At the Oracle Utilities Users Group conference in Austin, Texas in a few weeks, HEXstream will host a panel presentation titled "Control The Chaos: Handling Mutual Aid Onboarding At Scale."

Today we share a preview of that presentation with our Christopher "Picc" Piccolo, HEXstream utilities industry specialist who has spent years within utilities managing mutual-aid teams handling the exact outage challenges that we're discussing in our panel, and our CRO Bob Doyle, who served for more than two decades as Deputy Fire Chief in the greater Los Angeles area and was a key member of a national Type 1 incident management team. Take a look...

How is mutual-aid response to outage events changing? 

Picc: One of the biggest shifts in mutual-aid response is how crews are onboarded and how work is assigned once they arrive. Historically, this process has been very manual. Crews would show up, go through a safety briefing, and then spend hours (sometimes longer) waiting for job assignments that were being coordinated through phone calls, whiteboards or spreadsheets.

Even today, many utilities still rely on email chains and phonecalls to distribute work packages. That creates bottlenecks, especially during large events where you are trying to manage hundreds or thousands of external resources. Information gets fragmented, priorities shift quickly, and it becomes difficult to ensure every crew has correct, up-to-date job details.

What is changing is a move toward structured, digital onboarding. Utilities are starting to pre-stage work packages using systems tied to OMS and ADMS, so when crews arrive they can be assigned work almost immediately. Instead of handing out paper maps or sending emails, dispatchers can digitally distribute complete job packages, including location, scope of work, and safety notes.

This is where purpose-built tools are starting to make a real difference. They provide a centralized way to onboard crews, track their status and distribute work in a consistent format. That reduces confusion in the field and helps ensure crews are working on the highest-priority jobs.

From an operations standpoint, the goal is simple. Reduce idle time, eliminate miscommunication and get crews productive as quickly as possible. The utilities that are improving in this area are seeing a direct impact on restoration times.

Bob: From the fire service side, mutual aid has always been built on pre-defined structure, common terminology, and disciplined staging. What I’m seeing in utilities is a shift toward that same model. Moving away from ad-hoc coordination toward more standardized onboarding, clearer span of control, and better visibility of resources. The big change is replacing “figure it out on arrival” with pre-planned execution. That reduces idle time and confusion, which is exactly what the Incident Command System solved for us in large incidents.

What do you find more encouraging about the near future of mutual-aid responses?

Picc: The industry is starting to recognize that crew onboarding and work management is just as critical as damage assessment or outage prediction.

We are moving toward a model where work packages are not only created faster, but are also standardized and easier for external crews to execute. When you have a consistent format for job assignments, crews coming from different utilities can step in and get to work without a steep learning curve.

There is also a clear shift toward real-time coordination. Instead of static assignments that get handed out once or twice a day, dispatchers can dynamically adjust work based on system conditions, crew availability and restoration priorities. That level of flexibility is difficult to achieve when you are relying on emails and phone calls, but it becomes much more manageable with integrated applications.

Looking ahead, I think we will see wider adoption of platforms that streamline onboarding, provide real-time visibility into crew activity, and standardize how work is communicated. As that happens, mutual-aid response becomes less about controlling chaos and more about executing a well-coordinated plan.

For utilities, that translates directly into faster restoration, safer operations and a better experience for both crews and customers.

Bob: The most encouraging trend is utilities starting to operate more like coordinated incident-response teams rather than collections of independent crews. In fire, we rely on a common operating picture, resource tracking, and a clear incident-action plan each operational period.

Utilities are moving in that direction with better data, system integration, and real-time awareness. As that matures, mutual aid becomes more predictable, safer and faster, which is exactly what we’ve proven at scale in emergency response.

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