Beyond Technology: Building Trust and Success with Utilities

Karthik Rao, VP of Client Success

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At LineVision, we’re enabling the energy transition by providing utilities with technology that turns transmission lines into intelligent assets. Our LineRate application delivers Dynamic Line Ratings that increase the capacity of transmission lines, allowing our utility partners to meet load growth challenges and interconnect renewable generation while reallocating capital and lowering congestion costs. It’s a huge win for anyone interested in cost-effectively modernizing the grid.

But adopting new technology requires more than just installing hardware or software. Fully incorporating DLR into day-to-day grid operations means updating processes that haven’t changed for roughly a hundred years. It requires the alignment of many stakeholders within a utility’s organization, including Transmission Engineering, Operations, Planning, IT, Cybersecurity, and others. Each team has experts in their respective fields who rightly want to understand how the technology works and how it will impact their part of the business. To get it right, utilities need a partner who will step them through the process and ensure they unlock the full value of DLR.  

I lead Client Success at LineVision, and my team works with our utility partners daily to do just that. We’re incredibly proud of the customer-centric culture we’ve built at LineVision and strive to establish great partnerships with each utility we work with. The most frequent point of feedback we receive from our customers is not about our industry-leading technology, but how much they enjoy working with our team. I wanted to share our approach to Client Success and why it matters. 

Extension of our client’s team: from the very start of an engagement, we meet regularly with our utility counterparts to build trust and ensure free-flowing communication. We love getting to know our customers as people and becoming a part of their team. We’ve had customers tell us that meetings with us are the high point of their week. It’s not a coincidence - we see every touchpoint as an opportunity to get things done while having some fun. 

Meet clients where they are: while LineVision’s technology is deployable on any transmission tower anywhere in the world, the way it’s integrated into a utility’s environment is never “one size fits all.” We engage deeply with each of our customers to understand everything from internal procedures to system architecture to organizational structure. It allows us to ensure people, processes, and technology all come together to deliver a successful outcome. 

Taking a broader view, we know every utility has a unique motivation for implementing DLR, so we work closely with each of them to understand strategic business priorities and how the outcomes we deliver can impact the issues executives are focused on. When we make our customer’s goals our own, we become a better partner. 

Make it easy: utilities are tasked with keeping the lights on while rapidly adopting new technology and updating business practices that have been in place for decades. It’s hard work, so the LineVision team strives to reduce the burden on our customers as much as possible. By walking our customers through the implementation process step-by-step, we help utilities avoid costly rework and missed deadlines. As the leader in our space, we also bring the benefit of our experience to each new engagement. LineVision customers are members of a community, and we love nothing more than when our customers engage with each other directly and learn from one another. 

As utilities worldwide grapple with unprecedented challenges, we’re proud that they have consistently turned to LineVision as a trusted partner. As we work together, we’ll continue to look for ways to deliver the best possible customer experience while we unlock the full potential of our grid.

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