Top 11 Meter To Cash Automation Software Solutions (2024 SELECTIVE)

A comprehensive review of the Top Meter To Cash Automation Software with features. Get to know how to choose a meter-to-cash solution based on your requirements:

Meter-to-cash is one of the most complex and mission-critical processes for utility companies servicing hundreds of millions of customers.

Thus, automating meter-to-cash is very helpful for utility companies that provide electricity, natural gas, district heating and cooling, and drinking water to public and private entities and persons. Meter-to-cash automation comprises smart meters and customer information systems.

Meter To Cash Automation Software Solutions – Review

The benefits of automating meter-to-cash are immense for utility companies and include reliable and accurate delivery of utility bills to corporate and individual clients, easier data management, easier integration with existing solutions, real-time visibility (including with notifications) of upcoming bills and payment in cash and control of utility billing and cash from a single pane of glass for.

Other benefits include the reduction of missed payments and the reduction of costs because of fewer human interventions. This tutorial will educate you on several things, including how to choose a meter-to-cash solution.

What is Meter Data Management Software?

It is a set of software tools meant to gather customer utility usage data from smart meters and record it to a central database. It synchronizes such data and may incorporate data analytics being versions of customer information systems.

It will process and make this data ready and available for billing and analysis. It also provides reporting capability for load and demand forecasting, management reports, and customer metrics.

Meter data management solutions include meter-to-cash systems, automated smart meter provisioning, meter and network asset monitoring and management, meter deployment planning and management, and workforce management systems.

Advanced systems will provide a capability for remote connection and disconnection of meters, power restoration, status verification, and remote meter reading.

Who is this Research for?

It is for utility companies, both big and small, and experts in the field needing to apply and implement meter-to-cash. It will help them decide on which is the best based on comparison.

List of the Best Meter To Cash Automation Software

Noteworthy Meter to Cash Solutions to refer to:

1. RunMyJobs by Redwood
2. ActiveBatch
3. BMC Control-M
4. Stonebranch
5. AutoSys
6. CA Automation
7. IBM Workload Automation (Tivoli Scheduler)
8. JAMS Scheduler
9. SMA Opcon
10. Honico
11. Activeeon

Comparison Table of Top Meter to Cash Automation Solutions

#1) RunMyJobs by Redwood

Best for seamless out-of-the-box SAP integrations and template-based easy automation for each step of meter to cash process.

RunMyJobs’ SaaS-based meter-to-cash automation software features 1,000+ prebuilt templates that enable clients to set meter-to-cash workflow automation quickly and easily without much knowledge of code.

It employs drag-and-drop functionality. Besides implementing automated process reruns for failed jobs, the software streamlines automation processes across all business servers, applications, and services.

Unifying internal and external processes with RunMyJobs makes it easier and quicker to manage mass activity transactions through payment processing.

The solution ensures seamless end-to-end data management, in addition to reducing delays in sending bills, reduces errors because of human interventions in bill management, and reduces costly processes that could arise from manual management of bills.

Platform Compatibility: Windows, S Linux, AIX, HPUX, macOS, OpenVMS, and Solaris.

Deployment: SaaS, On-premises, Cloud-based & Hybrid cloud

Features:

• It offered extensive tools and expertise for migration in every stage of migration. There is a vast library of tools and expertise just in case you want to migrate to RunMyJobs. Transfer tools for Control-M, Autosys, Automic, and more are at your disposal. Contains a clear plan for migration and integration.
• Job scheduler that integrates with SAP Industry Solutions-Utilities (IS-U), and S/4HANA Utilities. It keeps a clean core with out-of-the-box SAP integrations.

What we liked about this software:

RunMyJobs is a popular option for workload automation clients, receives a high rating, and is certainly one of the most used. Besides, its features and functions are compelling, including integration capabilities and workload task creation options.

Pros:

• Extensive support for SAP software and integrations.
• Customers get extensive support, including teams for onboarding, migration, training, ongoing support, etc.
• Easy and quick set-ups that can be customized to industry and personal level, given the many templates available to help with automation.

