267 LEADING METERING INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS GATHER IN BANGKOK TO DISCUSS THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS AND TRENDS IN THE ASIAN METERING, BILLING & CRM INDUSTRY

The Metering, Billing/CRM Asia 2009 conference and exhibition in Bangkok, Thailand which ended May 14th, proved a success. The overall consensus among the 267 participants from 32 different countries who attended the event, was that the two-day conference and exhibition had provided them with a vital insight into the metering, billing and CRM developments in the Asian utility industry. A number of attendees told the organizers that it had been a valuable eye-opener in gaining knowledge about new projects, industry developments, expectations and regulations.

Strong industry accolades were received on Metering Billing/CRM Asia 2009:

“The conference significantly helped in benchmarking new projects to the industry standard and recent developments. Congratulations to Synergy! Jaime Rafael U. Paguio, Vice President, Cepalco, the Philippines

“True global presence; One of the most well organized events I have attended” Zahin Zaman, Sales Director Asean Utilities, Oracle, Singapore

“An exciting conference in exciting times” Gyozo Kmethy, President, DLMS User Association, Hungary

The two track conference programme provided valuable resources and networking opportunities to identify challenges, share experiences and evaluate possible solutions. Interactive discussion sessions provided an honest exchange of information and the results of the knowledge sharing discussion session including recommendations and action points for the next steps in the Asian utility industry attracted a highly motivated and participative audience until the very end.

The targeted Metering, Billing/CRM Asia exhibition provided a focused technology showcase for utilities to source new products and services and meet current and new suppliers to stay updated with the latest technologies and industry developments.

CONFERENCE

During the 2-day two-track conference programme, over 45 speakers presented in-depth paper presentations and case studies on the following topics:

- New policies and government objectives advancing investments in Metering, Billing & CRM in the region
- Developments and forecasts of the AMR market in the Asia Pacific Region
- Smart investment decisions
- How to change the architecture of the technical infrastructure
- How to create value for your customers
- Revenue assurance, pricing and prepaid metering
- Advanced meter data collection & billing systems
- Looking into the future: New technologies and standards to comply with new demands and regulation

Besides the conference sessions there were interesting debates during the panel discussion session and the knowledge sharing session focusing on smart metering, IT infrastructure and technology trials, creating value for the customers and the effects of advanced metering on business processes. At the closing session the summary of the results of the knowledge sharing sessions were presented by Phil Perry of Impaq Consulting and gave the delegates enough “ food for thought” on Metering perspectives in Asia such as:

- Will Asia join the wave of smart metering rollouts?
- Are the costs of manual processes too low in Asia to justify automation with smart metering?
- Is other smart metering functionality required to make the case?
- Perhaps the benefits case for smart metering has been too restricted?
- Is more involvement of Governments, Regulators & Customer organisations required to get a positive business case?

NEXT EVENT

The Metering, Billing/CRM Asia 2010 Programme Committee consisting of a cross selection of utility experts from all over the region has held their first committee meeting to exchange topic ideas and to discuss the new directions for Metering, Billing/CRM Asia 2010 to be held in Kuala Lumpur. The date has yet to be finalised.