The Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) has held celebrations at its primary data center located in Addis Ababa to officially inaugurate its new SAP ERP system. The ribbon cutting ceremony was attended by honorary guest, State Minister of the Energy Sector within the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity for Ethiopia, H.E Dr. Frehiwot Woldehanna, as well as several other dignitaries and senior executives, including Dr.-Ing.Getahun Mekuria, Minister of Education for Ethiopia and Board Chairman of EEU; Mr. Shiferaw Telila, CEO of EEU; Sudarshan Shapurkar, Tech Mahindra Head of Delivery for Middle East and Africa; Prasad Kotikela, Tech Mahindra Head of Africa and Pedro Guerreiro, Managing Director of SAP Central Africa.
The celebration, which marked the official go live of the SAP system, heralded a new era of efficiency and accountability in the EEU’s billing and reporting capability. It is another step in the ongoing commitment of the Ethiopian government to improve the overall economics and service of the electricity supply industry. The sector has been reviewing its operations across the board to identify opportunities to improve in areas such billing and collections, private investment in generation, capacity building and tariff management.
The EEU operates in a highly complex environment and serves customers in cities across all eleven regional states. It faced challenges in delivering services efficiently while also maintaining full visibility and accountability across all its systems. SAP ERP and SAP CRM were selected by EEU to streamline processes and provide real time visibility. The new system also enables EEU to quickly identify any issues and resolve them promptly, to ensure top class customer support.
“SAP is committed to helping companies run better,” said Pedro Guerreiro, Managing Director for SAP Central Africa. In his address at the opening event, he spoke about the need for partnership and working together across private and public sector. “By smartly leveraging technology, EEU is taking steps to become an intelligent enterprise, able to thrive in the digital age and able to offer its valued customers an enhanced customer experience. We look forward to our ongoing partnership to ensure EEU remains not only the pride of Ethiopia, but a role model for other organizations contributing to economic growth in Ethiopia and the Continent”.
This article first appeared on BizTech Africa.
