• Cognizant 20-20 Insights

CIS Transformation: Unlocking the Value of

Utilities’ Customer Information Systems
To remain competitive amid continuing economic uncertainty and
regulatory change, utilities must accelerate the replacement of inflexible
customer information systems and add new capabilities that enhance
customer service and enable consistent, successful up-sell and
cross-sell capabilities.

Executive Summary issue in an industry marked by high churn — the

result of little product and service differentiation.
The customer information system (CIS) is a vital
component of the meter-to-cash (M2C) value Nonetheless, the complex nature of CIS initia-
chain for electric utilities and other industries tives has resulted in many failed or underper-
that provide metered delivery of commodities forming CIS implementation projects. Given this
such as water and natural gas. It is the glue that backdrop, utilities will have to regroup and devise
binds the consumption and metering process to an approach that mitigates the risk and challeng-
payments, collections and other downstream es of CIS transformation initiatives, and delivers
processes that affect a company’s top line. Yet a superior customer experience. Pike Research,
CIS transformations carried out in the 1990s are a unit of U.S.-based Navigant’s Energy Practice,
quickly proving inadequate for handling the influx projects that transformational initiatives will
of changes brought about by regulation and inno- fuel growth in the electric utility billing and CIS
vations such as the smart grid, electric vehicles, software and services market, with expenditures
mobile technologies and self-serve portals. rising from US$2.3 billion in 2011 to US$4.0 billion
by 2017.1
At the same time, the recent economic downturn
and sluggish recovery has placed even more
In this white paper, we will explore the challeng-
pressure on utilities to achieve greater cost
es utilities face in modernizing their CIS envi-
savings, heighten process efficiencies and
ronments, and how these companies can effect
demonstrate faster meter-to-cash conversion.
business transformation through a more con-
Consumers — both residential and commercial/
figurable, efficient and easier-to-deploy CIS. We
industrial (C&I) — have become increasingly cost-
will also offer a path for assessing next steps and
conscious, and more intolerant of system inef-
future needs, as well as recommendations for
ficiencies and inflexibilities. Not surprisingly,
achieving intended business results.
customer satisfaction has become a pressing

cognizant 20-20 insights | december 2013

CIS Shortcomings: The Case for • Smart grid innovations: Today’s CIS systems
Reformation were designed to handle flat tariffs or vol-
ume-based tariffs, and monthly, bi-monthly or
The challenges utilities face in developing CIS
quarterly usage data. Many are not equipped
strategies can be boiled down to the following:
to handle the complexities that accompany
• Legacy systems: Given the extremely central the smart grid, such as dynamic or time-of-use
and critical position that legacy systems occupy tariffs, or the deluge of usage data gathered in
in the meter-to-cash process, utilities are wary half-hourly or hourly intervals by today’s smart
of overhauling their billing systems — fearing meters.
that any changes to their CIS could disrupt the • Resource-intensive: Inefficient CIS systems
billing and revenue-collection processes. This consume a lot of system and infrastructure
concern has led to the propagation of antiquated resources. Likewise, inefficient billing systems
CIS systems that are tightly integrated with can sap IT systems, with the potential to
others, with hard-coded business rules that introduce multiple points of failure.
aren’t reconfigurable. These systems receive
little or no support from vendors, and require • A compartmentalized approach to customer
facing functions: Utility companies, often as a
an army of development and support engineers
result of acquisitions, use different billing and
to maintain. This can cause a huge drain on
charging systems for various business units
finances, and negatively impact business
and services; thus, they transmit different bills,
continuity and competitiveness. Moreover, IT
with different payment channels and options.
infrastructures that support CIS/billing batch
What is ideal from a customer experience and
runs have in many cases reached or are close
scalability perspective is a single billing system
to reaching their limits regarding scalability. A
that aggregates all charges and presents a
typical large electric utility with seven million
single bill to the customer.
customers will have a batch run size upwards of
500,000 bill calculations. If stretched too thin, • Batch as opposed to real-time processing
this can easily bring down the entire batch run. and information availability: Older CIS
systems take a batch approach to billing
• Glacial time to market: Product managers
processes; they do not provide customers and
frequently complain that the products and
department managers with real-time access to
services they develop in response to the com-
bill and usage information.
petition take too long to launch. The problem
can often be traced to supporting IT systems The case for transforming utility CIS systems
that require costly customization and develop- typically comes down to the following:
ment work.
• The cost to serve: A utility’s customer service
processes carry substantial potential to reduce
The Most Serious Cause of Utility expenses. According to figures from the UK’s
Customer Complaints Energy Ombudsman, billing-related issues were
the most serious cause of complaints among
residential customers in 2011.2 (See Figure 1).

