Incident Management Software for Utilities
For utility companies, incident management software can dramatically improve the efficiency of emergency response. Many utility companies rely heavily on various manual mechanisms to orchestrate incident management. Manual processes run the gamut from paper forms to spreadsheets to emails, but for obvious reasons the manual approach is rarely the optimal approach.
How Incident Management Software can Optimize Response
Incident management software can help streamline Incident Command System (ICS) processes, especially regarding activation, restoration reporting, and demobilization. In general, tools that help automate manual file and hand-off “transactions” can save huge amounts of time. Here are three of many possible examples:
- Communication technology to automate the process of notifying and activating workers can increase mobilization speed.
- Reporting technology that automatically reports restoration details can expedite FEMA reimbursement submissions, responses to regulatory queries, and reporting to impacted communities, and can ensure that all employees and stakeholders have access to accurate and timely information.
- Workforce management technology that shows the location of crews in real time can improve the efficiency of worker deployments and reduce downtime.
Effective incident management software can be utilized to automate a variety of functions, and it stands to reason that the more you can automate, the faster outage restoration can be accomplished. Automation also offers a plethora of additional benefits, such as improving stakeholder communications, improving regulatory relations, and enhancing employee morale during times of crisis.
Of course, full implementation of incident management software is easier said than done, which is probably why the industry continues to be plagued by the presence of legacy systems. However, whether a planned system enhancement is on your company’s short-term horizon or not, you should start planning for systemic upgrades now, because it is only a matter of time before effective incident management software is no longer optional.
