Morristown, NJ, May 15, 2003 -- The recent release of the "Chartwell Report on CIS Installations in North America 2003" has put SPL WorldGroup in the lead for providing customer management solutions to North American electricity, gas, and water companies.
SPL ranked first in the number of installation agreements won by the eight top industry vendors since Jan. 1, 2002, with 10 of the 45 contracts counted.
The Chartwell report shows that SPL systems serve 9 percent of all North American customers of investor-owned utilities, more than any other vendor currently active in today's marketplace. SPL also holds 9 percent of the North American municipal market.
The report notes that, "in Chartwell's 2002 report, SPL had a more sizeable market lead, but the vendor has not lost market share. . . . Chartwell took a different approach in its 2003 market analysis, and one of SPL's major CorDaptix clients, TXU Energy (2 million-plus customers), was considered a retail energy services marketer instead of an IOU for data analysis in this report."
For one of the two case studies in its report, Chartwell examined the SPL installation at Pacific Gas & Electric, which went live last December. "The $179.7 million CIS project was one for the record books," the report notes, "representing the energy industry's largest customer management system, according to the META Group."
The report also notes that "SPL is ramping up for a second phase of a project that will see its customer management and billing system begin to take shape at Nicor, another big Midwest gas utility. Currently, Nicor uses an SPL component for its credit and collections activity, while it bills its customers with an inhouse-legacy application."
"The release of the Chartwell installations report," commented SPL CTO Guerry Waters, "attests to SPL's success in multiple markets, including small and mid-sized utilities, where we continue to have growth despite the difficult business climate. The report also indicates the growth potential for good customer management systems.
Today, Chartwell notes, more than half of all utilities continue to use legacy systems developed in-house or very specifically customized by a consulting firm. Such systems are increasingly expensive to maintain and very difficult to modify to respond to today's customer needs. As more utilities move to meet current customer and regulatory demands, we expect ever broadening market penetration of SPL customer management systems."
About Chartwell, Inc.
Based in Atlanta, Ga., Chartwell offers research reports, industry news and other online publications and information services on issues facing utility and energy company executives. The company publishes three research series, several annual research reports, and two monthly newsletters, which focus on specific technology advancements and management practices in utility customer service. Chartwell also organizes the EMACS (Energy Marketing and Customer Service) Conference and Expo, held annually in October and attended by utility representatives, vendors, consultants, and others from the international energy community.
About the Report
The Chartwell Report on CIS Installations in North America 2003 is based on an analysis of CIS and billing systems at 492 utilities and energy retailers, which serve more than 200 million electric, gas and water accounts in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. Chartwell data is compiled from interviews with utility officials and industry vendors. Additional information about the Report is available at www.chartwellinc.com or by calling (800) 432-5879.
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About SPL
Established in 1994, SPL WorldGroup is a provider of customer management solutions. SPL provides companies with flexible and scalable customer management solutions that offer the ability to attract, nurture and maximize the value of customers through billing excellence and innovation in customer management, sales and marketing.
With particular strength in energy sector markets that require multi-language, multi-jurisdiction, multi-currency, and multi-product service lines, SPL has delivered its customer management solutions to financial services, energy, water and waste management customers worldwide. The company employs more than 650 professionals in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.
More information: www.splwg.com