An efficiently designed and built CIS backed

by able business processes can reduce
manual intervention — significantly lowering
Other the cost to serve customers. Companies
30% that have implemented such a system have
Billing/ reported a 35% reduction in the cost to serve
Charging customers from replacing the utility’s legacy
59% CIS with a packaged solution.3 By introducing
Customer efficient self-serve capabilities and incentiv-
Service izing customers to adopt low-cost customer
11%
engagement channels like the Web, mobile,
text and interactive voice response (IVR),
utilities can implement electronic bill present-
Source: UK Energy Ombudsman ment and payment. As a result, precious dollars
Figure 1 can be diverted from routine and predict-

cognizant 20-20 insights 2

 able operations, and used to improve market • Mergers and acquisitions: Merger and acqui-
analysis, devise better products and enhance sition activity presents utilities with the oppor-
marketing strategies. tunity to reduce redundancies and achieve
economies of scale by either modernizing or
• The cash flow: Analyses of customer behavior consolidating redundant CIS systems.
have shown that an easy-to-follow utility bill
raises the probability that customers will pay • Policy and regulation: For utilities in regulated
the bill on time and in full. A simplified bill markets, regulations sway processes related to
can also reduce inbound customer complaint account delinquency, service termination, bill
calls and increase the adoption of Web self- presentment and payment, as well as associated
service.4 A bill that is tailored to the specific recordkeeping and audits. In these cases, bill
needs, formats and financial resources of calculation and account management modules
a customer or demographic can encourage should be configured to take into account the
prompt payments and lower defaults and delin- various nuances of regulation.
quencies.
• Reporting and analytics: The CIS holds
• The principal vehicle of customer satis- valuable trend information on billing and
faction and engagement: A utility’s CIS and payment history, as well as payment patterns.
its processes have a profound effect on the Harvesting this information can uncover
customer experience. For instance, customers actionable information on usage and payment
form opinions about their utility based on habits, and enable the utility to promote
the accuracy and clarity of their utility bill. tailored, own-brand and affiliate products and
Processes built around billing and payment — services on the bill.
bill inquiries, resolution and customer
grievance policies, for example — greatly Assessing the State of CIS Systems
shape customers’ perceptions and satisfaction To understand the state of the CIS and chart a
ratings. Customized products and services that course of action, an assessment of the existing
are efficiently placed on the bill with an easy- CIS system, process and infrastructure is typically
to-follow Web link or toll-free sales number needed. This type of assessment should be
have the potential to boost sign-up rates. performed along the following dimensions.
• Integration raises complexity: Utilities in the • People: It is important that people within the
U.S. are increasingly partnering with third-
company are knowledgeable about the CIS
party suppliers of utility services, energy
system and processes, and are capable and
efficiency programs, home-repair services and
empowered to carry out their responsibilities.
waste-collection services. On-bill financing
The questions pertinent to this assessment
(OBF)5 is another vehicle that is becoming a
include:
preferred method for billing small businesses
for loan repayments on capital-intensive >> Is there a clear delineation of roles and re-
energy efficiency programs.6, 7, 8 Alternative- sponsibilities of the various individuals in the
ly termed as PAYS (pay as you save), this billing and customer care departments?
financing model has been one of the more >> Are people trained and informed enough
successful in convincing commercial and about their roles to deliver their duties ef-
small-business customers to embrace capital- ficiently?
heavy energy efficiency programs.9 For the
utility, this creates more avenues for providing >> Do multiple people perform the same ac-
tivity within the same or different depart-
integrated services to customers, thereby
ments?
aiding retention, reducing peak demand and
postponing capacity expansion. However, this >> Is there a concerted effort to disseminate
can also introduce challenges in the collection and decentralize information regarding pro-
and allocation of revenues between the utility cesses and systems?
and its partners. Furthermore, legacy CIS
systems are not equipped to handle these
>> Are people adequately empowered to make
decisions, or do they look outside their role
complexities without substantial development for approvals before they take action?
efforts.
>> Is it extremely expensive to find support and
maintenance resources for the existing sys-
tem?

