Ottawa, ON, June 7, 2023 — Harris, a global vertical market software provider, adds digital marketing solutions to its utilities portfolio with the acquisition of Questline Digital.
Questline Digital is a market leader in the field of end-user customer communication for the U.S. utility sector. They build and continuously maintain a rich library of content, which in conjunction with their intelligent communication platform, can generate and distribute effective customer-facing campaigns to help drive desired customer behavior. The Ohio-based business has been an established player in this space for 30+ years, serving utilities of all sizes throughout the United States.
Dave Reim, President and CEO at Questline Digital, comments “We are thrilled to be joining the Harris Utilities Group. This acquisition is a testament to the hard work and expertise of our entire team at Questline Digital. Under Harris’ leadership, Questline Digital will be able to offer its customer engagement solutions to even more utilities, continue to develop new innovations in digital engagement, and integrate our proven solutions with Harris’ industry-leading platforms”.
Harris Group Leader, Eric Chabot, says “We could not be more excited to welcome Questline Digital to the Harris family. With this acquisition, not only is Harris gaining best-in-class solutions for utilities, we are welcoming industry veterans and thought-leaders into our organization. This represents another step in our continued mission to deliver market-leading solutions to utilities. Harris welcomes Questline’s employees with open arms”.
Eric Chabot
Group Leader
Phone: +1 (514) 836-6687
Email: echabot@harriscomputer.com
Questline Digital is a marketing and technology agency that builds engaging experiences throughout the customer journey, boosting program participation and overall satisfaction for utility companies nationwide. Through their proven process, they deliver measurable results with integrated communications strategies that engage, educate, and inspire action.
Harris acquires software companies, manages them using industry best practices, and builds them for the future. Through acquisitions, Harris has grown tremendously since its origins in the private, utility, education, government and healthcare sectors. Harris operates more than 200 businesses worldwide, in more than twenty industries. Harris is an operating group of Constellation Software Inc. (TSX: CSU), one of North America's most active software acquirers. CSI's head office is in Canada.
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Ottawa, ON, December 13, 2022 — SmartWorks, a division of Harris Computer Systems (“Harris”), a fully owned subsidiary of Constellation Software Inc. (“Constellation”) (TSX:CSU) today announced a new highly scalable cloud-based SmartWorks Compass platform hosted on IBM Cloud. The new SmartWorks Compass 5.1 offers utility clients a highly secure solution with rapid scalability, high availability, streamlined processes and reduced costs.
“As Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) has matured, the data processing, storage, and security expectations of utility companies have evolved,” said Joe Mahony, Vice President of Research and Development for SmartWorks. “IBM Cloud infrastructure has played a key role in helping SmartWorks meet these evolving needs, enabling us to achieve levels of performance and scalability far beyond our previous tests, and well above our expectations.”
SmartWorks Compass is a utility decision management solution that intelligently interprets the smart meter data collected in the meter data management (MDM) system including; interval readings, register readings, meter-related problems, outage information, data quality information, and more. To deliver the flexibility, value and functionality needed for large scale utilities throughout North America, the companies successfully completed a round of rigorous performance and scalability testing of the new cloud-based solution.
The SmartWorks Compass 5.1 software was able to load and perform full VEE (Validation, Estimation, and Editing) on 288,000,000 meter reads in only 2 hours. The tests were performed in a simulated production environment for a 1,500,000 meter electric utility, with multi-channel, 15 minute resolution data across the entire meter population, and with two years of online data storage. As a result, the recent tests meet the needs of clients in a secure and affordable solution. IBM Cloud has enabled SmartWorks to meet the needs of a wide range of utility customers, providing an affordable option for smaller municipalities as well as the capacity and robustness needed for large municipalities and investor-owned utilities.
“As energy and utility providers continue to evaluate the best ways to equip their teams with scalable work environments, they’re also looking for secure solutions to support this flexibility. IBM Cloud offers a secure environment and the flexibility to scale the workload up or down as needed by the client,” Marcus Buckle, IBM Cloud Leader - Canada. “We are making it easier for ecosystem partners like SmartWorks to build secure, flexible, scalable, integrated cloud solutions by hosting their platforms on IBM Cloud.”
For over a decade, SmartWorks has been providing best-in-class meter data management and analytics solutions to utilities throughout North America and the Caribbean. Currently, our technology development efforts largely focus on three specific areas:
- SmartWorks Compass, a robust utility decision management solution that seamlessly converts volumes of data into powerful insights and automated actions.
- MeterSense, a scalable, configurable and powerful meter data management (MDM) solution that quickly manages and intelligently interprets growing volumes of critical smart meter data.
- SmartWorks Connect, a sophisticated web-based consumer engagement solution that delivers the power of utility analytics to residential, commercial and industrial customers.
SmartWorks is the data-driven intelligence engine of Harris Utilities, a division of N. Harris Computer Corporation and its parent company, Constellation Software, a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange (CSU) which serves over 125,000 customers in over 100 countries.
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Ottawa, ON – Harris, a global vertical market software provider and acquirer, broadened its utilities portfolio by acquiring the business of SilverBlaze Solutions Inc.(SilverBlaze), a provider of award-winning customer service and engagement software solutions.
Harris began its operations in the municipal utility sector 45 years ago and continues to build upon its leadership position with the acquisition of SilverBlaze. Jim Simak, Senior Executive Vice President says, “We are pleased to be able to acquire SilverBlaze, which will complement our existing offerings and drive even greater value to our many clients. Our clients will be able to deliver the future of self-service, touchless and omnichannel experiences to millions of customers and citizens they serve, which has never been more critical and necessary.”
Headquartered in Ontario, Canada, SilverBlaze specializes in providing self-service portal and intelligent form software to electric, water, gas, telecom, and multi-service utility companies throughout Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean. SilverBlaze’s founding partner and co-owner, Dan Mair comments, “This is a win-win-win for all stakeholders. Not only does Harris provide the company a permanent home for SilverBlaze, but it also offers a rewarding and growing environment for our employees. Our customers also benefit as their investment in SilverBlaze is secured and protected for decades to come.”
Harris’ long-term commitment to our employees and their career development was a vital factor for SilverBlaze when considering their next steps. Harris welcomes co-owners Neil Atkinson, David Harty, Dan Mair, and the SilverBlaze employees to the organization.
SilverBlaze is an award-winning software innovation, development, and consulting firm. Founded in 1999, SilverBlaze offers comprehensive software solutions for utilities - the SilverBlaze Customer Portal, and SilverBlaze Smart Forms and Workflows.
Harris acquires vertical market software businesses, manages them well, and builds them for the future. Through acquisitions, Harris has grown extensively from its roots in the utilities, local government, education, and healthcare verticals to operate over 130 businesses globally across more than 20 industries. We are a part of Constellation Software Inc. (TSX: CSU), one of North America’s most active acquirers of software businesses.
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