Data Collection System

The energy environment is changing fast. Not only is deregulation a significant market force driving change, but technology such as data collection systems are coming to the fore. This rapid change calls for an agile data collection system that can encompass workflow management coordination, making the best use of the emerging lower cost telecom infrastructures, automatic meter reading (AMR) solutions and cost-effective handheld systems.

Many utility companies and meter providers are jumping at the prospect of a world in which the only data collection system you will need is an automatic meter reading system.

But like many other technological tidal waves, the jury is still out on the ability of such innovations to truly add business value. There is definitely a place for AMR in the data collection systems of today's energy environment, but there are other considerations that the provider needs to take into account, particularly in the vexed area of data collection.

A meter can be either the equivalent of a cash register or a sump, depending on how you approach the decision-making process regarding your next generation data collection system. What makes the difference is the way that your data collection system interacts with your business operations to provide service information that is valuable for customers and providers alike.

Managing data and the quality and timeliness of information it is able to provide is a well-documented and significant challenge for customers choosing data management systems. This is arguably a more important decision than how to collect the data, as the ability to do so can be mixed and matched in any portfolio to suit the provider's business needs.

A data collection system can only be expected to provide a viable return on investment if it is intelligent enough to manage data from multiple sources, platforms, formats, commodities and providers.

Unfortunately, there are relatively few data collection systems that understand this market complexity.

The market leading data collection system is Seven X, an end-to-end platform that integrates metering operations and meter data collection systems using any transfer mode.

For more information about Seven X and our market leading data collection system, follow this link.