As-a-Service components<\/a> make their way into the mainstream.<\/p>\nService providers have been instrumental in writing off legacy from a technology and consulting perspective. They have seized the opportunity to help utilities gain agility and speed to market on new product development and deriving value from smart meter and advanced metering infrastructure deployments. BPO operations are now a derivative opportunity for modernization after system upgrades. In some cases, service providers that have a long history of working with utilities have taken big leaps in bringing in automation and analytics in meter-to-cash, asset management and horizontal processes to realize new value. Others that are domain experts in customer experience are taking utilities along the journey to customer centricity similar to other retail-facing verticals.<\/p>\n
So who\u2019s winning in utilities by adopting an As-a-Service approach?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThe HfS Winner\u2019s Circle For Utilities BPO features service providers that have invested heavily in vertical-specific innovation in the last couple years. In the last two years, we see a heightened focus from leading service providers on enabling service delivery for true value creation \u2014 away from labor arbitrage, where large deals primarily constituted re-badging of FTEs, selecting basic SLAs and lift-and-shift of processes to the service provider.<\/p>\n
The Winner\u2019s Circle includes Accenture, EXL and TCS:<\/p>\n
\n- Accenture<\/strong> \u2014 demonstrating an advanced capability for utilities As-a-Service spanning platforms, automation and analytics<\/li>\n
- EXL<\/strong> \u2014 a partner willing to invest and evolve with utilities clients towards Smart operations<\/li>\n
- TCS<\/strong> \u2014 one of the largest meter-to-cash service providers pushing RPA to the forefront of utilities operations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
EXL and Accenture are playing a greater role in core utilities operations such as field force management and support using predictive modeling and forecasting to optimize labor effort. Both are also developing offerings to support new operational areas such as new energy solutions and smart services. TCS has been instrumental in building collaborative engagements by committing to outcomes, gainsharing and using RPA and analytics to improve utilities operations.<\/p>\n
The High Performers in this Blueprint include Capgemini, WNS and Vertex. These service providers all have over a decade of experience in running BPO operations for utilities clients. They have varying concentrations of geographical experience, across continental Europe, UK and the US respectively. We see the potential for differentiation with all three, with Capgemini\u2019s thought leadership on smart grid and AMI technology that needs to be better integrated with BPO, WNS\u2019 customer journey frameworks that utilities are finding to be extremely relevant, and Vertex\u2019s evolution from a customer care BPO brand to an As-a-Service provider with its new customer interaction platform, VertexOne. It will take these service providers some time to bring scale to these advances in their utilities BPO portfolios, and we expect significant competition exerted by them to the Winner\u2019s Circle providers in the near future, depending on the client geographies being targeted.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next for this market?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThe industry challenges for utilities service buyers that we outlined earlier resonate well with leading service providers. They are increasingly aligning themselves to deliver on such outcomes through a range of offerings and partnerships to bring the best-of-breed technologies and services together for utilities clients.<\/p>\n
To continue to add value, service providers will have to develop and demonstrate the following capabilities in the next few years:<\/p>\n