cognizant 20-20 insights 3

• Processes: Business processes lend dis- interface. This means that business users will
tinctiveness to an organization, and are an have limited use of the system, and will have to
important component of a utility’s competi- fall back on application support staff and devel-
tive advantage. Department leaders might opment teams to perform system configura-
want to build custom business processes tions and day-to-day operations. This adversely
to ensure that the organization maintains affects the responsiveness of the function
a leadership position in the industry. At the as a whole, increases the cost to serve, and
same time, it is essential that the processes delays time to market. Figure 2 shows how CIS
are well understood, documented, monitored systems stack up when it comes to technology
for inefficiencies, and commonly understood and ease of use.
among users. Processes should also be easy Pertinent questions for assessing the effective-
to incorporate into the CIS system. Among ness of CIS technology include:
the pertinent questions that should be asked
before implementing new processes: >> Is the network, database or code base prov-
ing to be a bottleneck for the CIS system?
>> Is there accountability in each step of the
process and segregation of duties in each >> Is it extremely difficult to find support and
business unit? maintenance resources for the system?

>> Is there an audit trail for recreating every >> Does the integration architecture allow for
step of the process if required by auditors or loosely coupled components and plug-and-
regulators? play modules and services — both inside and
outside the organization?
>> Are necessary checks and balances in place
to prevent and alert in cases of attempted >> Are the systems interoperable, and do they
fraud or exception conditions — such as an adhere to the latest standards for technol-
unprecedented bill amount generated for a ogy and security?
customer — before it is communicated to the >> Are the latest innovations in Web, voice, mo-
customer? bile and text technologies harnessed to de-
>> Are business processes so rigid that they liver the best possible customer experience?
completely prevent manual override — even • Capability: Does the company’s existing sys-
in situations where this is desirable? tem support the most critical functions that
have a bearing on the cost to serve and sat-
• Technology: Often, a CIS system is rich in
capabilities, but the underlying technology and isfy customers? Smart grid innovations, such
infrastructure presents a bottleneck. Legacy as EV charging and net-metering arising from
mainframe-based billing and customer service distributed generation, time-of-use tariffs and
systems often have scalability and processing the deluge of meter data are inevitable — the
muscle, but are not intuitive to use due to the result of competitive pressures spawned by
absence of a well-designed and user-friendly deregulation. They must be supported either

Utilities’ Satisfaction With their CIS Systems

Ease of Integration

Ease of Modification

Ease of Implementation

Maintenance and Support

Overall Satisfaction

1.0 2.0 3.0 3.0

Source: Five Point Partners10

Figure 2

cognizant 20-20 insights 4

An Aging CIS

12%
■ Installed in the last 1 to 2 years
22%
■ Installed in the last 3 to 5 years
28% ■ Installed in the last 6 to 10 years
■ Installed in the last 11 to 19 years
17%
■ Installed more than 20 years ago
21%

Source: Five Point Partners14

Figure 3

“out-of-the-box” by the system, or by simple A Suggested Plan of Action

integration with supported partner solutions.
A step-by-step plan is essential to ensure that
Figure 3 shows that 40% of CIS systems currently the entire CIS transformation initiative is effec-
in place lack the capability to bring about the tively managed, governed and delivered. Figure
innovation necessitated by the Energy Policy Act, 4 depicts an indicative roadmap — from business
200511 and the Energy Independence and Security case preparation to post-implementation support
Act, 2007. 12, 13 handover.

CIS Transformation Roadmap

Business Case System

and Roadmap Pre-Implementation Development and Post-Implementation
Definition Implementation

• Assess current • Select implementation • Develop/customize/ • Monitor new system.

state of CIS. partner. configure solution.
Transformation Phases

• Train users and

• Perform • Gather functional and • Test and validate support staff.
benchmarking. technical requirements. solution. • Handover to support.
• Define future state. • Develop data migration • Migrate data. • Feedback and
• Determine solution strategy. • Integrate solution continuous
scope. • Develop integration with external systems improvement.
• Determine solution strategy. (GIS, MDM, EAM, •Complete cutover
approach and • Obtain requirement WM, OM). to new CIS and
quick wins. sign-off. • Obtain sign-off. retirement of old CIS.
• Assess solution • Develop solution • Pilot solution.
alternatives. prototype. • Observe and
• Determine key • Validate solution implement course
success factors and prototype. corrections.
acceptance criteria. • Go-live.

