At that time, the choice of Orion as the billing and customer-management system was a no-brainer. The founders of VE had experience with it before, at Energy Online in New Zealand; they knew it offered a flexible and intuitive platform, they knew it would run on simple, off-the-shelf hardware and network configurations, and they knew Agility would do what was needed to adapt Orion to the Australian energy market.

"It was really basic back then", recalls Heather McDonald, now the company's Project Manager. "Development was easy. We'd make a phone call to Dean or Lee, and everything was fixed."

Both companies have come a long way since then. The company now has several hundred employees and over 400,000 customers. But Orion still retains all the advantages of flexibility. "Industry changes are pretty simple", explains Heather. "We get told what we have to do by the industry, we send those requirements to Agility, and stuff just happens. Other players are more cumbersome. We just go with the changes."

A User's Perspective

Aneta Graham was VE's first Customer Service Representative, a role that had her using Orion more intensively than anyone. She found it far more logical and intuitive than other systems she'd worked on in the past. "I didn't come from an IT background, I just needed the system to do this", she explains. "But Orion was very logical. I was told how to do something once, and then I just did it."

Now she handles regulatory affairs and compliance for VE. In this role she needs Agility to add custom-made reports and interfaces to Orion.

"Agility has maintained that small-company feel", she says. In a larger company, "process can get in the way of what you're trying to do". But Agility's focus on close working relationships with its clients prevents that. "It has been a really good working relationship", says Aneta, "the kind I'd want to foster and maintain."

Thinking Ahead

The person in VE tasked with making sure that Orion continues to serve VE's needs into the future is CIO Michael Dornan. He identifies potential issues in advance through the Risks Committee. When the committee identifies risks relating to Orion these are subsequently discussed with Agility, a resolution is proposed, agreed and implemented to demonstrate to the committee that the risks have been managed.

For instance, one risk identified was that Orion had never been used for a database of over 1 million customers. Michael describes how Agility offered to prove its system: "I had a discussion with Lee, who offered a number of options. We agreed in the end to scale up the database and test a specific version."

Agility then designed a series of tests to demonstrate Orion's scalability and robustness, using a test database three times the size of VE's current customer numbers.

"We're quite happy with the process we follow to mitigate risks and where we're at with the system, at the moment", Michael explains. "When we identify a risk, we want to make sure it is controlled and remains a low risk. Agility have always responded and implemented solutions that provide confidence."

Today, Victoria Electricity is Agility's biggest client, and still growing.