Across the southern U.S., utilities face the same challenge: how to protect workers and restore service faster as extreme weather becomes the norm.
This case study draws on outcomes achieved by large U.S. municipal utilities operating in regions regularly impacted by hurricanes, flooding, and ice storms — conditions that mirror the realities Texas utilities face today.
These results show what’s possible for Texas operators looking to strengthen resilience and accelerate recovery ahead of the next major storm.
Our FYLD customer, a large municipal utility provider, serves millions of customers and delivers water, gas, and electric services across multiple major cities and rural communities. The organization faced growing operational challenges from extreme weather events including hurricanes, flooding, and ice storms. These events created high-risk, high-pressure environments where safety, speed, and coordination were mission-critical.
Before adopting FYLD, the utility provider experienced several operational and safety challenges during storm events:
Delayed visibility into storm response conditions: Supervisors often received updates on hazards, blocked access, or damaged infrastructure hours after they occurred.
Breakdowns in contractor coordination: Multiple subcontractors working in parallel on recovery efforts led to duplication of effort, missed SLAs, and confusion over priorities.
Safety risks in hazardous conditions: Paper-based processes made it difficult to surface unobserved risks. A recent $250,000 equipment incident in the wash bay, tied to an inadequate walkaround, underscored the consequences of insufficient visibility and documentation.
Productivity losses at shift start and handover: Crews faced increased exposure to flooding, downed lines, and unstable structures without real-time hazard intelligence.
High rework rates on urgent repairs: Initial restoration work often failed inspections, delaying full service restoration.
The utility provider partnered with FYLD to deploy its AI-powered frontline intelligence platform across storm response crews. Implementation began with 50 crews and scaled to 120 within the first month, ensuring coverage across all affected service areas.
FYLD’s Edge AI technology enabled workflow processing directly on devices without relying on internet connectivity. This allowed crews to complete dynamic video risk assessments and surface critical hazard data in real time, even in low-signal or no-signal storm zones. Predictive hazard detection flagged unstable assets, submerged equipment, and environmental hazards before they caused incidents.
A shared, real-time dashboard connected contractors, supervisors, and operational leaders, allowing for proactive resource reallocation and faster decision-making across all storm recovery sites.
67% of total site hazards were detected by FYLD AI, reducing safety incidents during storm recovery
Time to resolve blockers was reduced by 50% compared to the industry average, accelerating restoration timelines
More than 9,500 remote manager interventions across X crews were made in the first 90 days, improving oversight without requiring travel into hazardous zones
Manager travel was reduced by 36% allowing leaders to manage more crews during concurrent storm events
“With FYLD, I was able to see what our crews were facing in real time even in areas where cell service was down. Thanks to their Edge AI technology, critical data was processed directly on devices and surfaced instantly, which meant faster decisions, safer crews, and quicker service restoration.”
- VP of Operations