Cons:

• Customized reporting is not fully possible.
• Pricy compared to alternatives, which limits usage for small and mid-sized enterprises and utility companies.

Our Review: RunMyJobs has over 2 decades of partnerships with SAP. It integrates with virtually most applications used in meter-to-cash. It enables sophisticated and advanced configurations to be set and meter-to-cash automation processes can be deployed across different processes, applications, and services.

#2) ActiveBatch

Best for low-code automation, reuse of scripts, and SAP and non-SAP integrations.

ActiveBatch software helps utility companies optimize meter-to-cash with smart meters and IoT data streams. They can also automate forecasting, file transfers, and reporting.

The software also integrates with common tools and applications used by utility companies, including over 50 add-ins, extensions, and integrations such as SAP NetWeaver, SAP BusinessObjects DataServices, Oracle, Microsoft Azure, etc.

Features:

• A wide selection of pre-built Job Steps for third-party applications, databases, and platforms. Meter-to-cash automation can be done without scripting. Drag and drop are also supported.
• Employ APIs to add custom methods to the Jobs Library. The library supports different methods such as SOAP Web Services, Command Line, REST Services, .Net, etc.
• Support is provided for integrating with other technologies and this is rated positively by many clients.

What we liked about this software:

ActiveBatch is used to automate simple to complicated workloads and has multiple integrations to capture a range of client needs relating to the different software they might already be using at their business.

Pros:

• Good flexibility on how to automate meter-to-cash. No complicated set-ups with low code supported production-ready job-steps.
• Powerful at generating reports.
• Reusing reference of scripts quickens development.

Cons:

• A few customer complaints relating to issues such as fuzzy documentation, PowerShell errors, updating errors, lack of user manuals on exactly how different functions work,

Our Review: Customers can automate virtually any task and it integrates with many third-party tools like Oracle DB, PeopleSoft, SAP Server, and many more.

It is also rated highly among customers migrating to the platform except that there are complaints about its high cost, some stability issues though very few, and poor documentation.

#3) BMC Control-M

Best for time-based, event-based, and condition-based scheduling of tasks.

Control M is an on-premises and as-a-service automation software that, like most others, delivers automation of processes across multiple cloud/on-premise/hybrid applications and integrates data from myriad sources.

As a favorite meter-to-cash solution, it features in-depth reporting with intelligent analysis, and SLA analytics on the dashboard, and integrates with hundreds of third-party applications including most that are used by utilities.

Features:

• Integration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) cloud services, and data technologies like Airflow, Spark, EMR, Snowflake, RedShift, and more. Also included are AWS Lambda, Step Functions, and Batch; Azure Logic Apps, Functions, and Batch AWS Glue; Azure Data Factory; AWS Databricks; Azure Databricks; Azure Functions; Boomi; GCP Dataflow; GCP Cloud Functions; GCP Dataproc; Informatica Cloud; Power BI and UI Path. Process and input data from these and many other sources including to and from external users outside the organization via the MFT Enterprise add-on.
• DevOps collaboration
• iOS or Android mobile devices syncing. Stay connected wherever you go.
• Graphical view of all jobs being run.
• Drag and drop workflow creation. Use pre-built or user-built conversion rules.

What we liked about this software:

Control M makes it possible to automate processes with multiple dependencies. It also makes it possible to simulate and use historical data to analyze situations, for instance, to discover defects and bugs before they occur and solve issues before they escalate.

Pros:

• Advanced Scheduling: time-based, event-based, and condition-based scheduling supported. This means customers can create complex workflows with multiple dependencies.
• Extensive customer support including knowledge base, IT support and courses and certification, and BMC Communities.
• Built-in compliance and auditing capabilities: including reporting features.

Cons:

• Companies may have to invest more to solve issues reported by customers such as performance bottlenecks for jobs with complex dependencies.
• Additional configurations or add-on modules are usually needed for cloud integrations.

