Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Offers Utilities a "MarketEdge" With Openings of High-Performance CRM Design & Delivery Centers
Industry’s First "MarketEdge" Centers Provide Aggressive Strategies and Market-Ready Solutions to Improve Complex Customer Relationships
19 October 2000
Energy and Utility market participants can now proactively address the challenges they face in readying themselves for the restructuring energy economy. Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, a worldwide advisor to the energy and Utility industries, announces today the simultaneous openings in Chicago and Dallas of the industry’s first high-performance, accelerated solutions development and delivery centers, named “MarketEdge.” An outgrowth of Cap Gemini Ernst & Young’s MarketReady/CRM service offerings, “MarketEdge” offers a full breadth of services and solutions to assist energy or utility market participants in dealing with regulatory compliance and increasing their efficiency and growth, especially in customer relationship management (CRM).Through knowledge shared by Cap Gemini Ernst &Young’s network of experienced specialists, companies will get a running start on the implementation of new business strategies, practices and solutions to prepare for market readiness and enhance their customer relationships. In addition to the centers in Chicago and Dallas, Cap Gemini Ernst &Young is planning to open one more “MarketEdge” center, in Europe by the end of the year.
“In today’s deregulating energy market, companies are faced with the potentially conflicting challenges of regulatory compliance and competition in the area of customer relationships,” said Bob Welch, vice president of Cap Gemini Ernst &Young. “How companies interact with the end customer, and with the other market participants who share that customer, has become critical in the restructured marketplace.
At the ‘MarketEdge’ centers, we provide a platform to look at the business and technology components of a restructured energy marketplace, especially in the crucial area of customer relationships.”
The challenge of connecting to customers differs for each type of market participant in the restructured marketplace. Through the service offerings provided at “MarketEdge,” energy and utility retailers, generators, aggregators and distributors will find a place where they can look at the full breadth of the customer challenge and use the world-class knowledge and tools we have assembled to design efficient and effective growth platforms. In “MarketEdge,” we have created a virtual and physical repository for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young’s Market Ready/CRM knowledge and advanced technical resources to accelerate delivery of quality integration services and develop short- and long-term CRM strategies.
“At ‘MarketEdge,’ we deliver solutions based on the first-hand experience we have accumulated through our work with some of the most powerful energy and Utility companies in the world, as well as in other industries that have already been through market deregulation. We also provide industry-leading examples from which companies can learn and build upon as they focus on addressing their CRM challenges,” added Welch.
CapGemini Ernst &Young’s “MarketEdge” centers feature a Market Ready BlueprintSM that assists companies in reaching market readiness and designing CRM initiatives more efficiently and at a quicker pace. “’MarketEdge’ centers are the first of their kind to provide a comprehensive menu of services and solutions customized specifically for the energy industry,” said Welch. “We cover the entire scope – offering companies everything from assistance in getting their arms around the landscape of the current market to a new, innovative CRM infrastructure.”
At “MarketEdge,” companies can also benefit from Cap Gemini Ernst & Young’s expertise and experience in working with solution leaders, such as Excelergy, ITRON, RER, STC and Siebel. Cap Gemini Ernst &Young incorporates the latest technologies from the right solution providers to meet the specific needs of the company and will continuously identify additional solution providers to add to the world-class collection available at the centers.
In addition to the technology, clients gain a competitive, “speed-to-market” edge by capitalizing on Cap Gemini Ernst &Young’s notable track record, which includes working with dozens of clients in North America and Europe to assist them in developing strategic CRM programs and preparing them for market readiness.
As a leader in the industry, Cap Gemini Ernst &Young is also serving as the business advisor for Enporion, an open global procurement exchange for the energy industry formed in early August by a group of North American utilities, including Allegheny Energy Inc., New Century Energies, Minnesota Power, Northern States Power and PPL Corp.
“By drawing upon the cumulative expertise gained through our experience in the energy and Utility arena, as well as other industries, companies save valuable development time and reduce the risk of integration problems,” said Welch. “Through the new ‘MarketEdge’ centers, we provide a concentrated knowledge pool in a high-performance environment to help companies work at full speed to capitalize on new opportunities as new market rules change the way energy and Utility companies generate wealth and build ongoing customer relationships.”
Cap Gemini Ernst &Young, in meeting the needs of its clients in the connected economy, provides total solutions for customer and supplier relations through its ADC centers across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific regions. There, Cap Gemini Ernst &Young specialists provide a supportive environment in which companies can refine, develop and deploy new business solutions faster and better than the competition.
About Cap Gemini Ernst & Young
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young is one of the largest management and IT consulting firms in the world. The company offers management and IT consulting services, systems integration, and technology development, design and outsourcing capabilities on a global scale to help traditional businesses and “dot companies” continue to implement growth strategies and leverage technology in the new economy. The organization employs more than 56,000 people worldwide and reports global revenues of about 7.7 billion euros (1999 pro forma).
With more than 5,000 dedicated consultants engaged in Energy and Utilities projects across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, generating 8% of the consolidated Group revenue, the Group’s Global Sector Unit - Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Energy & Utilities - serves the business consulting and information technology needs of many of the world’s largest players of this industry.
More information about individual service lines, offices and research is available at www.capgemini.com/energy
