Irish geographic information systems provider Esri Ireland has announced that its ArcGIS technology is helping to enhance customer service delivery for Northern Ireland Electricity Networks, fully automating a map requesting process which enables citizens and contractors to determine proximity of electricity infrastructure to building or renovation sites.

The Dublin-headquartered company, which maintains offices in Holywood, has transformed service delivery for NIE Networks which serves over 966,000 customers across Northern Ireland, significantly improving customer experience through streamlined information access and reduced response times by News Letter UK.

NIE Networks receives around 6,000 requests for maps annually. The organisation had to manually generate maps for each specific request in time-consuming process which saw applicants waiting up to 10 days to receive these via email or by post. Now, customers can make these requests online via dedicated webpage and receive maps within maximum of one hour.

The service is available 24 hours a day, including outside traditional office hours and at weekends, minimising risk of power outages, helping streamline construction projects, and ensuring access to accurate information. In addition to reduced waiting times, the number of requests for maps has increased significantly since introduction of the new process.

The solution delivers considerable time savings for NIE Networks and enables internal resources to be reallocated to other core business activities. An interactive dashboard provides teams with far greater oversight of planned works and enables quicker response times in case of any incidents.

Explore how geographic information systems are transforming utility customer service delivery in the full story by Belfast News Letter.