Our Review: Control M enhances the creation, management, and control of complicated workflows including multiple ones each with independent dependencies.

Website: BMC Control-M

#4) Stonebranch

Best for cross-team collaborations, and pre-design cloud and non-cloud integration scripts.

Stonebranch is cloud-based/on-premise/hybrid meter-to-cash automation software that enables automation of processes across private, public, and multi-cloud landscapes as well as on-premise environments. It unifies all job schedulers.

Some of the most outstanding features include DevOps automation, Managed File Transfer, cross-team collaboration (enables collaboration between IT Ops, cloud architects, developers, data teams, and more), etc.

The software also enables automatic control of scripts, jobs, tasks, and IT processes across on-premise, cloud, and hybrid environments.

The event-based scheduling and automation software also enables real-time business automation. This means you do not have to rely on batch jobs and daily plans. It is part of the company’s Universal Automation Center platform.

Features:

• Data transfers between on-premise and cloud solutions and even across multiple clouds.
• Learn with the community via support forums, events, user conferences, and an open-source integration hub. Whitepapers, videos, webcasts, e-books, data sheets, and tech briefs are also available.
• Product training and extensive resources to support your IT teams and developers in the automation journey.
• Role-based access (assign roles to different workers, e.g. developers, data teams, etc.). This enhances self-service automation using member roles and permissions.
• Pre-designed cloud integrations. Build custom integrations. Use templates to create integrations (ready-made integration setups for nearly 100 third-party software/platforms/databases/cloud etc including AWS, SQL, ServiceNow, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon) with rich documentation provided. Drag and drop workflow creation.

Pros:

• Enhances coordination and collaboration among developers IT staff and other workers in the automation exercises. Enables self-service automation.
• Ready-made setups for integration are included on top of customer support for easier quicker integration. Drag and drop functionality.
• Extensive support content, events, forums, and ideas on almost all issues relating to automation.
• Real-time automation.

Cons:

• Workflows involving multiple-layer nested workflows that are related and independent can be hard to deal with as the product tends to support a single workflow where all components are interconnected.
• Limited support for customization of the platform just as would be needed for a bigger enterprise.

Our Review: Stonebrach is highly rated for its capability to design and manage, complex workflows with ease, integration with many third-party applications, capabilities to enable collaboration among IT personnel and developers, real-time automation, and many other features, in addition to being affordable.

Website: Stonebranch

#5) AutoSys

Best for role-based process control, and fault tolerance

AutoSys is deployed in the cloud (AWS, Google, and Microsoft Azure clouds), on-premise, and in hybrid environments. The software delivers end-to-end visibility of operations and resources across platforms, ERP systems, and cloud.

It can be used to automate, manage, control, and visualize business processes with great scalability without requiring the organization to deploy multiple server instances as extra resources to support hundreds of thousands of users.

Consider that deploying multiple servers for a company would mean reduced ability to centralize workload. It has a self-service feature, which means workers will have more control over their services.

In automating tasks and jobs, it can assign workloads based on the availability of computer resources in real time, and using service level agreements. It can be used to manage workload via a command line or graphical interface. It also offers support for SOAP and REST web service protocols.

Features:

• Integration and support include SAP, PeopleSoft, Oracle E-Businesses, and others.
• Integration of Hadoop and traditional jobs.
• Self-service makes it possible for data scientists to execute workload processes without needing IT specialists.
• Automated recovery and other fault tolerance.
• Event-based triggering.
• Role-based automation, process control, and monitoring. Define access levels for each role and monitor and control what is changed by each person.

Pros:

• Extreme scalability. It can handle small to very large and complex workloads.
• Extensive support for applications. Best for companies that rely on a wide range of software.

Cons:

• Issues relating to migration from other schedulers and workload automation software forced a five-year subscription due to an unfriendly subscription model, and limitations in customizing reports.