Effective Project Management

Key Enablers Across
Different Phases

Executive Sponsorship and Oversight

Best Practices, Standards and Interoperability

Change Management and

Organizational Readiness

Process Improvements

Figure 4

Key Enablers Across

Different Phases
cognizant 20-20 insights 5
Implementation Options

High

potential for competitive differentiation

Besst of Breed
Cost, risk, complexity and

A complete
Vanilla COTS ove
erhaul of tthe
Repplacing custom system lan
sys landscape
and
d legac
legacy by carefully
aref
Phased applications with selecting
ct the best
Transformation an off-the-shelf solutions that are fit
application with for each process
A waved
wa and
out-of-the-box and business area.
ris
risk-mitigated
approach at features and
One-off introducing wider functionalities that
enhancement changes to the address all or most
system landscape business needs.
A one
o time
effort to
eff that address
eliminate or multiple pain areas.
ease a single
pain area.
Low

Incremental Degree of Change Radical

Figure 5

Figure 5 depicts the various options for a trans- tomization. The utility also loses a measure of
formation regarding the degree of change that a control over data and the code. Typically suited
utility requires. for municipal utilities.
Given the available approaches and options,
Utilities have several choices when selecting an
selecting one kind of partner over another will
implementation partner:
depend on a utility’s budget, business goals, past
• Package implementers bring best-practice experiences in transformation initiatives and the
experiences in implementing best-of-breed availability of the partner of choice. Yet more often
package solutions and reducing risk; however, than not, the best results are realized through
they can be costly, and lack the ability to a hybrid approach. For instance, a large utility
provide high levels of customization. serving a million-plus customers might choose
a CIS package solution implemented in full or in
• System integrators/consultants offer diverse part, with necessary customizations provided by
experience in implementing disparate systems,
the solutions developer or by a systems integra-
as well as integration expertise vis-à-vis other
tor. The utility can then employ its in-house team
internal and external systems. They are also
to build a critical component that provides dif-
a favorable option for custom development
ferentiation and marketplace advantage (such as
efforts.
bundle management). The system integrator can
• In-house implementation teams have the incorporate the CIS with other applications, and
best knowledge of custom business processes. build necessary overlays and user interfaces that
Nonetheless, with limited availability and drive meaningful business advantages.
possible little exposure to best practices,
in-house resources also bring the risk of Activating the Plan:
disrupting transformation activities. Key CIS Capabilities
• Managed solution providers can significantly A modern and progressive CIS must have certain
lower the cost of end-to-end processes and the high-level features in order to enable true
cost to serve, but lack differentiation and cus- business transformation (see next page).

cognizant 20-20 insights 6

 Business users should be able to perform their daily activities, such as time of
use tariff setting, product configuration and campaign management (configuring
Configuration Rather
and marketing new energy efficiency programs sliced per customer usage data,
than Customization bill layout, design and presentation) with the least dependence on cost-intensive IT
support and development staff.

The system makes it possible to provide billing for disparate market segments such
as residential, C&I and various services through a single system. This can deliver
maximum benefits from economies of scale, and reduce support and maintenance
Convergence overhead. The CIS should also be able to support multiple “own brand” and partner
services and products on the same bill, thereby delivering a consistent and satisfy-
ing customer experience, apart from the benefit of providing value-added services
to customers via service partners.

The system must be able to support the latest smart grid innovations, distributed
Product Support generation, net metering, time-of-use tariffs and the resulting complex billing cal-
culations.

The system must provide support for the most popular payment methods (ACH,
credit card, check and also diverse channels of payment, such as the Web, mobile
Support for Payment apps, text, IVR and kiosks) apart from more conventional methods such as mail-in
Channels payments. This will help ensure that customers have different avenues of payment
and customer service center agents can offer payment alternatives when dealing
with past-due customers.

