IBM has signed a two and half year, USD 29 million consulting contract to streamline Southern Company's financial, supply chain and work management operations. This enterprise solution aims to provide Southern Company with on-demand data and information to enhance service to their customers, by improving operations, enabling proactive maintenance, and contributing to fewer and shorter outages, the company said.
IBM Global Business Services will partner with Southern Company to implement standardised business processes and software across all of Southern Company's business units, which will enable the energy provider to monitor the activity and status of assets more effectively, schedule their workforce for repairs more efficiently and, as a result, respond to customer calls more quickly, the company said.
"Through this project, Southern Company will be able to manage our operating companies and business units with a single, shared technology platform," said Becky Blalock, Southern Company senior vice president and chief information officer.
The project will include a combination of Maximo modules including Sourcing, Contracts, Materials Accounting, Warehousing, Inventory Management, and Work Order Management and will work in parallel with the implementation of Oracle Financials which will streamline financial controls and reporting, the company said.
"IBM has seen a growing convergence of business and IT assets amongst energy companies," said Bob Vallee, IBM Global Business Services leader for the Americas Energy & Utilities Industry. "This is part of the movement toward an Intelligent Utility Network, where utilities are able to view and respond to the health and status of their entire network, in real-time. We're thrilled to be working with Southern Company on this initiative, which will help them optimise and transform their business."
The technology will be implemented across Southern Company's subsidiaries including Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power, Southern Power and Southern Nuclear.
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