Our Review: Broadcom’s fault tolerance and automated recoveries make it quick and easier to restore and proceed with activities after an interruption. It features vast integration capabilities via SOAP and REST and has a compelling case for implementing applications with role-based control and monitoring.

Website: AutoSys

#6) CA Automation

Best for testing and simulation capability before deploying automation, and community.

CA Automation features reusable templates and pre-built interfaces to enable easier integration with third-party applications, and it supports multiple of them, which increases usability.

It also features a marketplace where customers can buy add-ons and templates for extending automation applications solving various business challenges, and auditing of all processes and user activity.

Other features include self-service automation such that a company can make self-services accessible for development and business users, automation as a code, zero downtime upgrades, etc.

The services integrate with different cloud platforms allowing organizations to automate processes across multiple private/public/hybrid clouds. It can also be used to run automated scripts on in-house applications on multiple operating systems such as Windows and Linux/Unix, and supports power shell scripting.

Features:

• Automated analytics and intelligence.
• Integration with SAP and non-SAP applications, clouds, etc.
• Support, Automic Automatic community, seminars, ebooks, education and training, partner services for digital transformation, etc.
• Predictive workload performance analytics and monitoring through the Service Level Agreements.
• Testing and simulation capability for those developing automation, which reduces time spent on troubleshooting.
• Kubernetes.

Pros:

• Easy to implement because of its easy-to-use tools and extensive and available support from the team.
• Unlimited scalability of jobs. Can scale up to millions of tasks to be automated.
• No need for extra licenses for the database because there is an inbuilt one.

Cons:

• Some complaints relate to a few glitches, the fact that it only works on the backend which means it may not be reliable for some use cases, integration challenges as it requires web services for the same, and poor or lacking crash recovery.

Our Review: Broadcom’s Automic Automation scales perfectly for those who want to automate a vast number of processes. It features very competitive functionality, is easy to use, and comes at a considerably cost-effective alternative because many other solutions deliver the same at a higher cost.

Website: CA Automation

#7) IBM Workload Automation (Tivoli Scheduler)

Best for resource optimization in meter-to-cash automation, and AI-based task automation.

IBM Workload Automation makes it possible to automatically assign a workload to the workstation that meets the software and hardware requirements of that particular workload, and this helps in resource optimization and efficiency of performing tasks.

Additionally, with the tool, customers can define job types (in-built as well as custom ones through plugins) to perform specific operations without specific skills on the applications where those jobs will run.

For instance, a client can run jobs such as calling a web service, performing database queries, running a Java class, transferring a file, etc. by simply defining the job type on the Dynamic Workload Console.

It is available for distributed mainframes or can be hosted on the cloud. The software also features fault-tolerant backup restore agents. In supporting workload designing and customization, a client can use built-in commands on the graphical interface consoles.

Features:

• AI-based data analysis for detecting anomalies.
• Workflow designer.
• Managed file transfer.
• Community and support including discussion, technical communities, RSS feed, etc. Learning and demos.
• Schedule historical reports to run on a timely basis.

Pros:

• Extensive documentation.
• Extensive support for customization including the ability to define custom job types through plugins.
• Users can request new features and suggestions can be accepted based on voting results.
• Huge scalability to thousands of jobs per day.

Cons:

• Some issues relate to lack of or inadequate Java API documentation, need for more training, lack of or inadequate support for other schedulers, etc.

Our Review: IBM’s Workload Automation can deliver excellent results when it comes to AI-based automation and scales to handle thousands of jobs a day without hiccups. It also features outstanding capability for custom job type defining, report scheduling, and the fact that clients can always request and vote for new improvements.

Website: IBM Workload Automation

#8) JAMS Scheduler

Best for task relational and dependency view on a single window, and additional security in meter-to-cash automation.

JAMS Scheduler enterprise workload automation solution can also be utilized for automating meter-to-cash workloads. It handles simple batch processes to overlay complex and multiple jobs running on multiple server environments.

