Adding Intelligence to Smart Water Metering system through Customer Segmentation approach for Utilities
The Challenges
With customer satisfaction becoming a crucial performance metric for business growth, modern Utilities are turning into information-enabled decision makers. Our client has built a Smart Meter Data Management & Analytics solution for water utilities, with the help of Saviant way back in 2014. Many new features were introduced to the system gradually to help water utilities serve its customers better.
However, with increase in customer profiles, its water utility customers were finding it difficult to extract ad hoc insights and to derive patterns that show similar consumption behavior. Thus, our client needed advanced intelligent capabilities to dig deeper into usage pattern and derive trends on their consumption habits, associated risks and many more critical insights. Overall, its major objective was to help utilities offer a more personalized service to their end-customers, by understanding their consumption trends.
The enhanced intelligent solution would help Utilities discover new patterns by dividing customer data into discrete groups that share similar characteristics It would help segregate the data as Consumption, Reads, Conditions, Meter Size, Type, Model, and Flow Rate breakdown and provides granular insights of their customers to help utilities offer personalized service.
Implementing Customer Segmentation in Smart Water Metering Solution
Microsoft Azure PaaS, Azure IoT Hub, Stream Analytics, Azure ML, Azure Storage, Notification Hub, and App Service
Our Energy & Utilities expertise has helped add new intelligent capabilities to address Water Utilities' specific business challenge. Being a strategic Data Analytics consulting partner for the client, our team of data anlytics consultants have introduced a key feature known as 'Data Segmentation' in the system. This helped develop a 360-degree view of a consumer through derived trends on water consumption habits, peak consumption time, associated risk etc., with respect to the segment. Customer segmentation in Utilities approach also helped discover new patterns to model new segments and sub-segments for effective water conservation campaigns.
The use of Segment Rules in the solution helped divide customer data into discrete customer groups that share similar characteristics. This rule applies to data including Consumption, Reads, Conditions, Meter Size, Type, Model, and Flow Rate breakdown, to provide a granular understanding of a customer’s water usage profile and the devices they use.
This intelligence has been introduced into the system using Azure services like Azure Storage and multiple Cloud services. The Table storage schema was designed to store massive number of Segments rules with effective usage of NO-SQL concept. The solution now helps utilities understand customer-specific needs and target them with the right solution at the right time. They can now enhance response rates and reduce outreach costs by using the right combination of customercustomer customer segmentation analytics and dashboards . As a result, Utilities are now able to offer tailored experience, improving customer loyalty which provides competitive advantage for the success of their business.
Result
The intelligent Azure based Smart Water Metering System that is backed by Analytics engine helped our client’s Water Utility customers to offer personalized customer service. The customer segmentation dashboard enabled utilities to derive water consumption trends and deliver tailor-made cost-effective plans, thereby, reducing customer churn & improving customer loyalty.
A Glimpse of the Web App – Smart Water Metering System
Mark S
VP - Operations | Leading Mfg & Util company, US
"Our team at Saviant inherited a complex Azure project and has helped us tremendously in reaching our goals."