Esri Canada Wins CDN Channel Elite Award for Best Cloud Solution
ArcGIS for Outage Communications helps utilities increase customer satisfaction through proactive outage notifications
TORONTO – September 28, 2015 – Esri Canada was named the Gold Winner for Best Cloud Computing Solution at the recent Channel Elite Awards, hosted by Computer Dealer News (CDN), Canada's No. 1 IT channel publication and Web site. The company’s ArcGIS for Outage Communications solution received top honours for demonstrating the most innovative use of cloud technology to create business value for customers.
ArcGIS for Outage Communications leverages ArcGIS Online, Esri’s cloud geographic information system (GIS) platform, allowing utilities to quickly create and host dynamic Web-based outage maps for external and internal use, without putting a strain on their IT infrastructure. NB Power, a large utility in New Brunswick, realized the benefits of using ArcGIS Online when a winter storm hit Atlantic Canada in late 2014, leaving more than 50,000 customers without power. The solution enabled them to deploy an outage map that handled 1.2 million visits over a 24-hour period. Because the outage map was hosted on Esri’s scalable, cloud infrastructure, additional processing capacity was available to seamlessly accommodate the increased traffic – resulting in 100% uptime, consistent performance and a positive end-user experience throughout the storm.
“We’ve seen considerable value in moving to a geographic representation of outage information using ArcGIS,” said Tony O’Hara, chief technology officer and vice president of engineering, NB Power. “Internally, it provides better information to help optimize restoration efforts. Externally, it provides more intuitive information to help customers, municipalities and the media better understand the scope of a power outage situation during a storm.”
ArcGIS for Outage Communications includes an operations dashboard that pulls real-time information from key operational systems such as outage management systems (OMS), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) to provide an accurate picture of the operational state of critical real-time systems. This gives operations and management teams a consistent and comprehensive view of outages and their utility system’s health at a glance, helping them prioritize repairs. As well, the solution integrates automated notification services that allow utilities to generate messages to customers via e-mail, text and social media.
“It’s rewarding to see our customers realize their goals and achieve tremendous efficiencies with GIS,” remarked Alex Miller, president, Esri Canada. “NB Power’s success with our outage solution demonstrates the power and true value of the cloud in providing a scalable, secure and responsive framework for proactive outage communications and increased customer satisfaction. We’re pleased that our efforts have been recognized again by CDN.”
"Esri Canada is really setting the standard when it comes to cloud computing innovation in this country. They’ve had back-to-back triumphs winning Gold in the Channel Elite Awards for a second year, this time in the Best Cloud Computing category. No other solution provider has produced this kind of consistent quality in the cloud marketplace," said Paolo Del Nibletto, editor, CDN.
In 2014, Esri Canada’s Automated Vehicle Location (AVL) solution was named the Best Mobile Solution by CDN.
Read more about NB Power’s use of ArcGIS for Outage Communications in this case study: Enhancing power outage communications and restoration with GIS.
About Esri Canada
Founded in 1984, Esri Canada provides enterprise geographic information system (GIS) solutions that empower businesses, governments and educational institutions to make timely, informed and mission-critical decisions by leveraging the power of geography. The company distributes the world's leading GIS software from Esri, Schneider Electric, Cityworks–Azteca Systems, Inc. and other technology partners. Headquartered in Toronto, the company serves over 10,000 customers from 16 regional offices across Canada. Esri Canada has joined the elite rank of Canada’s Best Managed companies and has been named to the Branham300. Information about the company can be found at esri.ca. Follow Esri Canada on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.
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