In B2B Service Business, SLAs play an integral part of the business. The clearer the individual needs of the customer, the better the value for money the service provider can deliver. At Landis+Gyr, we have been in the service business for over a decade. We have worked with over 30 managed metering reading service customers with different SLA levels in EMEA, each of them tailor-made and individually defined. Here we are sharing some of our learnings.

We have probably all been there: having to choose the right internet connection at home. For this, you need to make a decision on the required service level. To find out what that is, you speak to the service provider and they will be asking you things like: “How many devices do you want connected? Do you stream movies or games? Do you need your connection for working from home?” Based on your needs, you will receive an offer for a specific service for a specific price. Once you have placed your order, you have entered into a Service Level Agreement (SLA).

The long-awaited go-ahead for the smart meter rollout in Germany has officially been given with the recent “market declaration”. There is broad acknowledgement of the benefits and importance of smart metering in the urgently needed digitization of our energy supply. Yet the path to realizing widespread grid upgrades, to include intelligent endpoints for digital business models and future markets such as submetering, is by no means predetermined or free from obstacles. The rollout will be a significant feat in financial, technical and personnel terms, particularly for small and midsize municipal utilities.

The energy industry is in a phase of unprecedented disruption with decarbonisation, decentralisation and digitalisation, the 3Ds, as key drivers. At Landis+Gyr, we’re excited to participate in this transformation and to introduce new technologies to manage energy better.

Landis+Gyr has undertaken research to understand the value of Managed Services for their utility customers. The results provide key insights into the expectations, benefits and, last but not least, how to select the right partner.

As our customers strive for efficiency and security in a dynamic and constantly changing environment, they need to consider new operational models. This explains a growing interest in Managed Services, delivered by specialist external partners to manage utility’s AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) operations and processes – like AMI software and IT system hosting known as “Software as a Service” (SaaS).

 I recently had the opportunity to review the “Electric Grid Managed Services Report – 2018” published by IHS Markit. There is no question that the report is excellent reading for anyone interested in service business in the energy industry. In their report, IHS Markit describes the key steps of AMI evolution, which inspired me to discuss the steps from the service business perspective.