The Strategy Lab - News & Events

EnerCare Inc. Selects Waggware to Help Transform Their Business with Oracle Utilities CC&B

brianw.nospam@nospam.waggware.com (Tanya Lunshof) — Fri, 20 May 2011 09:37:00 -0500

“EnerCare .” an Ontario, Canada based water heater and HVAC rental and sub-metering company, has selected Waggware and Oracle Utilities Customer Care & Billing (CC&B) to consolidate multiple billing platforms onto one technology platform in an effort to reduce overall costs, improve data visibility across the enterprise and improve the end user experience through enhanced system functionality.

EnerCare chose Oracle Utilities CC&B to achieve its objective of having a robust, scalable billing system that would provide a total solution architecture designed to streamline and integrate their business processes and provide robust data structures for storage and retrieval of data, transactions, trends and customer interactions.

Formerly The Consumers’ Waterheater Income Fund, EnerCare has two primary areas of business; a water heater and HVAC rentals business with a portfolio of approximately 1.3 million assets and a sub-metering business with services for electricity, heat and water. In October 2010,The Consumers’ Waterheater Income Fund acquired Enbridge Electric Connections Inc .(now EnerCare Connections Inc.) to complement its existing Sub-metering business, Stratacon Inc.

The EnercareCIS project builds on Waggware`s existing competency, which includes 4 successful CIS implementations and a seasoned team of professionals with just over 68 years of combined expertise in the energy and utilities industry with a total of 52 CIS engagements, including 27 CC&B implementations.

Harry Smith to lead Waggware's CIS Center of Excellence

brianw.nospam@nospam.waggware.com (Scott Van Dam) — Wed, 18 May 2011 01:00:00 -0500

Waggware is pleased to announce it has recently added, Harry Smith, Senior Project Director to its firm. After working closely with Waggware on various projects over the years Harry Smith has joined Waggware full time to lead our CIS Delivery Program and Center of Excellence.

Mr. Smith’s addition to the firm builds on Waggware’s already robust CIS practice and helps solidify its position as a valued strategic partner for Energy and Utility companies looking to revive or replace their CIS systems. In Harry's current assignment he has responsibilities of leading the end to end implementation of Oracle Utilities Customer Care & Billing (CC&B) for Enercare Inc. and managing Waggware's Center of Excellence as it relates to their competency in implementing and supporting project lifecycles in both Oracle Utilities CC&B and Hansen's Peace Software.

Mr. Smith’s expertise consists of more than 25 years of experience in the Utility industry managing Customer Service Systems development and implementation projects. He has managed the implementation of Customer Information Systems at more than fifteen utilities in North America, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Mr. Smith has demonstrated leadership, thorough knowledge and exceptional professional capabilities in all areas of IT management and systems development including: program management, project management, solution architecture, technical and functional requirements definition, implementation, staff development and business development.

Mr. Smith’s recent career highlights include:

Project Director on Texas Platform Consolidation for Direct Energy. This project involved the consolidation of 800,000 de-regulated customers on the PEACE CIS and Hansen Market Solution software applications.
Director of Professional Services responsible for the conversion of 650,000 customers onto the ENERGY platform at Count Energy resulting from the merger with Great Southern Energy and NorthPower, forming the largest rural utility in Australia. The scope of work included implementing additional modifications to the packaged software, integration with an outage management system, and several system and Contestable Market interfaces.
Director of Professional Services responsible for implementation of ENERGY CIS application at a major utility in Australia, Country Energy. The scope of work included upgrading to the current version of ENERGY, delivering and implementing modifications necessary for contestable mass market for electricity, and the migration of customer data from legacy systems to Energy.
Project Director responsible for Implementation of Peace CIS at the Hawaiian Electric Company.

With a shared vision to help Utilities achieve their strategic objectives by providing best of breed, scalable technology solutions and expertise in the meter to cash process to meet the demands of the smart grid evolution for today and the future we are pleased to welcome Mr. Smith to the Waggware team.

CS Week | May 23 - 26 | Orlando, FL

brianw.nospam@nospam.waggware.com (Scott Van Dam) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:57:00 -0500

Waggware is pleased to participate once again at CS Week 35 in Orlando, FL from May 23 - 26 the premier conference that aims to expand excellence in customer service.

Plan to stop by booth number 1024 to learn more about how Waggware has assisted some of North America's largest utilities achieve award winning CIS implementations and gain further insight into integration strategies that will allow your CIS to adapt new market and regulatory realities and improve operational efficiencies.

