U.S. Top-Ten Ranking Water Utility Selects mySAP™
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - April 25, 2006 - SAP America, Inc., a subsidiary of SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), today announced that Aquarion Water Company, the largest investor-owned water utility in New England and among the ten largest in the United States, has selected SAP software to support NextGen, the water utility’s enterprise-wide IT transformation project. NextGen will see the replacement of the company’s disparate legacy systems to create a strategic foundation for business efficiency and future growth. Aquarion will use applications from mySAP™ Business Suite and the SAP® for Utilities solution portfolio to fuel its entire enterprise with the goal of improving capital and operating efficiency, enhancing the quality of customer service and improving the effectiveness of managerial reporting.
Aquarion has begun its SAP implementation and expects to finish the project later this year. As the primary water provider for approximately 215,000 customers or more than 714,000 people in 53 cities and towns, the company conducted a comprehensive analysis of its core business processes to identify opportunities for improved service efficiency and effectiveness.
Aquarion President and CEO Charles V. Firlotte, together with Vice President of Operations and Technology Howard J. Dunn, identified four key areas for transformation—improving the quality of customer service; streamlining core business processes such as financials and human resources; making better use of capital expenditures; and increasing the sharing of information across the organization. After an extensive competitive review process, Aquarion chose SAP over other utility point-solution providers to power this company-wide transformation.
“This project is incredibly exciting and crucial,” said Firlotte. “The complexity of this initiative surpasses any other since Aquarion’s founding in 1857, as it will take us well into the next generation as we continue to enhance our efficiency and service delivery.”
Through the rollout of project NextGen, building on SAP applications, Aquarion expects to:- Improve work efficiencies -- manage capital and maintenance jobs more efficiently and effectively by implementing an integrated business system that enhances communication between the office and the field
- Improve customer service -- improve service call response time and on-time delivery of water services by standardizing key managerial and administrative functions across all departments
- Increase financial viability -- more accurately report and forecast revenue, and ensure that capital is being spent optimally on utility infrastructure with real-time visibility into budgets, expenditures and business revenue
- Provide a foundation for future growth -- be more adaptable to ever-increasing customer demands by reducing the complexity of business processes
“SAP is committed to working alongside Aquarion as it seeks to transform into a next-generation utility company—optimizing processes to reach today’s business needs and turning tomorrow’s business hurdles into profitable market opportunities,” said Klaus Heimann, senior vice president and head of Utilities, SAP. “SAP has the deepest industry insight, best business practices and strongest vision to help Aquarion transform its IT structure to drive open, future-ready, industry-oriented business processes.”
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