Location information is critical to utility operations. Infrastructure-based network operators need to know where their assets, facilities and people are, often in real time. Retail businesses are primarily interested in customer location, but as smart metering is rolled out, asset location becomes increasingly important.
Property addresses are often unhelpful. Assets, people and facilities do not have a formal “address” and, where an address exists, it may be inaccurate, ambiguous or out-of-date. Location and address data typically exist in multiple formats, based in multiple databases across different departments of a business and all too often, the different sources arehard to reconcile.
This creates a fundamental problem. Lack of robustness in location information can lead to delays in decision making, and this can hinder a utility company from delivering the fast, efficient service essential for brand reputation and public safety. Crucially, it can lead to the loss of millions of pounds in unbilled revenue.
We commissioned a survey that revealed that utilities typically store location information across as many as ten different systems, with external data sourced from many more. “Shadow IT” and duplicated entries add further complexity, as does the address lifecycle itself. Any address can go through multiple stages in its lifetime and utilities must keep the data updated for service continuity.
To help tackle these challenges, forward-thinking utilities are creating a centralised hub of address information. By putting all location information into a single system, staff across the business can work more efficiently.
A single, accurate view of all location information can have far-reaching business benefits.
• more efficient, cost-effective operations;
• increased billed revenue;
• better customer service;
• enhanced emergency response;
• better incident investigation;
• better business intelligence.
One of the most powerful advantages of a single view of location is the ability to create new business insight from existing information. A new wave in location analytics tools, which simply plug-in to existing BI and CRM systems, promise to merge business and location information with the potential to radically improve corporate business intelligence. Patterns, trends and other previously unforeseen relationships can be revealed, and questions answered with a single query.
This all helps build confidence. Confidence in data means that it gets used, and if it gets used correctly it is maintained. Simply put, a 40%-plus improvement in master data quality can mean the difference between a top 20% and bottom 30% performance. To find out more, please read our white paper at www.esriuk.com/locationmanagementwp or contact akeevil@esriuk.com.
Andrew Keevil, Esri UK