The Argentine natural gas distributor has optimized the invoicing of more than one million customers in the Cuyo region and in the center of the country and, as a result, has automated its accounting, tax and regulatory reports. Ecogas, an Argentine natural gas distribution company, chose SAP solutions to optimize the management of its operations, gain flexibility, reduce costs and modernize its systems. The implementation was carried out by business partner Process Technologies.
Ecogas, formed by the companies Distribuidora de Gas del Centro S.A. and Distribuidora de Gas Cuyana S. A., provides public natural gas distribution services in the provinces of Córdoba, Mendoza, Catamarca, San Juan, La Rioja and San Luis. With 500 employees, it currently reaches more than 1.2 million customers in 268 localities, through an infrastructure of more than 30 thousand kilometers of networks and gas pipelines.
Before implementing the specific solution for utilities, SAP IS-U, the company was managing its operations with an internally developed system based on technologies that needed to be modernized. On the other hand, due to the growth of the organization and the expansion in geographic coverage that increased the number of customers, the support of its systems demanded additional functionalities.
By implementing SAP IS-U on SAP HANA, Ecogas was able to increase the billing speed to more than one million customers and to be more flexible when defining pricing rules, which is critical in a changing economy such as the Argentinean one.
“With this system, we were able to connect our operations with SAP ERP, automating the company’s accounting. On the other hand, we modernized our applications and systems, we are better prepared to use the new types of digital meters based on IoT and we have the same quality of information with a lower investment cost,” says Oscar Sobrero, IT and Organization Leader at Ecogas.
“We decided to implement this solution supported by Process Technologies, as it was the best proposal in terms of time, resources and costs. We did it using the big bang method, focusing on residential and big customers,” Sobrero concludes.
“This platform is focused in utility industries and oriented to handle business functions such as meter reading and data management, scheduling, invoicing, accounting, customer service and integration with consumer relationship management and the regulatory body. We currently work with most of the companies that use SAP IS-U in Argentina, making us one of the best options to carry out new projects as well as to work on corrective and evolutionary maintenance”, explains Miguel Falabella, Director of Process Technologies.
In 2020, Process Technologies obtained the SAP Recognized Expertise recognition in the Utilities industry. This qualification demonstrates specialization and depth of experience in the implementation of services in a specific area, a specific SAP solution or industry.
Source: SAP