It is important to have the ability to up-sell and cross-sell own-brand and partner
Cross-Sell and Up-Sell products and services to the customer on the utility bill. This can be done by
providing easy access to the offer’s Web link or to a toll-free sales number.

The billing system should be flexible enough to accommodate differential tariffs,

Aid in Customer
contracts and easy-to-configure campaigns to ensure that there is a high uptake
Acquisition Goals rate for campaigns that are tailored to different customer segments.

The utility might lose customers not because the customer is not satisfied with
the service provided by the utility, but because the utility does not offer function-
Aid in Customer
alities that aid in retention, such as hassle-free and continuous payment options,
Retention Goals integrated and automated outbound dialing features for payment failures, past due
payments and credit card expiration.

Regulatory and The billing system must absolutely have support for regulatory and compliance
Compliance requirements, such as those related to the content, format and rendering of the bill
and account delinquency (some can be found here)
Requirements

There should be instantaneous updates to account, bill and payment information to

provide customers and customer service agents with up-to-date, real-time informa-
Real-time Account
tion on bill and usage data, account status, payment details, etc. Batching intro-
Information duces considerable lags in the presentment of information, and has the potential to
significantly hamper the customer experience.

The system should easily integrate with other internal systems (such as outbound
dialer applications, A/R systems and the general ledger), as well as external systems
Easy Integration
(such as credit monitoring and reporting agencies, sales tax directories) using B2B
integration technologies (Web services, APIs, XML interfaces).

It is highly desirable to have an efficient support and grievance redress mechanism

to investigate and resolve billing queries and empower customer service agents
System and Process to resolve customer queries without escalation, and with the greatest degree of
Support customer satisfaction. A well designed and customizable workflow and escalation
procedure aids in the quick and effective resolution and override of errors while
minimizing the potential for fraud.

The system should offer customer self-service for the most used processes – thus
diverting costly operational resources from the most common customer billing
Self-Serve processes and requests. These processes might include changes to billing cycles
and frequency, bill re-mailing, bill estimates and analytics, bill dates, bill format and
bill delivery method.

cognizant 20-20 insights 7

CIS Transformation Pitfalls retirement of the legacy system, the utility will
have to deal with two CIS systems. This has sig-
The results of CIS transformation efforts over
nificant cost implications, and can raise doubts
the past decade have been mixed. The pace of
regarding the efficacy of the entire initiative.
transformation has significantly abated in the
last decade, thanks in large part to the uncertain >> Recommendation: A good alternative ap-
economic climate, risk aversion and the slowing proach is to adopt a phased, or waved,
of de-regulation. Looking ahead, utilities should implementation, whereby benefits come
be careful to learn from the experiences of their about periodically — giving stakeholders the
peers, and avoid the pitfalls commonly associ- opportunity to stay engaged with the quick
ated with a large-scale CIS transformation. Some wins and provide feedback. Figure 6 offers
utilities have been involved in acrimonious legal an example of a wave approach. Executive
battles with CIS implementers due to misunder- championship and the belief that CIS trans-
stood and poorly documented expectations and formation is a business initiative rather than
requirements — resulting in the loss of revenues, a pure IT initiative can also help ensure
customers and reputation.15 greater participation by functional units.

Effective program management must take into • Project funding: Balancing capital vs.
consideration risk, communication, scope and operating spend: The cost of an all-out CIS
stakeholders — critical for the success of any CIS replacement exercise can be extremely pro-
initiative. Common obstacles (from a business hibitive — scaling anywhere from US$50 million
point of view) include: to US$100 million for a large electric utility
serving over a million customers. In times of
• Business disruption: The critical nature of the economic uncertainty, and considering the
CIS, especially the billing function, raises fear difficulty in obtaining funding, executives will
of business disruption, loss of revenue and be hard pressed to delay large-scale capital
customer backlash. This can cause utilities to expenditures, especially if the operational
be heavy-footed when it comes to implement- savings are uncertain or are not expected until
ing a new CIS system. three to four years after the program begins.
>> Recommendation: Effective data migration, >> Recommendation: The business case should
integration and testing strategies should sig- consider the solution approach and the
nificantly lower the risk of business disrup-
tion, although a minimum level of disruption
should be expected. The system must be pi- Waved Approach to
loted before going live. One approach could
be to pilot with employees who are also cus-
CIS Transformation
tomers, or with favorably disposed “anchor” Wave 1
C&I customers before rolling out to a larger
populace. A “waved” transformation ap- • Credit and collection management.
proach that defers mission-critical functions • Move management.
like billing management (see Figure 6) can
also be applied. In any event, postponing the • Service order management.
complete rollout of the new system for fear Wave 2
of disruption will only delay the inevitable,
with adverse impacts on customer service
• Bundle management.
and other functions. The cutover strategy • Premise management.
should also consider how long the old and • Customer master data management.
new systems should function in parallel to
ensure business continuity and outcome Wave 3
comparison. • Tariff management.
• Benefit realization: With CIS replacement • Billing management.
initiatives frequently taking up to three years
to complete, frustration and impatience can
• Financial management.
hound stakeholders, whether or not real • Customer care.
benefits are being delivered. For the entire
implementation period, and until the complete Figure 6

