The City of Waco’s recent implementation demonstrates how unified operations enhance citizen safety and quality of life across all municipal domains. What started as a utilities and streets project has evolved into a comprehensive, city-wide initiative that has fundamentally improved service delivery across multiple operational areas.

“Kudos to the KloudGin team because we started with one scope, and we have been, it seems, constantly expanding it,” said Waco’s Managing Director Lisa Tyers. The city’s phased approach has systematically enhanced daily operations and service quality across multiple municipal functions:

• Wave 1: IT department, radio communications, utilities (both linear pipeline networks and vertical treatment facilities), and traffic management systems.
• Wave 2: Extended utilities operations and municipal facilities management
• Wave 3: Streets, parks, and recreation, and specialized services like zoo operations

This expansion happened organically as their municipal departments recognized the transformative value of unifying their operations. Most significantly, Waco implemented innovative integrations that demonstrate the value of next-generation service delivery. “We want to be able to see any work order on a map at one time,” Tyers explained. “So if somebody calls in, and you want to look at this address or an area, you can see any work that is occurring right there that may be impacting the customer.”

This unified visibility means that when citizens report problems, operators can immediately identify whether ongoing work might be causing issues. This capability has dramatically improved daily response times and enhanced citizen confidence in their municipal services.

Universal Utility Transformation: Value For Every Organization

The success demonstrated by forward-thinking utilities reveals a transformation opportunity that extends beyond organizational structures and ownership models. All utilities, no matter their size, location, or type, face the same fundamental challenge: efficiently coordinating diverse work across complex infrastructure while ensuring reliable service delivery and regulatory compliance.

Operational Scale Optimization: Utilities of all sizes benefit from unified work management that scales with their specific operational requirements. Large utilities serving millions of customers can improve the coordination of complex, multi-crew activities across vast service territories. In contrast, smaller utilities can maximize the productivity of limited resources by eliminating system inefficiencies. Arizona Public Service’s ability to serve 1.5 million customers across a territory spanning from the Grand Canyon to the Mexican border demonstrates how unified platforms enable consistent service delivery across diverse geographic and operational challenges, regardless of organizational size or structure.

Enhanced Contractor Coordination: Modern utilities increasingly rely on external contractors to manage specialized work and capacity fluctuations. KloudGin’s Connected Contractor solution is a prime example of how unified platforms can seamlessly integrate contractor operations with internal workflows. The solution provides contractors with a vendor portal for accepting work orders and a mobile app for field execution. At the same time, utilities maintain real-time visibility into contractor performance, compliance status, and billing accuracy. This integrated approach eliminates the operational silos that traditionally separate internal and external workforce management.

Resource Efficiency Across All Models: Every utility must optimize limited human and capital resources while maintaining a high standard of service reliability. Unified platforms eliminate the workforce capacity losses that result from system switching and data reconciliation, enabling organizations to redirect resources toward value-added activities. Snohomish County PUD’s experience providing electric and water services to both 850,000 residents and 20,000 businesses demonstrates how integrated systems optimize resource allocation across both linear distribution networks and vertical generation facilities.

Enhanced Customer Responsiveness: Today’s customers expect consistent, reliable service and transparent communication, regardless of their utility provider’s ownership model or geographic location. KloudGin’s Connected Customer solution enables utilities to provide real-time notifications, appointment scheduling, crew tracking, and digital self-service capabilities, reducing service costs while improving customer satisfaction. The solution delivers measurable results, including a 14% decrease in service costs, a 20% increase in customer satisfaction, and a 21% increase in contract renewals.

Regulatory Compliance and Financial Performance: As utilities face increasing regulatory requirements and pressure to demonstrate operational efficiency, unified platforms simplify compliance reporting by automatically capturing the required data during normal work execution, while integrated financial systems streamline regulatory accounting processes. Louisville Water Company is a prime example of how comprehensive operational integration enhances both regulatory compliance and economic performance, regardless of the utility’s structure.

Workforce Development and Retention: The utility industry faces universal challenges in workforce development and retention, as experienced employees retire and new workers expect access to modern technology tools. Unified platforms attract and retain talent by providing intuitive, mobile-first interfaces that eliminate the frustration of disconnected legacy systems. As Obe Everett, Director of Customer Information Systems at Louisville Water explained, “When you hear your end users say, ‘You guys finally selected something that is of value to us,’ that means more to me than anything” – it’s clear that technology choices become a competitive advantage in workforce management.

Infrastructure Resilience and Risk Management: Utilities must maintain infrastructure resilience while managing operational risks across increasingly complex systems. Unified EAM and FSM platforms enable comprehensive risk assessment and coordinated response strategies that consider interdependencies between all asset types and work activities. This integrated approach enhances system reliability and reduces operational risks regardless of utility size, structure, or service territory.

This transformation opportunity is universal: Utilities that embrace unified work management across all of their operational domains position themselves for sustained success in an increasingly complex operating environment, while those that continue with fragmented approaches will face mounting competitive disadvantages across operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and workforce productivity.

This is Part 4 of our series “A Single Face of Work®: Unifying All Work And All Assets on a Single Platform.” Read Part 3 here.