Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) is Pakistan’s leading integrated gas Company. With over USD 1.3B in revenue SSGC is one of the largest gas utility companies in emerging markets. The company is engaged in the business of transmission and distribution of natural gas besides construction of high pressure transmission and low pressure distribution systems. Its distribution activities cover over 1200 towns in the Sindh and Baluchistan through a distribution network of over 37,000 Km.

SSGC had a strategic focus on lowering the Unaccounted For Gas (UFG) percentage. Lowering the UFG had enormous impact on the profitability of the company. SSGC however was not comfortable with the lack of visibility it had on its own systems and data. This same lack of visibility was also affecting its compliance obligations to internal and external stakeholders and hindering its ability to be operationally efficient and consumer centric.

While SSGC originally was looking for just a compliance solution InfoTech consultants initiated a broader dialogue. We saw the visibility issue, the compliance issue, the lack of data issue as linked. We urged to look at their upcoming investments holistically to address key business and operational concerns in a future proof manner. Executive management from the Board and CEO down to functional leads agreed. InfoTech consultants then studied the UFG problem and SSGC’s operations, business environment and strategic plans closely. Existing Utilities knowledge and expertise was then used to devise an architecture roadmap that addressed critical immediate problems, business and IT operational challenges, while enabling business objectives. At the heart of the roadmap lay an integrated application architecture that ensured policy automation for compliance and agility, and Enterprise Data visibility at an unprecedented scale. Business process re-engineering was employed so that processes updated were best in class. The roadmap also ensured that smart metering and related technologies would enable SSGC to become a smart grid leader regionally. Technologies that were installed or upgraded included Business Intelligence & Data Warehousing, Meter Data Management, Customer care and billing automation, governance risk and compliance, ERP and identity and access management. Critically applications were integrated for all core functions allowing for the first time a “Single Source of Truth.”

Dramatic improvements in procurement because of data visibility and process optimization resulted in a 25% improvement in year 1 alone. UFG improvements because of “Single Source of Truth” view are expected to total upwards of USD 300M! Centralization of enterprise data via analytics allowed for valuable insights into the functioning of SSGC. Causes for losses that could be addressed were identified. Best practice processes allowed for more efficient execution across the organization. Strategic planning was now in tune with reality and with realistic projected benefits. Compliance issues were addressed resulting in operational risk mitigation and resolution of outstanding investment issues.

InfoTech was selected as a valued information technology partner because it put customer business objectives, profitability and growth at the center of its conversation with SSGC as opposed to simply replying to the tender on offer. Once SSGC was aligned on the Information Technology architecture roadmap, InfoTech was selected for implementation because it had the expertise in consulting, integrated solutions across applications, networking and systems to deploy the integrated application architecture an organization as complex as SSGC needed. InfoTech also had deep industry knowledge on Utilities because of its prior projects and on board consultants, and because InfoTech has its own Smart Grid product line of information technology solutions that are deployed worldwide.