For more information on CS Week click here.

CIS For Utilities: To Revive or Rebuild | April 18 - 19 | Chicago, IL

brianw.nospam@nospam.waggware.com (Scott Van Dam) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:49:00 -0500

Customer Information System Installations are costly, disruptive and enormously complex. End to end CIS replacement is a multi-million dollar, multi-year investment. A Utility's decision to replace or retool is not an easy one. Waggware will be participating and exploring options, opportunities and costs involved with managing a CIS project.

For more information on EUCI and the event click here.

Waggware to showcase its’ MDM and CIS Solutions at Smart Energy Canada 2011

brianw.nospam@nospam.waggware.com (Tanya Lunshof) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:50:00 -0500

Smart Energy Canada 2011 is coming to Toronto February 13-15 featuring insights and intelligence on how the green energy movement is changing the role of traditional power companies in Canada. The event will provide utilities and solution providers with an outstanding forum to truly demonstrate how the industry can continue to transform the current electricity system into the platform for the new green energy economy. The Canadian Water Meter Summit will run simultaneously in a common exhibition area and will be integrated into the conference.

The event is designed for senior-level utility executives and features over 50 industry-elite speakers who will provide an in-depth look at the current challenges facing utilities in achieving a greener grid. Some of the featured speakers include the Director of IT Security from Toronto Hydro, Kshamit Dixit, the COO of Hydro Ottawa, Norm Fraser, President and CEO of Burlington Hydro Electric, Gerry Smallegange and the Director of Transmission and Distribution Policy from the Ministry of Energy, Jonathan Norman.

The conference will be focused on three key topic areas:

Energy Sustainability: Renewables and their integration into the smart grid; and electric transportation
Operational Excellence: Grid optimization, system and data integration, Real-time controls & intelligence (SCADA DA)
Customer Engagement: Home Area Networks, Demand Response, and related end-user solutions

Today’s utilities have unique challenges to face with the Smart Grid revolution; only 8 percent of utilities around the world have completed their smart grid technology implementations while 37 percent have projects underway and more than half haven’t yet started, according to a new Microsoft Corp. survey. Amongst those challenges are the need to ensure profitability and reliability while trying to upgrade their antiquated technology systems to more efficient and customer friendly ones. The survey shows that utilities professionals and executives perceive distribution management and smart metering solutions as the most important technologies for successful smart grid implementations.

Waggware is well positioned to address these challenges and will be hosting an exhibit to showcase its MDM (Meter Data Management) and CIS (Customer Information System) solutions and services. For over 10 years Waggware has specialized in Meter Data Management Systems and Customer Information Systems for the Utility Industry and have acquired a unique depth and breadth of knowledge and experience supporting these systems. Our team of associates and consultants have completed well over 200 meter to cash projects and have extensive experience in both regulated and de-regulated markets across North America.

As part of our solution Waggware has teamed up with Oracle and as a Gold level partner we offer the ability to implement a suite of flexible and innovative products specifically tailored for the Utility industry including Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management and Customer Care and Billing. As a result, Waggware can offer industry-leading, scalable systems solutions powered by its strong project management team and experienced consultants.

The future of Utilities is the Smart Grid. According to the Smart Grid Utility Grid Market by market research publisher SBI Energy the current world market for Smart Grid software and data management applications is $1.4 billion and will grow to $2.9 billion in 2015. Waggware is ready are you? Drop by our exhibit; we’d love to chat with you.

Oracle Open World | Sept 19 - 23 | San Francisco, CA

brianw.nospam@nospam.waggware.com (Scott Van Dam) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:41:00 -0500

Waggware is committed to developing in-depth expertise and excellence in delivering the suite of Oracle Utilities solutions including Customer Care and Billing, Lodestar and Siebel. As part of this committment Waggware will be attending and participating at Oracle Open World 2010 to be held in San Francisco, California from September 19 - 23rd.

Join Waggware at the world's largest and most important conference for Oracle technologists, business users, and partners.

For more information on Oracle Open World log onto their official website here.

For more information on Waggware's Customers Life Cycle Solutions for Utilities visit http://www.waggware.com/customerlifecyclesolutions.aspx

Press Release: Waggware becomes an Oracle Partner Network Gold Level Partner for Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing

brianw.nospam@nospam.waggware.com (Scott Van Dam) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:00:00 -0500

Oracle Recognizes Waggware for Expertise in delivering, implementing and integrating Customer Care & Billing

BURLINGTON, Ontario, Canada ( July 27, 2010) – Waggware today announced it had achieved Gold level Partner Status in the Oracle Partner Network (OPN) Specialized program. By achieving Gold level membership, Waggware is being recognized by Oracle for its commitment to establish in-depth expertise and excellence in delivering Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing.

