With a commitment to providing reliable and efficient service to its customers, Whitby Hydro reviewed its existing Customer Service processes to identify areas for improvement. All customer related documents— applications for service, pre-authorized payment forms, reference letters and more—were being printed and manually filed. Customer emails weren’t being captured in a central repository, rendering them largely inaccessible for use by frontline staff when dealing with customer inquiries. Finally, the utility was printing, storing and manually sorting through a huge number of text reports generated by their financial system.

“FileNexus® has allowed us to streamline processes within customer service by making all customer records available within a couple of key strokes. Having customer information available at our finger tips allows us to respond to customer inquiries in a highly efficient manner. The FileNexus® team made the transition to a paperless environment fast and easy.”

Whitby Hydro Electric Corporation (“Whitby Hydro”) was established in 1903 and is one of the oldest public utilities in Ontario. Each year, Whitby Hydro provides over 750 million kilowatt-hours of electricity with a peak load of 200 MW to the Towns of Whitby, Brooklin, Ashburn and Myrtle. The utility services 39,000 customers in a service territory of approximately 120 square kilometres.

FileNexus® gives utilities, both large and small, the ability to capture virtually any type of document from any source (i.e. paper records such as maps, drawings, manuals, electronic files such as host generated reports, client statement streams, IVR recordings, etc.), index and compress them for secure archival and future recall—providing a single cohesive repository for all document management, workflow and retention needs.

By implementing FileNexus®, Whitby Hydro now captures all customer related documents in one secure, centralized data repository. PC documents are captured and stored electronically, eliminating printing and storage costs, and are instantly available on the user’s screen. Any paper-based document which was either dropped off by a customer or which requires a signature has been scanned, indexed and archived in FileNexus® as well—as are the utility’s historical paper-based documents. Email correspondence is now captured electronically and made immediately available to Customer Service representatives, allowing them to quickly handle customer questions and requests.

Reports from Whitby Hydro’s North|Star CIS (Refund Journals, Meter Reading etc.) are automatically identified, indexed and archived by FileNexus®. In addition, the content of the CIS reports are also full-text indexed and searchable. Customer Service representatives now have all report data at their fingertips, and audits are simplified by being able to quickly find specific documents or exact line items within documents.

Future projects at Whitby Hydro will include an expansion into the Engineering Department to capture and manage the utility’s residential, commercial and subdivision files.

Learn more about how other utilities use FileNexus®:

• Kitchener Wilmot Hydro
• Keys Energy Services
• Orillia Power Corporation
• Hillsdale BPU
• Peterborough Utilities Group
• Roanoke Gas Company
• Innisfil Hydro
• The City of Clearwater, Florida
• Oakville Hydro
• Erie Thames Services

For more information on how FileNexus® can improve your business efficiency, please visit www.filenexus.com, or write to sales@loristech.com.

About Whitby Hydro Electric Corporation
To learn more about Whitby Hydro, please visit their website www.whitbyhydro.on.ca.

Published March 28, 2012.