Since the start of 2015, 11 utilities have added SEDC’s Mobile Workforce Management solution to their operational tool box, increasing the number of meters served by Mobile Workforce by over 420,000 in less than 9 months. Today, nearly 2,400,000 meters in the United States are served by SEDC’s Mobile Workforce Management solution, ensuring that service to those customers is handled as quickly and efficiently as possible.
SEDC first introduced our integrated Mobile Workforce Management (MWM) solution back in 2006, when utilities were just beginning to recognize the benefits of communicating with and managing their field crews and trucks through means other than radio chatter. In the early days, Mobile Workforce offered field crews a way to break free of paper service orders, but electronic communication between the office and the field still wasn’t 100% real time. Now, MWM delivers total independence from paper and allows the field crews and the office to maintain a constant, real time connection that both improves the level of service and improves the speed at which services are provided.
Today, SEDC’s Mobile Workforce Management allows utilities in 20 states to work service orders and collection orders in real time, passing the orders electronically between Customer Service Representatives (CSRs), Dispatchers, and Field Service Representatives (FSRs) based on each utility’s pre-determined workflow. That real time connection is crucial, especially with collection orders and outage information. With the collections integration, FSRs automatically receive cutoff cancellation orders as soon as a qualifying payment is made on the account, whether that payment is made in person, over the phone, or online. Real time updates through the collection system mean FSRs aren’t wasting time dealing with accounts that are no longer in collection and can easily re-route to another job. The real time interface with the utility’s Outage Management System allows FSRs to update outage information and close outage tickets in the field, updating the dispatcher – and UPN – automatically. During an outage situation, this real time exchange of information is critical to keeping customers informed and happy.
Mobile Workforce also works seamlessly with automated service order processes. Following the “set it and forget it” concept, MWM automatically routes orders worked in the field according to the utility’s business rules, eliminating extra tasks for the FSR and bottlenecks in processes. “The biggest advantage Mobile offers a utility is that it’s going to automate your business processes,” says Kim Ponder, Account Executive for Mobile Workforce Management at SEDC. “You don’t have to keep up with where the orders are, who has them, where they need to be. Mobile just manages all of that for you, allowing you to do your work – not worry about the paperwork.”
Mobile Workforce also includes a component for keeping track of the utility’s fleet. The built-in AVL (Automated Vehicle Location) component can be assigned to FSR trucks, line crews, stakers’ and supervisors’ trucks – any vehicle the utility needs to track, whether or not the utility or the vehicle is using the full MWM suite.
For more information about Mobile Workforce Management, please contact [email protected].