Open International Systems Corporation
A Complete Utility Management Platform

The utilities industry, these days, is going through a period of transformation due to new regulations, rise of obsolete technology, diversity in end-user behavior, and various market realities. However, the industry faces a lack of flexibility and long duration to take a product from concept to market. Open International Systems Corporation (OPEN), based in Miami, FL, offers flexible solutions and technologies that is designed to assist businesses meet their objectives and create value and satisfaction.
“We started as a provider of Business and Operation Support Systems (BOSS) for the telecommunication industry. In a few years, the functionality was expanded across all utilities. Today, we provide Customer Information System (CIS) and BOSS applications for electricity, gas, water, waste management, and telecommunication sectors.” says Erick Vivas, VP, and Business Development, OPEN. The company manages these business segments in vastly different requirements for both regulated and unregulated markets simultaneously. They also deal in systems with prepaid and postpaid accounts and customers of various sizes. Their products and services are created to give their clients full control of the business. OPEN’s flagship product, Open Smartflex is a rules-based utilities solution that delivers flexibility and benefits the end-user by simplifying the modification process thereby removing the need for pro- grammers in the modification procedure. In addition to this, Open Smartflex is modular and built over a homogeneous architecture.

This optimizes the total cost of product ownership and makes the solution adaptable to suit the entire cycle of the utility. Open Smartflex’s modules provide marketplace agility and specialized management for the unique sector requirements in energy (energyCIS), water (aquaCIS), natural gas (gasCIS) and waste management (ecoCIS). The Open Smartflex has a set of BOSS tools to support the telecom industry like telecomBoss, mobileBoss, and mediaBOSS. These tools have been designed taking the latest market trends into account.

OPEN also updates their software portfolio to address the dynamic market trends. “Smartgrid in the electricity sector, for example, has incorporated characteristics such as communicating with the network or event based rating. We have expanded capabilities, previously used only in the telecommunication sector, to comply with this new market reality,” says Vivas.

We have expanded capabilities, previously used only in the telecommunication sector, to comply with this new market reality

While a typical service provider would need months or even years to implement new offerings, Open’s customers can often configure new services in a few weeks through the use of its rule based development framework. In addition to this, OPEN has also implemented complete geospatial capabilities in its solution so that information can be presented geographically through any mapping service. Recent projects that spark an interest include a gas company, with 3.1 million end customers that approached OPEN for a scalable Customer Information System (CIS). OPEN deployed a robust cloud based environment for the company, thus meeting the client’s demand. “Our largest implementation up to date is a multiple utility implementation, providing services to 4.7 million customers,” says Vivas. Going forward, OPEN aims to bring in new technologies in CIS and BOSS. They also stay ahead of the technological curve by adopting new trends in GUI and enhancing their product, so that it can be accessed on new devices, such as tablets and other mobile equipment. In its pursuit for perfection and ability to adapt quickly, OPEN plans to transform and optimize the channels of utility management and distribution. They aim to do this by expanding their reach to more countries, adapting Open Smartflex to suit a diverse array of challenging applications that surface in the utilities sector.