As technology leaders at today’s utilities contend with an accelerating rate of change, few areas of the business are as fast-moving as daily operations.
Between evolving customer expectations and increasing technical complexity, not to mention operational silos that can often complicate the delivery of critical information to field crews when and where they need it most, IT leaders on the operational side of modern utilities are racing to keep up.
Within this industry context, SAP’s recent evolutions to field service and asset management solution capabilities have required IT leaders to more strategically assess the future of their organizations’ technology roadmaps. For most utilities, operational silos can delay and impede even the most essential daily processes, leading IT leaders to specifically seek solutions that simplify those processes by breaking down silos.
Adopting a unified platform that integrates line-of-business applications across field service and asset management while establishing a single system of record for data integration across the enterprise has become a priority.
According to Vikram Takru, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of KloudGin, who’s spent his career creating innovative solutions to transform field operations and asset management, a connected and cloud-based solution is the best way forward for utilities.
In conversation with ASUG, Takru discusses the “single face of work” represented by his fully integrated mobile work and enterprise asset management solution, the importance of a modern customer experience, and why the practical value to be unlocked through AI investments is more evident than ever before.
This interview has been edited and condensed. Download the full interview here.
Q: KloudGin is formally entering the SAP ecosystem, with your listing in the SAP Store. Can you introduce KloudGin to our SAP utility community and explain how you extend the value of existing SAP investments?
KloudGin is the only cloud-native, mobile-first Field Service and Enterprise Asset Management platform built exclusively for utilities and public sector organizations. We’re not a generic solution adapted for utilities—we’re purpose-built for your unique operational realities.
Here’s what makes us different: we seamlessly extend your SAP investments rather than competing with them. Your SAP system remains your system of record for financials, procurement, and core business processes. KloudGin becomes your operational engine—handling the complex field operations, asset maintenance, and customer engagement that utilities require.
We understand utility complexity: managing linear assets, such as distribution networks, alongside vertical assets, like substations, while coordinating emergency repairs with long-term maintenance programs, and orchestrating hybrid workforces comprising employees, contractors, and mutual aid crews. “We know distributed assets are a major operational burden for utilities; planning, scheduling, and maintaining a distributed network requires new systems and capabilities. The grid was designed for one-way flow; distributed assets create constant balancing challenges.”
Our multi-tenant, community-driven approach means when one utility collaborates with us to solve an operational challenge, that solution becomes immediately available to every customer. For example, when Snohomish County PUD needed deeper SAP integration, they became our development partner; their team’s knowledge of SAP and experience in the utilities community made them the clear choice to partner with, ensuring we could validate the strength of our solution from a trusted SAP customer perspective while strengthening it further with their expertise. That investment from both of our sides led to the creation of a comprehensive SAP adapter, now available to every utility in the SAP ecosystem.
The result? You get best-of-breed utility operations while preserving and extending your SAP foundation. No rip-and-replace. No disruption. Just enhanced operational efficiency and customer service built on your existing investments.
Q: Many SAP utilities struggle with field operations and customer engagement that feel disconnected from their core SAP systems. How does KloudGin’s “Single Face of Work” address these operational silos?
This disconnect is exactly why we exist. I’ve visited utilities where field crews juggle eight different applications: SAP for parts and financials, separate FSM systems for other asset types, GIS for locations, CIS for customer data, plus multiple departmental systems. Crews spend more time fighting technology than serving customers.
Download KloudGin’s white paper, “A Single Face of Work for Utilities: A Unified Approach to Asset, Construction and Workforce Management,” by Vikram Takru, Co-Founder & CEO at KloudGin, Inc.
Our Single Face of Work® eliminates this fragmentation by creating one unified operational layer that connects seamlessly with your SAP backbone. Field crews get one mobile interface with everything they need: complete asset history from SAP, real-time work coordination, customer context, safety protocols, and geographic intelligence.
Here’s the power: when a crew completes maintenance, that information flows immediately back to SAP for financial close-out and asset records, while simultaneously updating customer systems with service completion—eliminating the need for manual data entry. No delays. No reconciliation headaches.
For customer engagement, citizens get Amazon-like transparency—real-time crew tracking, proactive notifications, and accurate service windows—all powered by live data flowing from your operations.
Read a recent article from the American Gas Association (AGA) about two KloudGin customers—Citizens Energy Group and Madison Gas and Electric (MGE)—who are leading the charge for utility innovation in field and customer service.
The business impact is immediate: utilities report dramatically improved first-time fix rates, enhanced customer satisfaction, and significant gains in mobile workforce productivity. Field crews actually want to use the technology because it makes their jobs easier and safer.
When operations and core systems work as one unified platform, you achieve operational excellence that’s impossible with disconnected point solutions.
Q: Asset reliability is critical for utilities, especially with aging infrastructure. How does KloudGin enhance SAP’s asset management capabilities specifically for utility operations?
Asset reliability is essential for utilities, and SAP provides an excellent financial and procurement foundation; however, utilities need specialized operational capabilities that general EAM systems can’t deliver.
