Utilities
THE FRAMEWORK FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW
Cable&Wireless Worldwide is a leader in providing telecommunications to electricity, gas and water utilities. With our in-depth understanding and next generation network solutions, we can help utility companies meet tough challenges, including increasing demand, ageing infrastructure, corporate social responsibility and pressure on costs.
PROVEN DELIVERY
Ensuring continuity of service is one of the most important responsibilities for utility companies and their suppliers. A major UK Energy Utility benefits from STORM®, our mass communications platform, integrated with their contact centre and back end systems. If there's a power outage, STORM® texts the Utility company's customers with an estimated fix time, proactively keeping their customers informed and preventing their call centre being overwhelmed with enquiries.
For the UK's National Grid, Cable&Wireless Worldwide developed and deployed a self-healing, inherently resilient private fibre network that's immune to electrical interference and HV network failure.
Used for essential communications services, it has duplicated end-to-end network protection, eliminating any single point of failure. With more than 3,000 km of fibre and 280 operational locations, we completed the network within schedule and to National Grid's stringent requirements.
INTEGRATION AND PARTNERSHIP
Our work for National Grid shows how successfully we can integrate to relieve the burden of tasks which are often routine but nevertheless vital.
We have created a Critical Network Infrastructure to manage their UK electricity supply, supported by experienced people, including colleagues from National Grid who transferred to Cable&Wireless Worldwide. Our responsibilities include operating a Dedicated Service Desk that provides 24/7 support for many areas such as their WAN, voice services, hosting and internet, emergency call centres and interface to trading customers. It also deals with around 1,000 contacts per months, and provides National Grid with comprehensive reports and recommendations to help them make the best use of their infrastructure.
National Grid also benefits from Project Hermes - a next generation operational network for Smart Grid, with all circuits upgraded to ensure continued compliance with Energy Networks Association tele-protection requirements. While not strictly a product, it's a solution that we can easily adapt for other customers.
FLEXIBILITY AND COST-EFFECTIVENESS
One of the challenges facing utility companies is dealing with variations in supply and demand. Our next generation networks are the foundation for smart grid, smart meter, tele-protection and automation solutions that will help monitor and control production and consumption. We also provide the flexibility to accommodate similar variations in communications, as our work for a major UK water company demonstrates.
We implemented the UK's first 'on demand' Internet Protocol (IP) Contact Centre for this Utility customer, giving them the flexibility to increase or decrease the number of staff on call as business conditions change - without significant investment in agent licenses. Integrating their contact centre and back office staff in a single network lets the company deal with a surge in demand by bringing extra resources online. When call numbers drop, agents can be deployed to other areas of the business, minimising operating costs.
This solution is typical of the approach we take to solving problems for our utility customers - helping them meet their challenges with flexibility and confidence.
