Cepalco powers progress with Microsoft SharePoint and NTT DATA Philippines

CEPALCO began its operations in 1952, with a client base of only 750 customers. Today, the company has expanded to cover municipalities outside Cagayan de Oro with over 100,000 customers and continues to strive to build the company, increase manpower and facilities, as well as strengthen its expertise.

To complement this growth, the company searched for a combination of solutions that will facilitate more efficient customer servicing with an integrated IT infrastructure, and CEPALCO found that Microsoft is an ideal fit to address these needs. They appointed NTT DATA Philippines, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner that specializes in providing world-class solutions and services to enable its customers achieve their business objectives, maximize return on their IT investments, and accelerate growth.

“Microsoft is committed to help companies achieve their business objectives and reach their full potential through advanced information technology. Our solutions are designed to cater to different needs and provide cost-efficiency by accelerating the deployment of applications, ensuring that systems are always up to speed and data is within reach”, said Femee Cruz, Information Worker Product Manager, Microsoft Philippines.

NTT DATA Philippines proceeded to develop a more efficient IT infrastructure for CEPALCO based on a consolidated Microsoft platform, deploying innovations that addressed the organization’s changing business needs, such as Microsoft SharePoint 2007, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft Windows Server 2008.

“CEPALCO is a great example of how companies can make the most out of their IT investment, empower its employees, and deliver good customer service”, Cruz added.

“In an electric utility industry, it is important to have an infrastructure that will support our business needs without spending much to avoid affecting service rates”, said Ligaya P. Estopia, DBA – Information and Communications Technology Services Department, CEPALCO. “Microsoft has enabled us to have faster response times for our customer queries, quicker decision making due to better collaboration between the Manila and Cagayan offices which obviously cut down our costs for travel and transportation.”

Prior to the project, CEPALCO struggled with manual tracking and sharing of hardcopy documents that were mostly stored in filing cabinets. This and network bandwidth issues presented a challenge with regards to sharing files across Manila and Cagayan offices. To address this, CEPALCO built a portal using Microsoft SharePoint, allowing each department to have its own site for the speedy and efficient sharing and retrieving of updates and relevant information. They scanned more than a million documents into the system, helping the company create a centralized archive where employees have access to necessary documents through a network specifically designed for the company.

"Monitoring and coordinating the various sub-processes involved in many Engineering Services Division (ESD) projects can become very tedious and time-consuming if done by manually browsing the submitted hard copies of the reports. With the eDMS, accessing data is fast and accurate which can lead to quick and effective decision-making. The ability of ESD decision makers to make quick and effective decisions results to customer satisfaction and improved revenue of the company", says Engr. Cecilio U. Sumaoy, Senior Manager, Head - System Operations Department of Engineering Services Division and Lead Engineer for CEPALCO Photovoltaic Solar Power Plant and Green Building Project.

Through these innovations, employees are now capable of easier collaboration and sharing of files. CEPALCO now benefits from increased productivity and faster response times to customer queries, while saving a huge amount of time and reducing a considerable amount of cost.

“The deployment of these innovative solutions made us realize how much we can benefit from the right choice of technology. At present, we no longer have to spend days going through several piles of papers and spending on reproduction – the portal allows us to download and share files in just minutes. Consequently, we are now faster and more capable to deliver the best service to our clients”, said Estopia. “We can now truly power progress with the help of Microsoft innovation and believe that we have made the right choice.”