Signal Alliance, one of the most innovative end-to-end technology solution providers in the country in collaboration with their technical partners – SAP and the Federal Ministry of Power penultimate Thursday in Abuja, organized an expository conference for the Successor Electricity Distributions Companies (DISCOs) on the value proposition of information technology tools, processes and solutions in the sector.
The event, which took place at the prestigious Sheraton Hotels in the Federal Capital, attracted the attention of the major players in the reformed Nigeria power sector, consultants and other stakeholders in the sector.
In his presentation, Andrew Strachan, head, Energy Division, SAP Africa, reminded the DISCOs that, though the power sector can have daunting challenges, the role of technology – specifically SAP – is to reduce to the barest minimum these challenges and help create a favourable environment for the business to yield maximum revenue for the investors and best services for the consumers.
He said that some of the factors currently affecting the power sector include changed market structure, technology, and competition.
His words: “With utility companies needing HR, Purchasing, Operations, Billing, CRM, Maintenance, Finance management, there’s need to partner with experienced solution providers like SAP because we have the most experience in the running of utilities globally and in Africa with proof of delivering end-to-end solutions from ERP to CRM and billing Contract Accounting to device management”.
Explaining that SAP does only business application software and has been in Africa since 1988, Mr. Strachan retreated that DISCOs must use the most robust system and processes to capture, cleanse and manage all data entities quickly and ensure shareholder ROI faster.
With issues ranging from managing power grids, to operational and customer service, the organizers of the IT summit expounded on realistic theories and experiences gathered from implementing similar solutions for power companies in more advanced economies. Kaecy Udumukwu, a CISCO expert spoke about the importance of IT tools in the networking, collaboration and tracking of assets.
Describing the focus of CISCO as “ trying to solve our customers’ most important business problems by delivering intelligent networks and technology architectures built on integrated products services and platforms”, Udumukwu stated that CISCO, through its partnership with Signal Alliance, can develop Smart Networks to ensure operational excellence. One way of doing so, according to him, is through the deployment of the CISCO Smart Grid®.
This is explained to be a holistic, cross-technology solution that enables organizations in the power sector to build secure, standards-based IP networks to efficiently meet the demands of energy generation, distribution, storage and consumption. Combining products, technologies, services and partners that use communications, improve resilience and reduce cost and complexity of the energy grid.
In his remarks, Erabor Okogun, chief corporate adviser of Signal Alliance, explained that the motivation for the IT summit was to show the players in the reformed power sector the value inherent in partnering with technology solution providers with proven clout and experience like Signal Alliance, in delivering quality IT solutions and systems. “Signal Alliance is in partnership with major OEMs such as SAP, Cisco and CA technologies, he said, “to combine skills and experience in order to deliver best-of-class services and solutions to ensure revenue management and provide better service to consumers,” he concluded.
With about 17years in the Nigerian IT sector and highest level of partnerships with world-class OEMs, Signal Alliance is said to be poised to bring this experience and expertise to bear in the power sector.