Oracle Energy and Water’s Customer Edge Conference (Oracle Customer Edge) is a one-of-a-kind event for utility professionals to share lessons learned, best practices, and insights on the future of energy and water. InvoiceCloud was thrilled to participate in the invitation-only conference in Austin, TX earlier this week and the Oracle Utilities User Group event which kicked off immediately afterward!

The InvoiceCloud team had an incredible time attending (and hosting!) sessions at both events and networking with countless Oracle team members and customers. Whether you could attend this year’s events or not, we wanted to overview a few of the hot topics that were top of mind for utility organizations nationwide at Oracle Edge and OUUG 2024.

Avoiding digital transformation failures

The decision to invest in digital transformation isn’t an easy one — especially knowing that these projects often don’t go to plan. According to a McKinsey & Co. report, 70% of digital transformation projects fail and IT decision-makers at enterprise organizations estimate an average of $4.12 million is spent on these failed transformations.

However, there are proven ways to ensure system optimization plans don’t cost your organization time and resources. For example, implementing cloud technology tends to be more successful than other types of tech, like Internet of Things (IoT) and AI. This could be because the nature of cloud deployment methods, like Software as a Service (SaaS), allows for quick, easy implementations with no system downtimes. This is critical, since system downtime tends to be one of the more expensive aspects of a digital transformation project. An Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) survey found that the average cost of IT outages for businesses with 1,000-2,500 employees is $1,850 per minute.

San Jose Water, a subsidiary of San Jose Water Group, spoke at Oracle Edge all about their seamless implementation of the InvoiceCloud digital billing and payment solution. SJW Group’s other subsidiaries, the Connecticut Water Company and The Maine Water Company signed with InvoiceCloud in April 2021; The Texas Water Company followed in July 2021. San Jose Water signed in September 2023 after witnessing the benefits of digital adoption, self-service, and internal efficiencies that its counterparts experienced with InvoiceCloud.

After a smooth implementation of InvoiceCloud’s SaaS solution, which caused no system downtime, San Jose Water achieved 70% digital payment adoption within its customer base and immediately saved staff time to focus on other priorities.

Leverage Technology to Create Frictionless Experiences

Carmel, Indiana spoke at OUUG about how they used technology to remove friction from their customer experience. Rather than overhaul their entire customer information system, Carmel identified that their billing and payment experience was causing the bulk of their problems — excessive inbound phone calls, high volume of late payments, low enrollment in preferred channels, and more, all stemming from an outdated payment system that offered a subpar customer experience. This makes sense, considering that McKinsey & Co. has identified billing and payment as the most important moment in the customer journey.

Since deciding to optimize, the city has grown 4-5x and hasn’t had to add more manpower. During COVID, Carmel saw a large increase in digital adoption, and those cost-saving behaviors have only grown three years later​. Walk-in payments have decreased to only 2-3 per day lock box usage has gone down, and a third of Carmel payers have enrolled in paperless billing and AutoPay, saving valuable time and postal expenses​.

Both Oracle Edge and OUUG were incredibly educational and fun this year! We look forward to seeing everyone again next year and exploring the hot industry topics of 2025.