Smart billing app delivers up to USD $4 million in savings

Celonis and the Good Quarter Company have co-developed a smart billing application designed to help utility companies improve operational efficiency and customer satisfaction in their meter-to-cash processes.

The application, named the Celonis Utilities Smart Billing app, aims to optimise the sequence of steps from meter readings through to cash collection, a workflow central to the effective delivery of utility services.

Utility companies have long faced challenges in the meter-to-cash cycle, including issues such as inaccurate meter readings or malfunctioning meters, data entry errors, inconsistencies in bill generation caused by fragmented systems, and ineffective payment collection. These problems can result in revenue loss, unstable cash flow, and dissatisfaction among customers.

Israel Expósito, Industry Principal, Telecommunications & Utilities at Celonis, said: "The Utilities Smart Billing app empowers utilities to transform their billing operations and enables them to move from reactive issue management to proactive, data-led performance improvement."

The app brings a process intelligence layer to utilities' existing infrastructure, integrating with enterprise solutions such as SAP ECC and S/4HANA Utilities. This integration allows companies to retain their current systems while benefitting from new data-driven insights and operational enhancements.

Ashwin Santhanam, Founder of The Good Quarter Company, commented: "By bringing Celonis Process Intelligence to the meter-to-cash cycle, we were able to build a solution that provides real-time process visibility and business context necessary for long-term business transformation and process excellence."

The main objectives of the app include reducing the risk of errors by improving invoice accuracy, reading precision, and detecting previously unbilled revenue. It addresses issues such as late or forgotten meter reads, incomplete invoices or payments, and reliance on estimates instead of actual data. The result is improved risk mitigation and revenue capture.

To optimise working capital, the app is designed to accelerate cash flow by issuing invoices in a timely manner and increasing the proportion of on-time payments. It does this by concentrating on the problems of delayed invoices and overdue payments.

Operational costs are tackled by increasing the rate of successful, accurate meter readings on the first attempt and decreasing the need for manual interventions. The software achieves this through improved routing and prioritisation of meter-read tasks, more effective handling of exceptions, and minimisation of rework and cancellations.

Among the app's features is the Billing Timeliness Tracker, which helps ensure invoices are sent promptly by monitoring and seeking to optimise billing cycle times. The Meter Read Performance Analyser evaluates meter reading accuracy and timeliness to identify problematic areas or meters.

An Invoice Volume Forecaster utilises historic usage trends to project future invoice volumes, aiding utilities in resource planning. The Executive Dashboard provides management with a high-level overview of meter-to-cash metrics for rapid issue identification and decision-making.

The Leading Indicator Alert System detects early warning signs of potential problems within the meter-to-cash workflow, such as a rise in read failures or delays in billing, allowing companies to intervene before issues escalate. The Performance Benchmarking Tool compares current results with targets and industry standards, helping companies spot areas needing improvement.

Utility organisations using the app have reported immediate benefits. A North American utility with several billion USD in revenue experienced significant meter-to-cash challenges following a period of rapid growth. Upon deploying the app, the company gained real-time process visibility and was able to implement targeted improvements. The application identified costly unresolved exceptions that were responsible for invoice delays and offered insights to streamline exception handling, leading to a substantial reduction in manual meter rereads and associated truck rolls.

The deployment delivered measurable gains, including identification of USD $1.5 million in savings related to truck rolls within four to six weeks, and between USD $3 million and USD $4 million in savings across the entire meter-to-cash process. Additional advantages included a reduction in manual work, a more rapid meter-to-cash cycle due to proactive monitoring, and support for a more data-driven approach to business operations.

The Celonis Utilities Smart Billing app is part of the Celonis Platform Apps Program, which provides companies with solutions developed by ecosystem partners on the Celonis Process Intelligence Platform.