Brabant Water
Ensuring Accuracy for 2.2 Million Customers
“With the old system, we often had to wait days or weeks to get the data. Now it’s available right away. We don’t have to decipher illegible, handwritten notes anymore, so it’s also greatly reduced our error rate, With the data uploaded immediately, our service team can be a lot more responsive to customer questions and communications are transparent.” – Frank Van der Putten, Manager of Meter Reading, Brabant Water
Brabant supplies high-quality drinking and industrial-use water to the over 2.2 million inhabitants of North Brabant in the Netherlands. Public safety, security and customer service are imperative. Accuracy is paramount. The company performs 80,000 metre readings a month, and replaces about 100,000 metres a year.
The Challenge:
- The software the company was using to log and retain data was out of date and deteriorating. Data became corrupted, causing discrepancies in billing and lots of customer frustration.
- Water metres are often in inaccessible locations—behind a hedge, in a field or down the street—making it hard to get a good reading, let alone write the numbers down legibly.
- Brabant Water wanted to modernise its operations to increase accuracy, productivity and customer satisfaction.
The Solution:
- The project team at Brabant Water investigated several options and decided to equip its team with mobile handheld computers. The right solution would have to be flexible, cost-effective and robust.
- Brabant Water selected Psion Teklogix’ WORKABOUT PRO.
The Benefits:
- All metre readings are available immediately. Field technicians simply place their handheld computers in docking stations at night and all the data gathered that day is uploaded to the central database.
- Improved customer service and responsiveness
- The WORKABOUT PRO is easy to carry through a long day of metre readings and rugged to withstand operating in all weather conditions.