cognizant 20-20 insights 8

 methodology (“phased” vs. “big bang”) so • Lack of adequate benefit measurement: This
that the benefits and savings are realized in can result if the stakeholders cannot articulate
increments, rather than deferred to an un- the benefits of the modernization effort.
specified time in the future.
>> Recommendation: Key metrics to measure
• Technology obsolescence: The pace of the success of the program should be laid
technology evolution renders current out at the business-case stage and tracked
technology obsolete in about three years — the post-implementation. System implementers/
time it could take to implement a full replace- integrators should be engaged in a reward/
ment. benefit-sharing incentive model to help
achieve this goal. Objectives can include:
>> Recommendation: A “componentized” ap-
proach could help; however, true benefits »» A 25% increase in on-time bill payments.
can be more fully realized if all or most
critical applications/components are replat-
»» A 70% reduction in billing errors.
formed — reducing the possibility of hetero- »» A 70% reduction in complaints to the
geneous components down the road. utility commission.

• Changing requirements: This issue can come »» A 20% increase in customer satisfaction
from any quarter; for instance, new regulations scores.
can cause a key requirement to change, as can »» Re-deployment of 30% of customer ser-
competitive and environmental factors, vice agents.
>> Recommendation: By giving adequate »» Reduction in time-to-market for new
thought to the solution architecture, such products and services by 70%.
as a service-oriented, loosely coupled frame-
work, utilities can mitigate the impact of »» Reduction of IT support costs for the CIS
by 50% in one year.
changing requirements and avoid extensive
rework. A thorough change control mecha-
• Change management: Any initiative to trans-
nism should be in place. Involvement of key form the CIS system or the process will neces-
stakeholders, such as the regulator, func- sitate appropriate change management,
tional departments and system integrators, whereby end users, business partners and
can unearth potential requirement changes internal customers are brought up to speed
that may be needed at a future point in time. with the new system. The champion’s role is
• Migrating custom processes, rules and data to gain acceptance of the new system and pro-
from the legacy CIS: Rules around usage cesses by key players in the user base.
estimation, program eligibilities, deposit cal-
>> Recommendation: As with any transforma-
culation and integration with other legacy tion process, it is considered perfectly nor-
applications — the contact center application, mal to experience a brief period of lower
work and asset management applications, for productivity and performance (which might
example — can be a Herculean effort, and scuttle include erroneous bills, longer call handle
the transformation process. Also, utilities times, user frustration and customer dis-
with custom business processes (especially in satisfaction) immediately after go-live and
deregulated markets) fear loss of competitive before improvements kick in.
advantage when considering the migration to a
packaged solution. • Customer education: The utility must educate
and inform its customers about upcoming
>> Recommendation: The expertise of subject changes to their utility bill. In some cases,
matter experts, consultants and system inte- customers can expect changes in the bill layout
grators should be leveraged to estimate the and billing amounts resulting from changes in
effort involved in integrating with other leg- the bill cycles, for example. It is not uncommon
acy systems and migrating legacy rules. The for utilities to see a spike in inbound service calls
commitment of these parties should be con- and queries about customers’ bills following a
firmed during the requirements definition system transformation or migration.
and testing phases. Also, the cost-benefit
analysis of adopting standardized business >> Recommendation: The utility should antici-
pate this, and ensure that the necessary sup-
processes via a packaged solution vs. heavy
port is in place for the period subsequent to
customization should be carried out in the
going live. The utility should also carry out
business-case phase.

