Adopting strategies to ‘get through the door’ will be crucial for successful UK smart meter roll-out says Wheatley’s new white paper

Published by humbugpr for Wheatley Associates in Central Government and also in Communities, Environment, Housing, Local Government

Bacton (Suffolk), UK – 20^th March 2012.  Adopting strategies to ‘get through the door’ that couple an enhanced customer experience with the ability of meter installation companies to meet the challenge of controlling the cost to deliver, will be crucial to the success of the forthcoming smart meter roll-out in the UK, says a new white paper from Wheatley Associates, the leading provider of metering software to the UK utilities industry and mobile workforce scheduling solutions.

“With over 50 million meters to be changed, the sheer size and scale of theUKsmart meter roll-out is unprecedented,” said Jeremy Goulding, CEO of Wheatley Associates. “As organisations finalise their plans, those tasked with delivering the roll-out will be wrestling with how to reconcile the demands for increased customer engagement against the challenge of controlling the cost to deliver.”

The white paper details how a new generation of software tools, such as the Smart Roll-out Optimiser developed jointly by Wheatley Associates with another utilities software and services specialist, C&C Group, can be deployed to underpin the strategic planning of the smart meter installation process, maximising implementation efficiency at the same time as ensuring maximum quality of service (QoS) levels to customers. These tools can be deployed in conjunction with existing work management and scheduling tools optimised for the specific characteristics of the metering mix to address the skill requirements, scale and complexity of the smart meter installation process.

Entitled “Smart Metering: Getting Through the Door - Understanding how the correct software application can enhance both deployment strategies and the customer experience”, the white paper is authored by Craig Edge, Wheatley Associates’ Chief Consulting Engineer.

“What, on the face of it might seem a relatively straightforward exercise, is actually a highly complex process,” said Craig Edge, Chief Consulting Engineer at Wheatley Associates. “Although much can be learned from the day-to-day challenges faced by existing metering operations, rather than increasing risk by deploying generic work management and scheduling tools, success will depend on exploiting a new generation of support software, specifically designed to meet the smart metering challenge.”

Copies of the smart metering white paper can be downloaded from the Wheatley Associates website: http://www.wheatley-associates.co.uk/Home/Thought-leadership/White-Paper---Smart-Metering.

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About Wheatley Associates

Wheatley Associates are experts in mobile workforce scheduling and efficiency. Drawing on its extensive software development heritage and its understanding of multi-dimensional scheduling requirements, the company provides a range of software solutions to manage complex, real-time mobile workforce scheduling demands. Applicable to a broad range of industries, markets and applications, the company’s mobile workforce scheduling solutions dynamically balance work allocations and take account of changing events to maximise productivity and ensure the optimal use of costly resources. The company’s scheduling solutions are backed by a comprehensive range of in-depth consultancy services designed to help clients understand and address the mobile workforce ‘Efficiency Bleed’. Additionally, with its leadership position in the provision of asset and data management solutions to the utilities industry, the company continues to be well-placed to take advantage of the emerging Smart Meter and Smart Grid initiatives. Wheatley Associates is a privately-held company based in Bacton, Suffolkin the United Kingdom. For further information, please visit: http://www.wheatley-associates.co.uk.