Its ability to automate jobs on any platform including Windows, Linux, Unix, IBM I, zOS, and OpenVMS deployed on the cloud, alongside native integration to databases, BI tools, and ERP systems means it is a popular alternative for anyone searching for workload automation software.

JAMS also offers training and development courses through JAMS University for anyone willing to learn matters of workload automation and how to use it on their applications. It also provides expertise knowledge and support via guides and through JAMS experts.

Features:

• Logging and audit trails for every execution.
• Monitors all jobs and notifies in case any fails.
• Reports about job schedules e.g. growth and KPI tracking. Analysis and visualization.
• It supports Powershell scripts.
• Transfer of files on and off-premise as per schedules.
• Integrations via .NET and REST APIs.
• Relational job diagram to graphically show all jobs running and their relationships, triggers, dependencies, etc.

Pros:

• Security via encryption. Decryption is also possible. Security by way of access control as well as tracking who accesses, creates, modifies, and schedules jobs. Full logging is also helpful.
• Automated retries for failed jobs. Repeated jobs can also be scheduled and automated.
• Copying and cloning of processes makes it easy to implement new ones.
• Easy creation of tasks, possible even by non-technical staff due to easy-to-understand interface.

Cons:

• Inadequate documentation on how to interact with PowerShell cmdlets, API and application support documentation, documentation of REM statements, and documentation tab of a job is not as helpful. Others include error message truncating such that some messages don’t allow for debugging, lacking file transfer issues from and to the main client as well as inadequate import/export features, and poor/inadequate support for AWS cloud initiatives.
• Connection disconnection for long-running jobs 10+ hours (job window issues).

Our Review: JAMS Scheduler enables automating simple to complex processes running on multiple environments and features many desirable tasks such as easy creation of automation tasks, relational jobs diagram to visualize all tasks and their relations/associations, and logging and security capabilities.

Website: JAMS Scheduler

Check our JAMS Scheduler Detailed Review

#9) SMA Opcon

Best for low-code automation, disaster recovery, and managed file transfers.

SMA Opcon is a low-code meter-to-cash automation solution that can be used to automate simple to complex and high-risk processes across multiple clouds, servers, virtual environments, infrastructure, and operations.

It can be used to tie together different technologies from cloud, virtualization, mobile, and wearables, to IoT. Activity is controlled based on event, time, expression, and many other dependencies. It also has 70+ integrations with third-party tools and applications.

Features:

• Disaster recovery. Customers can enable self-healing routines so operations will continue running in case of unplanned outages or interruptions.
• Role-based privileges. Logging of all actions.
• Free basic training to accelerate and ease the creation of and running automation tasks. Support for low-code also helps this way.
• API
• Browser-based user interface for administration.
• Managed file transfer. Includes encryption, decryption, sending and receiving files of extremely large sizes.

Pros:

• Can scale to support hundreds of thousands of jobs each day.
• Self-service automation enables automation by a click of a button.

Cons:

• Inadequate support for mainframes, complicated features that are hard to use for basic users, unexpected price additions for less useful features, and complex initial setup and upgrading.

Our Review: Opcon is rated positively by clients for enabling them to automate thousands of jobs each day without any issues, self-service, controlling activity based on multiple and diverse dependencies, and integration with a wide range of third-party services.

Website: SMA Opcon

#10) Honico

Best for analyzing and mass-change running processes, and failovers or switchovers

Honico automation software works on on-premise, cloud, and hybrid environments and enables automation of processes for SAP and non-SAP systems, Microsoft Azure, AWS, PaaS, S4 HANA, web services, and IoT systems. It features extensive reporting options to allow analysis of running processes which can also be adjusted using a mass change at any time.

Clients also get individual consultations and support and attend seminars to connect with like-minded customers and learn more. By leveraging its integration with SAP, companies will not need additional hardware and software.

Honico company also assists with migrating from other workload automation vendors including through a defined transition roadmap.