Recently implemented by Enersource, Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing handles every aspect of utility customer information-service connection, meter reads, rating, billing and more - while also undertaking associated functions like payment processing, collections, field service and meter management.

A systems integrator with over 10 years of Customer Information Systems (CIS) experience, Waggware and its team of 70 consultants have successfully delivered over 200 CIS projects in both regulated and deregulated markets including Ontario, Alberta, Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Hawaii. As a Gold Level Partner in OPN focused on Customer Care and Billing, Waggware introduces a new suite of services enabling a utility company to become more flexible and respond positively to customer demands while increasing operational efficiencies.

“The introduction of smart grid technology into a utility’s service area opens up a whole new realm of possibilities to transform the customer experience. Today, many utilities wrestle with extending the life of their legacy CIS by applying expensive customizations and workarounds to achieve efficiencies. Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing is a best of breed application, and we have chosen to support Oracle because of their strong commitment to transforming the way a Utility manages the customer experience. “- Gary Wagstaffe, President & Founder, Waggware

For more information please visit http://www.waggware.com/

About Oracle PartnerNetwork

Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Specialized is the latest version of Oracle's partner program that provides partners with tools to better develop, sell and implement Oracle solutions. OPN Specialized offers resources to train and support specialized knowledge of Oracle products and solutions and has evolved to recognize Oracle's growing product portfolio, partner base and business opportunity. Key to the latest enhancements to OPN is the ability for partners to differentiate through Specializations. Specializations are achieved through competency development, business results, expertise and proven success. To find out more visit http://www.oracle.com/partners/

About Waggware

For over 10 years Waggware has specialized in Customer Information Systems for the Utility industry and has acquired a unique depth and breadth of knowledge and experience supporting CIS solutions. This specialization results in smooth engagements for our clients and fuels our ability to continually develop leading edge tools and methodologies. With clients in both regulated and de-regulated markets we have the specialization, experience and innovation needed to optimize the meter to cash process and transform your customer relationships.
For more information on Waggware’s solutions and services please visit: http://www.waggware.com/

Contact Information:

Scott Van Dam
Director of Marketing
Waggware
Phone: 905-331-7207 ext 228
Email: scottv@waggware.com

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Delivering your Desktop to your Phone | July 13 | Burlington, ON

brianw.nospam@nospam.waggware.com (Scott Van Dam) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:08:00 -0500

Waggware is proud to sponsor Bitnet's bi-monthly breakfast technology meetings. Join us on July 13, 2010 at the Burlington Arts Center for a morning of technology as we dig into the possibilities of using streaming technologies to deliver your application to your preferred hand held device.

For more information on BitNet log onto http://www.bitnet.ca

For more event details log on here

Enterprise Content Management | June 22 | Burlington, ON

brianw.nospam@nospam.waggware.com (Scott Van Dam) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 21:57:00 -0500

Join us for an evening of learning and networking at the Silicon Halton meetup at Cedar Springs Sports Club on June 22, 2010. The keynote will be delivered by Cheryl McKinnon CMO at Nuxeo on Enterprise Content Management. For more information on this event and to pre-register log on to Silicon Halton here.

Website Redesign

brianw.nospam@nospam.waggware.com (Scott Van Dam) — Tue, 18 May 2010 15:43:00 -0500

Waggware.com has been redesigned! With our growing service portfolio and expanding capabilities the need to update, reorganize and freshen up was in order. Our new look ensure's that our web presence clearly reflects the capabilities that Waggware has to offer the market place.

Just in the last year we have significantly expanded our services portfolio to include:

Our recognition as an Oracle Gold Partner
Expanded CIS capabilities to include specialization in Oracle's Customer Care & Billing CIS
New Managed Services including Bill Print, Mail and Production capabilities.

Waggware's expanded portfolio of services is for Utilities that are looking to improve the Meter to Cash process and transform customer relationships. Next week (May 24 - 28) we are officially launching our new capabilities and branding it under Customer Life Cycle Solutions at the 2010 CS Week Conference in Nashville, Tennessee so look to this blog for other exciting updates and announcements to come.