E Source, a utilities-focused consulting, research, and data science company, has announced its plans for CS Week Conference 48 in Fort Worth, Texas, April 29–May 2. Along with exhibiting, speaking, and sponsoring segments at this year’s conference, E Source is celebrating two client wins—the City of Tallahassee, Florida, and Citizens Energy Group—at CS Week’s Expanding Excellence Awards.
Every year, CS Week, a utility conference, establishes a judging panel to select winners in six categories (four company awards and two individual awards) for its customer experience (CX)–focused Expanding Excellence Awards. The categories are:
- Best CIS Implementation
- Innovation in Digital Engagement
- Innovation in Field Automation
- Innovation in People & Success
- Rising Star
- Distinguished Leader
Categories feature two awards based on company size: Level I for utilities with more than $1 billion in gross revenue and Level II for those with less than $1 billion in gross revenue.
- The City of Tallahassee has won the Innovation in Digital Engagement (Level II) award for implementing a new customer information system (CIS), meter data management system (MDMS), and customer self-service (CSS) portal to improve service delivery, provide more self-service options, and streamline data management.
- James Barnes, chief customer operations officer of the City of Tallahassee, has won the Distinguished Leader individual award for overseeing the city’s CIS and MDMS implementation and for planning other multiyear enterprise-wide initiatives, including work and asset management, mobile work and outage management systems, an interactive voice response system migration, and a prepay program.
- Citizens Energy Group has won the Innovation in Field Automation (Level II) award for deploying a field service management system for work orders, inventory, time sheets, vehicle tracking, and asset location, which was integrated with the utility’s new CIS.
“It’s rewarding to see Citizens Energy Group and the City of Tallahassee be honored at CS Week for their commitment to improving CX. We’re confident that these clients and others will continue to generate measurable business results through our utilities-focused consulting, data science, and research solutions,” said Dave Perotti, CEO of E Source.
The City of Tallahassee selected E Source to provide software selection and project implementation leadership services to support the replacement of the city’s CIS, MDMS, and CSS applications. The program involves coordinating multiple software companies and integrations.
Barnes said, “We are honored to receive the 2024 Expanding Excellence Award for modernizing our CX life cycle. Having not replaced a CIS in many years, we needed a partner with industry knowledge and expertise in program management to help us address the many challenges of a complex software replacement.”
E Source led Citizens through the assessment and selection of a new field service management solution. Using E Source’s proprietary methodology, Citizens selected a solution provider to meet its organizational goals.
“We want to thank CS Week for acknowledging our dedication to improving our customer experience with an Expanding Excellence Award,” said Melissa Lawson, director of Shared Field Services at Citizens. “We would also like to extend our gratitude to our partner, E Source, for the consistent support throughout the project. With the help defining our requirements and evaluating various software applications, we were given the confidence that our implementation would successfully serve our customers.”
E Source’s presence at CS Week 2024 includes hosting a client appreciation social evening and a speaking session on using analytics to enhance CX and predict satisfaction, featuring Chris Hilborn, VP of Customer Insights & Solutions at Liberty Utilities, and Chad Garrett, managing director at E Source. The company is also cosponsoring the Women in Utilities Sunrise Event.
To learn more about E Source at CS Week, attendees can visit the E Source booth #206 at the Fort Worth Convention Center.
For more information about E Source’s conference agenda and to schedule a meeting with E Source experts at CS Week, visit https://www.esource-csweek.com/.
About E Source
E Source combines industry-leading research, data science, and consulting to help utilities make and implement better data-driven decisions that positively impact their customers, their bottom line, and our planet. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, E Source has teams across the US and Canada. Learn more at www.esource.com.
