Summary
Our client is the largest electric transmission and distribution (T&D) utility company in Texas, and the fifth-largest utility company in the US. More than 141,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines are used to supply electricity to over 400 municipalities and 98 counties. The same persistent spirit that ignited Texas's first incandescent bulbs 100 years ago is still burning bright today, as they ensure Texans have safe, reliable energy when and where they need it.
The Challenge
Eliminate silos in managing the IT infrastructure, improve reliability and reduce OPEX
The client wanted to address service reliability, minimize operational costs and improve customer happiness. They were looking for assistance in establishing the digital foundation for the adoption of innovative technology, such as smart meters and smart grids. This required state-of-art IT with capabilities such as operational predictability, scalability and elastic capacity across all service lines.
However, the current IT operating model was supported by a siloed and fractured IT architecture, which resulted in an inefficient working style and led to higher-than-industry-standard operating and maintenance costs for their business application.
Adopting these new technologies required the ability to see intelligent network traffic and gain precise network information to avoid disruptions in services for the end customer across the utility region. They also aimed to develop a solid infrastructure disaster recovery plan.
The Objective
A digital transition
The objectives of this journey were aimed at establishing the digital groundwork for the adoption of breakthrough technology like smart meters and smart grids, as well as to improve business continuity, stimulate innovation, deepen customer interactions and streamline business operations.
It was necessary to have a digital-first strategy for ongoing business and operations. By embracing digital, it’s possible for businesses to get a competitive advantage if they are aware of how they connect with their customers, employees, partners and suppliers. With a consistent and long-lasting digital foundation, digital technologies and practices would lead to improvements in both productivity and sustainability.
The Solution
IT infrastructure management operating model transformation
HCLTech investigated the current situation and found certain areas of potential improvement. To guarantee scalability and elastic capacity across service lines, HCLTech developed a Service Level Agreement (SLA) and business outcome-driven engagement with dedicated year-over-year (YoY) improvement across operational metrics and core-flex team architectures.
Reduced reliance and increased flexibility in operations were made possible by a secure agile converged delivery approach for operating systems, databases, backup and storage. To lessen system risks, the risk management division oversaw auditing and control management. Critical to the organization's success was the change management office, which established strong and reusable SOPs to aid in the adoption and implementation of continuous process improvement in the areas of EUC, smart grids, data centers, platforms and network operations, which drove and sustained the operating model change.
To ensure the constant availability of mission-critical systems, HCLTech designed a thorough disaster recovery (DR) plan that used a hybrid approach including active-active and active-passive systems with load balancing that conforms with business SLAs. Simplifying the method of ideation, innovation and automation through a value creation framework and portal was vital.
The Impact
An all-new digital underpinning that boosts productivity, scalability, reliability, savings, security, speed and innovation
Effective infrastructure management brings numerous benefits, including improved operational efficiency, scalability and reliability, cost savings, enhanced cybersecurity and faster innovation.
HCLTech set up a digital foundation to make activities more predictable and came up with more than 50 ideas to improve quality and save money. These ideas saved more than $20 million in costs over three years. This also led to a decrease of 80% in critical events and business interruptions over five years. As part of the service, HCLTech made sure that highly important infrastructure was available 99.99% of the time and that the first call resolution rate was 96.3%.
HCLTech will continue to enable the client to optimize operations, embrace new technologies and meet the growing demands in the energy sector in the future.