Features:

• Failover/switchover function for maintenance or failure.
• Solution Manager.
• SAP Roles and Authorizations.
• Integrate services and applications using SOAP and REST APIs.
• Automation of IS-U Mass Activities such as billing runs.

Pros:

• Automatic recovery.
• File backup and switchover which helps in the event of maintenance and/or failures.
• Affordability.
• Many options for reporting.

Cons:

• Little agent integrations with non-SAP systems and this has to be coded.
• Can be a bit complicated for new users.

Our Review: Honico enables workload automation including meter-to-cash with the benefits of allowing recoveries in case of interruptions, the ability to create multiple nets that can be run under different order types, and its affordability.

Website: Honico

#11) Activeeon

Best for automating AI workflows, and data transfer or communication between apps.

Activeeon workload automation solution features AI orchestration for automating AI workflows between teams, and can also be utilized in automating processes across multi-cloud and hybrid environments.

It also features full-stack communication between apps and has connectors for easing connecting with or integrating (different sources of data) from any system, app, and data including AI, big data, CI/CD versioning, cloud, container, database, ERP. ETL, file transfer, GPU, FGPA, HPC, ITSM/SEIMs, languages, monitoring/automation, security, visualization technologies, and many others.

The solution can be deployed on-premise, or on the cloud (public and private). It enables customers to combine batch scheduling and event-based workflow orchestration.

Features:

• Drag and drop interface.
• Error management policies can be automated, notifications, and docker support.
• API and script integration with third-party services.
• Studio for orchestrating workflows.
• Scheduler to control the automation, retrieve logs, manage incidents, etc.
• Resource Manager for provisioning resources and controlling consumption across different infrastructures. Ideal for companies with vast computing resources and data.
• Self-service automation.

Pros:

• Schedule any big data analytics whether mono-threaded, multi-threaded, multi-core, parallel, or distributed.
• Low-code drag-and-drop GUI with several templates and control flows to help build business processes.
• Stable solution that adapts to infrastructural resource changes.

Cons:

• Challenges for newbies as coding may be imperative to building complicated workflows. The customer may need to create a catalog of elementary tasks for the target business process which (tasks) can then be easily reused.

Website: Activeeon

How We Selected These Software Solutions

We considered several factors when selecting and ranking meter-to-cash automation solutions on the list. The number one ranking factor was the features and functionality of a platform and how best it can help customers achieve their goals.

We strictly rely on information relating to actual usage/application or testing of the software itself, complemented by what information the company provides about the solution. One of the most important things we consider when writing tutorials is the customer ratings and feedback relating to the actual usage of the solution.

Factors to Consider when Choosing Meter-to-cash Solutions

Consider the following factors while selecting a meter to cash solution for your business:

• Scalability
• Compatibility with existing and desired systems
• Automation capabilities to meet needs
• Monitoring
• Reporting (real-time monitoring but also the capability to track the performance of automated tasks and processes)
• Ease of use
• Collaboration
• File transfer capabilities
• Flexibility (e.g. no code automation in addition to scripting capability to adapt to unique workflows)
• Cost

FAQs on SAP Utility Solutions

Conclusion

This tutorial discusses best practices in automating SAP meter to cash process and workloads which can be done using the suggested tools. There are many things to consider when choosing a meter-to-cash workload automation software among them scalability, compatibility with existing hardware and software, monitoring and reporting capabilities, etc.

These considerations lead to a plethora of challenges in choosing SAP for Utilities meter-to-cash automation, so it is not as easy to choose as the topic sounds to automate the tasks, and experts familiar with the software can only know which is best for a company’s scenarios.

RunMyJobs, ActiveBatch, BMC Control M, Stonebranch, and AutoSys are extensively tried and tested among the workload automation software and are very useful for automating meter-to-cash. They are highly recommended based on the extent of features and positive ratings among clients.

Research Process:

• Total Meter To Cash Automation Software Initially Reviewed: 30
• Total Meter To Cash Automation Software Reviewed: 11
• Time Taken to Write This Article on Meter To Cash Automation Software: 2 days