Location Solutions are Shaping the Future for Public Utility Providers
Utility companies aim to provide dependable services at the lowest cost possible. RFID location solutions designed to be deployed in public utilities helps providers deliver high-quality service, monitor costs, and increase efficiency while improving common challenges such as tracking high-value assets, inventory, tools, and personnel. While modernization could be a disruptor for public services, it is also a significant opportunity for many companies. In fact, 95% of professionals in the power sector have defined digital transformation as a top strategic priority. Location solutions utilizing RFID and RTLS technology can transform operations by delivering improved asset management, better customer experiences, lower operating costs, and analytic models that support C-level decision-making.
1. Smarter Asset Management
Automated tracking and location technology provide visibility for every important tool or asset across your enterprise. Knowing where to find valuable tools, cables, wires, machinery, and equipment or to how to find and recall hidden resources dramatically reduces the downtime spent looking for missing or misplaced assets. Also, many maintenance plans are operated on fixed schedules, or at the department level, resulting in different schedules for each respective asset. A location tracking solution can provide centralized, graphical data of all assets, allowing management to develop effective maintenance programs.
Location technology solutions allow utility managers to make informed decisions that improve system efficiency, proactively plan replacements, lengthen asset lifespans, and reduce waste and operating costs. Not to mention, pinpoint exactly where your assets are located and their condition. 
2. Improved Customer Relationships
Customers rely on their utilities every day but are not regularly interacting with service providers so it’s important to deliver excellent customer support when they need it most. In addition to better understanding customer usage patterns, real-time location data can help companies proactively manage risks that might affect service.
A location intelligence platform can evaluate which customers may be affected by a natural hazard or equipment failure, allowing service providers time to communicate with their customers in advance. Location intelligence can also help providers dynamically and responsively route technicians in the field to important or emergency service requests, while also making sure they have the appropriate tools for the task at hand.
By bridging communication gaps between providers and customers, and providing both timely and proactive service, utility companies can enhance the overall customer experience.
3. Analytics That Optimize Operations Out in the Field & Inside the Four Walls
Location solutions provide advanced analytics and reporting functionality to help decision-makers optimize their business processes. Many utility providers have already implemented systems that collect and store real-time information about their plants and facilities. Location solutions are especially beneficial for organizations that have facilities over a large geographic area.
Antennas, tags, and beacons can collect and centrally store real-time data for equipment, vehicles, tools, inventory, and all types of assets across every location. A location engine can then take this data and develop prescriptive analytics and actionable insights for decision-makers. Access to asset data allows public utility organizations to enhance their operations and ultimately work towards providing the best value and cost to their market.
Locations solutions help pinpoint inefficiencies in processes along with ensuring appropriate resource allocation at different plant locations. Ultimately, location systems help utility providers in the following areas:
- Providing uniform data quality across the enterprise
- Monitoring and benchmarking performance and resource allocation
- Proactively reducing significant maintenance costs
- Reliably monitoring and auditing maintenance activities
With an enterprise-wide location solution, C-level decision-makers can optimize processes, control costs, and follow predictable and less wasteful maintenance schedules. Location solutions also allow organizations to start building a bank of robust, historical information that they can, in turn, use to make informed data-based decisions.