KloudGin transforms how utilities manage assets operationally. We’re purpose-built to excel at operational complexity: coordinating preventive maintenance on thousands of distributed assets, managing condition-based maintenance for critical equipment, and orchestrating emergency response while maintaining complete integration with SAP financial systems.
Our mobile-first approach ensures that maintenance crews have instant access to complete asset histories, technical specifications, and maintenance procedures, even in remote locations without connectivity. When they complete the work, their asset conditions, maintenance records, and parts consumption flow seamlessly back to SAP.
We’re also specialized in excelling at utility-specific operations, including the operational complexity of hybrid workforces performing maintenance, customer-owned assets requiring compliance tracking, and the coordination between construction projects and ongoing maintenance operations.
Our predictive capabilities identify asset performance patterns and maintenance needs before failures occur, automatically generating work orders in SAP while optimizing crew schedules for maximum efficiency.
The result: utilities achieve exceptional improvements in asset reliability while reducing maintenance costs. Your SAP investment becomes more valuable because all operational intelligence flows back to strengthen your core business processes. Assets last longer, perform better, and cost less to maintain.
Q: Customer expectations continue to evolve. How does KloudGin help SAP utilities deliver modern customer experiences while maintaining operational efficiency?
Citizens now expect utility service to match their Amazon and Uber experiences—real-time visibility, proactive communication, and seamless digital interactions. Traditional utility customer systems can’t deliver this, because they’re disconnected from actual field operations and often running on-premise or non-cloud-native architecture that cannot keep up with fluctuating loads.
KloudGin bridges this gap by connecting customer-facing systems directly to live field operations, not only in the cloud but across a spectrum of mobile devices. When a customer reports an outage, wherever they do so, they receive accurate restoration estimates based on real-time crew locations and actual work progress. They can track crews like an Uber ride, receive proactive updates about service impacts, and even schedule appointments for non-emergency work. And field crews benefit massively from this same flexibility.
Read more about KloudGin’s promise to empower today’s mobile field workforce by giving field workers 30 minutes back in their day.
Our award-winning Connected Customer solution offers self-service portals that enable customers to access their complete service history, submit requests digitally, and receive personalized energy insights—all while maintaining seamless integration with your SAP customer and billing systems.
For utilities, this eliminates the traditional trade-off between operational efficiency and customer service. Better customer communication improves operational efficiency, because crews spend less time on callbacks and customer relations, while dispatchers have better visibility into customer priorities.
Utilities using our platform report significant improvements in customer satisfaction scores and substantial reductions in customer service costs. Most importantly, enhanced customer trust translates to stronger community support for infrastructure investments and rate structures.
The SAP ecosystem gets more valuable because customer insights and satisfaction metrics flow back to strengthen your core CRM and financial planning processes.
Q: Implementation complexity and integration challenges often impact SAP utilities directly. How does KloudGin’s approach simplify deployment while ensuring deep SAP integration?
Implementation complexity kills utility projects, and frankly, most software vendors underestimate the operational complexity utilities face. Our approach is fundamentally different because we’re pre-built for utility operations with proven integrations, not generic software requiring extensive customization.
Our SAP adapter provides out-of-the-box integration with both SAP ECC and S/4HANA. Work orders, asset records, parts consumption, and financial data flow seamlessly between systems without custom coding. When you upgrade to a new SAP version, our integration remains functional because we maintain strict API compatibility.
Most importantly, our multi-tenant architecture means no customizations are required. Instead of building custom code that becomes technical debt, utilities configure proven workflows developed through our community collaboration. Every operational solution is pre-tested across multiple utility environments before deployment.
Our phased implementation approach enables utilities to start with high-impact areas—typically field service or asset maintenance—and achieve immediate value, while gradually expanding across all operations. No big-bang implementations. No operational disruption. Because we’re cloud-native, there are no servers to maintain, no software to upgrade, and no IT overhead. Your team focuses on operations, not technology management.
Utilities typically achieve positive ROI within the first year through improved workforce productivity and reduced system maintenance costs. Your SAP investment becomes more valuable because operational efficiency improvements enhance core business processes, ultimately driving value.
Q: Many utilities are exploring the use of AI and automation. How does KloudGin’s approach to AI complement SAP environments while delivering practical value?
We take a pragmatic approach to AI—no hype, just practical applications that deliver immediate value in utility operations. Our AI works within your SAP ecosystem to enhance decision-making and operational efficiency.
Our Asset IQ solution (AIQ) provides embedded AI that transforms how utilities manage work and assets. For dispatchers, AI optimizes crew scheduling and routing by considering asset priorities, crew capabilities, traffic patterns, and weather conditions—then seamlessly updates SAP with optimized work schedules.
For field crews, AI eliminates the need for manual documentation. Our system intelligently captures work completion data, suggests preventive maintenance schedules, and identifies asset performance patterns—all of which flow back to enhance your SAP asset records and financial planning.
Most importantly, our AI preserves institutional knowledge. As experienced workers retire, AI captures their expertise and makes it available to new hires through intelligent troubleshooting assistance and context-aware guidance.
