Getting real-time insight into fuel prices, competition and regulations is critical for utilities seeking to improve operational efficiency.

Although some utilities have improved organizational agility by providing high-level executives with real-time visibility into operations, if they're to be truly effective, these businesses must do more than simply implement CEO-level dashboards. They must provide this kind of visibility to every employee who needs it. To achieve this, utilities need to be able to collect data from many disparate sources and present it in a way that allows people company-wide to access the right information at the right time in the form of easy-to-use and actionable business intelligence (BI).

Chances are good that you can significantly improve your call center performance. But the key to future success is understanding the current state of your call center operations.

The great American philosopher Yogi Berra once said, "If you don't know where you're going, chances are you will end up somewhere else." Yet many utilities possess only a limited understanding of their call center operations, which can prevent them from reaching the ultimate goal: improving performance and customer satisfaction, and reducing costs.

Utilities face three key barriers in seeking to improve their call center operations:

Often viewed as a soft skill, change management can make or break a project.

Many times organizations are reluctant to engage change management programs, plans and teams. More often, change management programs are launched too late in the project process, are only moderately funded or are absorbed within the team as part-time responsibilities - all of which we've seen happen time and again in the utility industry.

To transform the utility-customer relationship via AMI, utilities must first put in place the necessary operating capabilities.

Although the most basic operational benefits of an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) initiative can be achieved by simply implementing standard technological features and revamping existing processes, this approach fails to leverage the full potential of AMI to redefine the customer experience and transform the utility operating model.