cognizant 20-20 insights 9

 a customer awareness drive to educate cus- approach and roadmap that best suit the organiza-
tomers on the many new features and self- tion’s business goals and transformation strategy.
serve capabilities they can avail themselves In our experience, we have seen utilities achieve
of so they — and the utility — can derive their business objectives, overcome growth con-
maximum benefits from the transformation straints and mitigate risk with minimal disruption
initiative. to business-as-usual operations — all by adopting
a phased approach to CIS transformation, and by
Looking Forward: A Recharged Utility focusing on defined and well understood objec-
It is clear that utilities must make calculated tives and KPIs. Ensuring executive involvement,
moves to maximize the return on their CIS invest- effective communication and change manage-
ments. They can also look at the playbooks of ment procedures is key.
other industries such as telecommunications,
which have followed a similar path for introduc- In short, all stakeholders — the utility, its
ing convergent, demand-based tariffs, dynamic customers, the regulator, the government, the
pricing and billing system transformations, with implementer and the solution vendor — will need
varying degrees of success. to work together to ensure that the customer
experience is enhanced and the utility remains
IT solution providers, system integrators and competitive and profitable while pursuing CIS
product vendors can also play a vital role in transformational initiatives.
educating utilities as to a suitable implementation

Footnotes
1
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120802005168/en/Utility-Billing-Customer-Information-
Systems-Software-Services.
2
Ombudsman Services: Energy Customer Satisfaction 2011, June, 2011.
3
Achieving high performance with Accenture’s CIS transformation, 2010.
http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture_Utilities_CIStransformation.pdf
4
Foster, Ben, and Elena Alschuler. The State of the Utility Bill. November, 2011.
5
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/wip/solutioncenter/financialproducts/onbillrepayment.html.
6
http://www.socalgas.com/for-your-business/rebates/zero-interest.shtml.
7
http://www.sce.com/business/onbill/about-on-bill.htm.
8
http://www.pge.com/mybusiness/energysavingsrebates/rebatesincentives/taxcredit/onbillfinancing/.
9
Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the US Economy – McKinsey Global Energy and Materials – 2009.
10
Five Point Partners. A Transition Checkpoint: Utility CIS Risk Migration Continues. April, 2013.
http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/analystreports/corporate/cis-report-2013-1981540.pdf.
11
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Policy_Act_of_2005.
12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Independence_and_Security_Act_of_2007.
13
These acts gave a major thrust to provisions such as energy conservation and management, energy
efficiency and renewable generation.
14
Five Point Partners. A Transition Checkpoint: Utility CIS Risk Migration Continues, April 2013.
http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/analystreports/corporate/cis-report-2013-1981540.pdf.
15
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/austin-still-mired-in-utility-billing-issues-blame/nRqHW/.

cognizant 20-20 insights 10

About the Authors
Asutosh Tripathy is a Senior Consultant within the Energy and Utilities Practice of Cognizant Business
Consulting. He has more than six years of consulting and business analysis experience, working with
customers in the U.S. energy and utilities and pharmaceuticals industries — advising customers on best
practices and optimal solutions to business problems. His areas of expertise include energy consumer
solutions, consumer self-service, billing and payments, and energy services. He holds an MBA in systems
and marketing and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, and is PMP and CBAP certified. Asutosh
can be reached at Asutosh.Tripathy@cognizant.com.

Sachin Kumar is a Senior Manager within the Energy and Utilities Practice of Cognizant Business
Consulting. He has more than 17 years of global energy and utilities industry experience in consulting
and business operations, and has led and executed consulting engagements with several large global
customers. Sachin is also responsible for developing industry solutions and services, with a focus on utility
network operations. Sachin is a certified energy manager and auditor, and has a degree in electrical engi-
neering. He can be reached at Sachin-12.Kumar-12@cognizant.com.

About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process out-
sourcing services, dedicated to helping the world’s leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in
Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry
and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 50
delivery centers worldwide and approximately 166,400 employees as of September 30, 2013, Cognizant is a member of
the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing
and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.

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