Running on AWS, we can completely control the inputs that inform our AI and ensure complete data privacy—your utility data is never fed to public AI models, and we can easily adhere to our customers’ specific data-residency requirements. Everything runs within our secure, utility-focused environment, which features enterprise-grade security that meets utility compliance requirements.
In addition to providing the kind of global reliability that these distributed utility networks supporting mission-critical operations require, our AWS partnership gives us the enterprise-grade scalability that this industry demands. It’s all part of the commitment to best-in-class that ultimately drives the value of this SAP ecosystem for our shared customers.
The same is true of our mission to deliver the most immediate, practical improvements for utilities using the most state-of-the-art tools available. The business impact of the AI insights we’re focused on is measurable: utilities report significantly faster training for new employees, improved first-time fix rates, and reduced documentation errors during critical events. Your SAP data becomes more valuable because AI insights directly enhance asset management, financial forecasting, and field operations across your entire enterprise.
Connect with Vikram Takru on LinkedIn.
Q: Looking ahead, how do you see KloudGin and SAP continuing to evolve together to serve the utility industry’s changing needs?
The utility industry is undergoing a fundamental transformation, and the SAP ecosystem requires specialized partners who have a deep understanding of utility operations. We see KloudGin as the operational innovation engine that keeps SAP utilities at the forefront of industry evolution.
Our community-driven development model means SAP utilities directly influence our roadmap. Through our KloudConnect User Group and Customer Advisory Board, utility leaders help guide development priorities to address emerging challenges, such as grid modernization, distributed energy resources, and regulatory compliance.
We’re continually expanding our SAP integration capabilities—encompassing deeper analytics, enhanced mobile experiences, and more sophisticated AI applications—all designed to strengthen your SAP foundation, rather than replace it.
Our vision is simple: SAP utilities should have the most advanced operational capabilities in the industry. Whether it’s managing electric vehicle charging infrastructure, coordinating renewable energy integration, or responding quickly to all manner of severe-weather events, from wildfires to hurricanes, KloudGin ensures your operations evolve as fast as your business requirements. And it’s not only about response; our multi-faceted solution approach is as focused on providing utilities’ teams, contractors, and partners with preventative-maintenance tools purpose-built to secure their infrastructure.
The partnership with SAP creates collective value: innovations developed for any of our utility customers become immediately available to the entire community, accelerating industry-wide modernization while reducing individual implementation costs.
For SAP customers, this means your utility can lead industry transformation while building on proven SAP foundations. Enhanced operational efficiency strengthens every SAP business process, from financial planning to customer relationship management.
It’s through working together that we’re all building the utility of the future, one that delivers exceptional service while managing the complexity of modern energy systems.
Q: What would you want SAP utilities to know about partnering with KloudGin, and how should they evaluate this opportunity?
The most important thing to understand is that KloudGin enhances your SAP investment—we don’t compete with it. We address the operational challenges that SAP relies on its partners to overcome, while improving the value of your core SAP systems.
Start by identifying your biggest operational pain points: Are field crews struggling with disconnected systems? Are customer service teams lacking real-time operational visibility? Are maintenance programs not effectively reducing asset failures? KloudGin addresses these challenges while strengthening your SAP foundation.
Our proven approach eliminates implementation risk. We offer proven utility solutions, not experimental software. Our customers include utilities managing everything from rural electric cooperatives to major metropolitan water systems. Every solution is battle-tested in real utility operations.
Most importantly, you’re joining a community, not just buying software. We see ourselves as citizens of this community, on the grid, collaborating with those who keep the electricity, water, and gas flowing safely and reliably—from those working to optimize assets from the back office to those working each day in the trucks—to serve the utilities of the future. Our KloudConnect community means you influence development priorities and benefit from collective innovation. When one utility solves an operational challenge, that solution becomes available to everyone.
I encourage ASUG members to engage with us—schedule a demo, speak with our reference customers, understand how operational excellence translates to enhanced SAP value. We’re confident that once you see KloudGin in action, you’ll know why we’re the partner of choice for SAP utilities embracing state-of-the-art operational solutions.
We’re here to help you succeed—and, through your success, to strengthen the entire utility industry.
About KloudGin
KloudGin is a cloud-native solution provider delivering the utility and public service’s only true “Single Face of Work®” platform that unifies Construction Work Management, Enterprise Asset Management, and Field Service Management within one operational ecosystem. Purpose-built as the operational engine for utility and public sector workers, our AI-powered platform eliminates silos between systems and processes, seamlessly connecting all work operations in real time to empower the workforce that keeps essential services running across communities worldwide. For more information, visit www.kloudgin.com.
About ASUG
ASUG is the world’s largest SAP user group. Originally founded by a group of visionary SAP customers in 1991, its mission is to help people and organizations get the most value from their investment in SAP technology. ASUG currently serves thousands of businesses via companywide memberships, connecting more than 130,000 professionals with networking and educational resources to help them master new challenges. Through in-person and virtual events, on-demand digital resources, and ongoing advocacy for its membership, ASUG helps SAP customers make more possible.