It’s all about the data, says Oracle Utilities’ VP of industry strategy

Published on January 22, 2018 by Kim Riley


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The power industry is past the initial shock brought on by rapidly emerging advanced technologies that have forever changed its trajectory. Nevertheless, disruptive trends over the next decade will force utilities to continue refocusing how they operate in the marketplace.

“What’s driving a lot of activity in the industry these days, and we’re constantly interacting with our customer base across the world about this, is that it’s really about the data now,” Guerry Waters, vice president of industry strategy at Oracle Utilities, told Daily Energy Insider.

Large volumes of incoming data derived via advanced technologies, said Waters, have forced the industry to figure out how to make use of it all.

The industry also is moving from being reactive to being proactive about assets and whether they are being stressed or over-utilized. “There is value around how the grid is operating that presents problems and opportunities to improve it,” said Waters, who has 30-plus years of experience in global information technology strategy, organization, architecture, and business-driven IT solutions.

Additionally, better data about customers allows utilities to provide them with a more personalized experience, he said, adding, “That’s where the industry is going.”

And Oracle Utilities is right there to help utilities be innovative about what they’re doing in the marketplace so that customers become more attached to them and through them.

“The challenge facing utilities is how to maintain reliability while simultaneously creating the agility necessary for innovation,” according to the Utility Innovation Blueprint, commissioned from Navigant Research by Oracle Utilities and published in October 2017. The blueprint notes that utilities are managing this so-called dual innovation challenge by “both investing in ways to optimize the core business and be able to adapt to new business models that reflect industry change.”

The blueprint aims to both help utilities enhance their investments by offering practical advice for developing their own modernization plans and projects, and strike a balance between innovation projects focused on improvements to existing business processes and those that develop the products and services that will meet customers’ future requirements.

And focusing on the customer value proposition, or what customers need currently and what they will need, is a key business strategy for utilities to focus on, according to Navigant Research. In a recent survey, the company lists the top three most disruptive trends over the next decade as the increased penetration of distributed energy resources, followed by the increased penetration of renewables, and competition from utility industry stakeholders, such as retail energy providers and unregulated utilities.

At the same time, the top three technologies with the largest revenue growth potential are the electrification of transportation, energy storage and renewables, according to Navigant Research’s survey. Distributed generation, advanced data analytics and transactive energy take the next three slots.

“The most disruptive trends identified … will affect both grid operations and the way utilities interact with customers,” according to Oracle Utilities’ blueprint.

“The utility industry has been a little behind in this area,” said Waters, who joined Oracle Utilities in 2006 when Oracle acquired SPL WorldGroup, where he’d been executive vice president and chief technology officer since 2000.

To help them catch up, Oracle Utilities provides a comprehensive platform of leading-edge solutions designed to empower the utility business transformation. Its solutions enable electric, gas and water utilities to improve the customer experience and enhance operational efficiency, Waters said.

Specifically, Oracle Utilities helps utilities deliver reliability and customer service across the entire utility value chain by offering products in each area of Asset Operations, Network Operations, Meter Operations, Customer Operations, Customer Experience and Consulting and Services.

For instance, as the public increasingly gathers information on the internet and makes retail purchases online, Waters said that utilities are being pressured to do the same types of things and increase their customers’ abilities “to do whatever they need to do from whatever device they’re on.”

“We’re helping them determine how to best do that,” Waters explained. “Underpinning this is the better information and better data they’re getting on the customer and on what else the customer needs, wants and expects.”

Customer Experience products that Oracle Utilities provides include several cloud-related services. Oracle Utilities Opower Energy Efficiency Cloud Service, for example, helps utilities get more out of what they spend on demand-side management (DSM) by creating personalized experiences for customers that also boost participation in a utility’s energy efficiency program.

Put another way, the service lets utilities custom build energy efficiency programs, create targeted reports and messages to email to customers on their home energy usage and how to save money, and promotes the program at the same time. It’s a good way for utilities to utilize their DSM data to move customers online and market products and services, according to information on the Oracle Utilities website.

Other Customer Experience products include Oracle Utilities Opower Peak Management Cloud Service, Oracle Utilities Opower Digital Self Service Cloud Service and Oracle Utilities Opower Proactive Alerts Cloud Service. A multitude of other products are offered in the other categories.

Generally, Waters thinks that utilities are doing well overall in getting up to speed with advanced technologies to improve the customer experience, though experiences vary by company and across geographic regions.

“I can’t think of one utility who doesn’t get it about the customer experience,” Waters said. “They realize the importance of innovation, but also understand they can’t ignore their basic calling to provide a safe, reliable product and service. And that’s not always easy to do.

“The transformation they need to make to become a digital utility can be challenging,” he added, particularly as utilities move toward using mobile applications, for example, and utilizing sensors.

Throughout 2018 and beyond, Waters said Oracle Utilities will be working “to constantly improve what we’re bringing to the industry.”

Some of the areas of concentration, he said, include continuing to focus on how to help utilities make better use of data, and providing a series of tools to analyze, mine, incorporate and then integrate their data within operations.

“That’s not easy to do with some of these older systems, which weren’t designed with those functions in mind. So we help them build platforms that allow them to make the data real and actionable,” Waters explained.

Another concentration area is around how to make the grid more resilient. “We’re right in the middle of that and continuing to innovate,” said Waters, pointing to the edge of the grid where new types of generation exist and utilities must know how to deal with opportunities and challenges beyond the meter, as well as how to help customers manage their energy at home. That entails innovating around how to help utilities manage and support how customers, who have new technologies at home to manage their energy, interact with the grid.

And of course there’s regulation to consider this year, Waters said. For instance, will utilities be allowed to go beyond the meter to provide products and services? “The other point is, can they utilize that data beyond the meter in some way?”

“We’ll be working in all of these areas,” he said.