instead allowing the partner to manage these tasks with comprehensive business continuity plans in place.
The COVID-19 crisis may not be the primary driver for cloud adoption, but it certainly highlights why outsourcing infrastructure can be crucial. It can mean the difference between maintaining full business continuity and struggling to keep operations running smoothly.
The new normal—it’s not all bad
In the midst of the current crisis, we as individuals may yearn for the day when things go back to “normal.” Yet many things—including some of our behaviors—are likely changed forever.
"To date, these upgrades have included the transition from manual process interactions to automation of services on multiple processes. This change affords team members additional time to work on different divisional and departmental processes without the need to increase staffing resources. Albeit the changes are seamless to our mutual customers, they are recognized by the performance feedback received from customers who appreciate the services our team provides." says Isaiah Jackson, Business & Customer Services Division Director, Pinellas County Government
Technology has played a huge part in the way society has been able to weather the storm. Without implementation and adoption of customer self-service tools, customers would be less able to pay their bill or even communicate with their utility providers.
Without technology like AMI and the cloud, utilities would have to send people into the field or to their own data centers, instead of using automation. And without remote technologies, utilities like Pinellas County would have had to put their new CIS go-live on indefinite hold. These changes are for the better.
Maybe in some respects the new normal won’t be so bad.
