The company launched a pilot program in 2012 to introduce the new technology and collect feedback from management and union employees. During the pilot, they worked with ARCOS to improve its mobile application from view-only to interactive, so supervisors and field employees can use smart phones to view rosters, request employees to work and have employees accept work. Voice activating technology was also developed during the pilot to encourage safe phone use. The result is a faster, safer and more efficient response to emergencies.
“The success of this program was really driven by the collaboration, discussion and input we received from our managers and IBEW representatives. Their efforts ensured we developed a transparent, understandable and effective process that worked for our employees and our customers,” said Barry Anderson, PG&E’s vice president of emergency preparedness and operations.
The new technology was then introduced throughout the company in 2014, and the automated emergency response process for crew management and dispatch has proven to be far more effective for the company than the manual process used previously. Compared to the manual process, which took 30 to 60 minutes to complete before the pilot program, automated callouts are now completed in about 10 to 20 minutes – with some callouts being filled in as little as three minutes. This process allows faster responses by the company to gas and electric emergencies, and enables service restoration for customers more quickly and consistently than ever before.
During the pilot program, the company’s management and union representatives established workshops, weekly conference calls and other meetings to share thoughts, suggestions and concerns about the new, automated program. The end result was a mutually beneficial system for the company and an improved process that other utilities can adopt as well.
At the ARCOS conference in March, representatives from several gas and electric utilities from across the country expressed how this improved application can help them respond to emergencies more quickly and safely. ARCOS is now offering this new technology to other utilities.
