Consultancy

Counselling approach

Our involvement in the field of water industry and in particular of remote reading of water meters and digitization of processes in the water industry allows us to learn the environment and processes of the water companies. The knowledge and learning from our clients has successively brought us to the one and only, and we believe the best one, way how to assist our customer to be effective and successful today. The way is the counselling approach in dealing with client’s requirements.

For successful implementation and client satisfaction, it is necessary to design and develop within the context of knowledge of the environment the client does its business. In other words, with respect to specific environment of the water company and systems and the procedures the client uses.

We always try to comprehend requirements of our clients not with respect to a specific product or service but with respect of a bigger picture of their environment. Understanding the context means to understand:

• Reasons – it is not always obvious what’s the main objective and what’s behind client’s intention to implement the project.
• Processes and activities – it is easy to design a solution based on a simple assignment, but sooner or later, alterations and modifications of the solution will be required. The sequence of activities and processes may be highly specific for given environment of the water company and therefore, it is necessary to follow knowledge of the environment than to rely on general established practice and procedures.
• Established practice of the water company – it is always necessary to consider the specifics and established practices of the water company with some activities and procedures substantially different from the established practice in the field.
• Tools and information technologies applied – our products are based on IT technologies for communication of information between information systems. Understanding the client’s tools allows us to optimally configure the systems and draft changes, if any, for effective operation of the whole.
• Relationships in the environment of the client – all activities, be it in business or private life, depends on people who involve in the communication, and who will be a part of the team or cooperate in any way in the project. We know that every individual is unique and in that sense we approach both our employees as well as employees of the client. We believe that a satisfied individual is more effective.

At the beginning of the process, the analytical works may take some more time but we believe that a controlled analysis from the beginning of the project is worth of it, because we will not be jointly surprised at the end of the project, and the project will end as planned.

We do not want to be a vendor only but a partner for our clients.

Counselling as a product

As mentioned, we always strive for an individual project based on comprehending of the client’s needs, however, our experience in counselling projects allowed us to define the following types of the counselling projects:

Analytical project Optimization projects Pilot projects

Remote reading/water meters strategy setting

Each type of projects mentioned above have a general structure defined, but the project outcome will always be unique and targeted to requirements of the specific client.

Analytical projects

Product description:

An individual analytical project at the client to reveal bottlenecks or with goals defined in advance.

• An analysis of process of fitting, replacement, and reading of water meters, including inspection, or analysis of a different process of the client with the focus on the bottlenecks.
• An analysis of tools and systems used by the client, and more.

Added value

• External perspective of the consultants experienced in the processes of the water companies (not only) across Czechia.
• Revealing of bottlenecks – improvement potential (efficiency, labour, costs, and more).
• Recommendation to optimize the weaknesses.

Outcomes

• An output report including executive summary with description of the situation and drafts for optimization.
• Flow charts that document current processes of the company including individual activities, input, output, tools, and responsibilities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Optimization projects

Product description:

An individual optimization project at the client with focus on the proposed optimization based on current state analysis.

• Optimization of processes of fitting, replacement, and readout of water meters including inspections of optimization of a different process of the client.
• An optimization draft for use of tools and systems used by the client.
• A draft for putting the proposed improvements into practice (implementation procedure).

Added value

• External perspective of the consultants experienced in the processes of the (not only) water companies across Czechia.
• An optimization draft to improve efficiency, reduction of labour, costs, etc.
• Optionally – development of a tool (application, reporting, etc.) tailored to the needs of the company.

Outcomes

• An output report including executive summary with description of the drafts for optimization.
• Drafts of the flow charts of the future processes including individual activities, input, output, tools, and responsibilities.
• Optionally – applications, reports, and more.

Pilot projects

Product description:

If the client decides to implement a new product in the environment of its water company (a water meter, remote reading device, etc.) or a tool/system, a pilot project is what allows the client to safely and in a controlled way to test such products or tools and integrate the same to the client’s environment.

Added value

• Experience in pilot projects for integration of smart water meters, remote reading devices, reading applications, and more in the water companies in Czechia.
• Pilot project management on IOTW side.
• An integration tailored to the needs of water plant and the system it uses.

Outcomes

• An output report from the pilot project including the executive summary with evaluation of the integration and recommendations for going line.
• Integration of the technology going live in the environment of the water company.

Remote reading/water meters strategy setting

Product description:

Experience in the field of the systems for remote reading of water meters, their implementation in the water companies, operation therein, and their use puts us in the role of expert in the field. We know requirements of the water plants and world trends in the field of the remote reading. Therefore, we can develop a detail strategy for use of the water meters and remote reading devices with respect to current trends and markets based on understanding of their requirements.

• Analysis of water meters and remote reading use in the water company.
• Determination of long-term strategy of water meters and remote reading use in the water company.
• Determination of optimal count of remote reading. Determination of procedures and recommendations for water meter and remote reading management in the water company

Added value

• An external perspective for use of the water meters and remote reading in the water company.
• Mapping out the situation in use of the water meters and remote reading including revealing of bottlenecks suitable for optimization.
• Definition of the strategy for use of the water meters and remote reading in the water company including rules and procedures for acting accordingly.

Outcomes

• An output analytical report on use of the water meters and remote reading.
• A strategy for use of the water meters and remote reading, including a cost model.
• Recommendations (rules and procedures) suitable for embedding in the water company’s management documentation.
• Optionally – making up the management documentation (regulations, instructions, etc.).