The demands placed on field technicians continue to grow as utilities and metering providers drive accelerated smart meter rollouts. Crews are expected to complete more work across increasingly complex sites – whether urban or geographically dispersed – while meeting stringent safety, compliance and regulatory requirements. In this environment, digital tools can either add friction or remove it entirely.
Anticipating this acceleration, PLUS ES and Retriever Communications created FieldXchange to streamline ways of working, rather than imposing generic, rigid systems on field crews. While initially developed to support electricity metering operations, the design principles underpinning FieldXchange – mobility, scalability and safety by design – are equally applicable to water smart meter deployments, where field productivity and data accuracy are critical.
“FieldXchange demonstrates the impact of designing technology around real field conditions. By combining technician driven insight with trusted technology partners, we are scaling our operations safely, efficiently, and with confidence. This outcome is a testament to our people and the strength of our partnership with Retriever,” said Rob Amphlett Lewis, Group Executive for Distribution Services and PLUS ES.
PLUS ES Retriever Platform Lead and Product Owner Frank Sama said Retriever has helped develop a bespoke field solution to support the upscale in meter installations and maintenance jobs.
“The app is a field mobility tool that captures all field work information, such as meter installations, maintenance and fault works. The application is streamlined and user friendly, and it follows a logical flow based on the technician’s daily work, which is built on user feedback,” he said.
The FieldXchange solution has been further refined through continuous engagement and feedback with users of the application. For more than a thousand field users, this has resulted in a clearer and more intuitive job flow, an approach that also positions the platform well for utilities managing mixed asset environments, including water meters, valves and related infrastructure.
“We built an application dedicated to PLUS ES. With technicians installing over 300,000 meters a year, we wanted to support that huge volume,” said Retriever Communications Operations Director Steve Schultz.
Schultz said a continual feedback loop has reinforced engagement. He said input from technicians and PLUS ES is incorporated into regular updates, meaning field users can see that their feedback leads to tangible improvements.
“The upgraded FieldXchange app enables new features to be designed, built and deployed quickly. This agility allows PLUS ES to respond rapidly to changes in operational requirements or regulatory expectations,” Schultz said.
“Importantly, the built-in form capability enables process and workflow updates to be rolled out to field crews without requiring coding changes, reducing downtime and ensuring consistency across the workforce.”
This adaptability is increasingly valuable as utilities look to standardise field processes across electricity and water metering programs, while still accommodating asset specific requirements.
The development process itself has played a central role in adoption. Retriever Communications’ close working relationship with PLUS ES has given it an in-depth understanding of metering operations and field constraints. Service providers have been engaged early and throughout the design process, ensuring the application reflects real-world use cases rather than theoretical models.
Recent enhancements include a map-based scheduling feature. This allows technicians to view their assigned jobs geographically and optimise sequencing based on the most efficient routing. These capabilities are particularly relevant for water utilities managing dispersed networks and regional work programs.
Safety is another defining feature of the improved application. Mandatory site and electrical safety checks are embedded directly into the workflow and must be completed before work can begin. This ensures critical safety steps are not missed, even during high volume rollout periods. By making safety an integral part of the task sequence rather than an afterthought, FieldXchange supports safer outcomes for technicians working across diverse environments.
“Technicians are often working in dangerous environments, where they could be exposed to life threatening hazards,” Schultz said.
“The app guides them through controls and required safety questions before a job starts, helping reduce risk in the field.” Security has also been strengthened, with features such as biometric authentication protecting access to systems and sensitive customer and network data, an increasingly important consideration for both electricity and water utilities as digital field platforms expand.
“The FieldXchange platform has acted as a strategic accelerant for our operations. It has unlocked unprecedented efficiencies, ensuring that as our deployment volumes scale at remarkable speed, our execution remains seamless and our safety and performance industry leading,” said Nural Omer, Head of Metering at PLUS ES.
The improved FieldXchange platform provides a strong foundation for further innovation. PLUS ES has identified opportunities to extend the application’s capabilities to support more advanced scheduling, decision making and productivity improvements as field environments become increasingly complex.
“FieldXchange is the culmination of a cohesive partnership between Retriever, PLUS ES, and our specialist field workforce. By embedding safety and operational excellence into the architectural core of the platform, we have proven that when market-leading technology is matched with genuine cross-functional collaboration, we don’t just improve field operations, we set a new industry benchmark,” said Ruvinda Jayamaha, Technology and Product Innovation Manager at PLUS ES.
“Together, the two companies have demonstrated that meaningful digital transformation in field services is driven not by technology alone, but by close collaboration and a deep understanding of how work is performed on the ground.”
Retriever Communications and PLUS ES have been working together since 2016, delivering scheduling and field mobility solutions to service providers in the smart metering market. Over that time, Retriever Communications has supported PLUS ES in significantly scaling its programs, with more than 1.7 million smart meters installed.
For more information, visit www.pluses.com.au
This article appears in the March/April 2026 edition of Utility. Subscribe HERE.
