A BITS Pilani alumnus, Agendra possesses over 33 years of cross industry experience working with numerous organizations, and also served as the Chairperson at the FICCI Committee for Geospatial Technologies.

GIS technology has been in use by gas utility companies globally for a long time now for a wide range of applications and use cases. GIS data not only enables gas utilities to plan the networking of their gas pipelines in the most optimum way, but also helps in monitoring and maintenance of those infrastructures. Since gas is highly volatile in nature, GIS also helps gas utility companies identify any corrosion in the pipelines and take the necessary remedial measures. Additionally, whenever a new connection is given to a customer, the entire CRM data such as their name, contact info and other details is integrated into the GIS. This way, GIS data acts as the key enabler in the network management of gas pipelines for optimized gas distribution, especially in an urban city. Let us discuss a few primary use cases of GIS by gas utilities -

Ensuring Compliance to Regulatory Frameworks

Since handling gas is considered dangerous and often deals with human lives, the regulatory frameworks and guidelines around it are becoming more stringent with each passing day. GIS systems enable the gas utility companies to create frameworks for efficiently managing the data pertaining to their various processes, which is periodically submitted to regulatory bodies to ensure compliance to all necessary guidelines. As a result, it has now become very easy for gas companies to quickly gather data pertaining to any of their process and submit it in an organized manner. Additionally, GIS also helps them to ensure that the infrastructure that they have created is properly functional and pose no threat of gas leakage or any other potential hazards.

The increasing smartphone penetration and advancements in mobile technologies has now made it possible for the GIS systems to be directly integrated with the field technicians from the gas utilities

Optimizing Operational Efficiency

GIS enables the gas utilities to keep a detailed record of critical information such as the location of their gas lines, customer locations, ways of distributing, and many others. Also, the increasing smartphone penetration and advancements in mobile technologies have now made it possible for the GIS systems to be directly integrated with the field technicians from the gas utilities, enabling them to access the required data with ease, at any time from any place. As a result, whenever these personnel go on to the field for any kind of repair or maintenance, they are able to capture the images of the work being done through their smartphones and update that new data into the existing GIS database, which then automatically captures the data regarding the date, time and location of the new work. This automatic updation of data has been a true enabler for gas utilities, given the highly sensitive nature of their jobs.

Enhancing Customer Support

Whenever a customer faces any issues related to gas at his/her home and contacts the gas utilities, the customer's identity and their location is automatically recognized by the GIS due to pre-existing CRM data. This will help the gas utilities to predict what the potential reason might be for that particular problem, ascertain the location and take the necessary steps to resolve that problem in the quickest time possible. Additionally, gas utilities also build a lot of intelligence in their Network Management Systems via GIS to know exactly where the fault lies. There is also a new advanced technology that has been invented lately in this space named the Utility Network Technology which centrally manages all the data coming from different sensors & IoT devices and makes it available to the technicians. This way, gas utilities are using GIS to enhance their customer experience and support services.