| | December 20138CIOReviewData Analytics And Utility Industry's Seismic ShiftBy Guerry Waters, VP Utilities, OracleOracle [NYSE: ORCL] delivers measurable business value for the world's gas, electric, water and waste leaders. Guerry has more than 30 years experience and is a frequent speaker and writer on issues surrounding the delivery of energy and water and the IT strategies that help utilities meet their goals.There is a seismic shift occurring in the utilities industry. Far beyond the technology evolution, a fundamental industry transformation is beginning to occur, a cultural shift in which utilities are altering their thinking about data and analytics, and the ways in which both might be more useful to the enterprise as a whole. The goal: a new utility structure capable of meeting the twenty-first century needs and demands of its enlightened customers.Terabytes of new data streaming in from many different sources has forced utilities to re-examine how they look at information strategy, operational structure and customer engagement, as well as their abilities as an enterprise to cope with change and take a more holistic, enterprise-wide approach to optimizing the new data flow.As operational processes and tools within the grid have increased and matured, so too has the amount of data being collected and the expectations of analytics capabilities evolved. Where once utilities could only analyze data on an ad hoc, hands-on basis through white boards, complex spreadsheets and business intelligence (BI) reports, the industry is now moving to a clearer reactive analysis (both descriptive and diagnostic) incorporating a much higher volume of historical data, with more complexity, and analyzing it much more quickly.A proactive cultural shiftKnowing what to look for, utilities can also yield insights from real-time information streams. Finally, with historical and real-time data at hand, utilities are also beginning to look forward with predictive and prescriptive analytics, creating real value to proactively mitigate potential operational problems before they arise. By using analytics, utilities are better able to improve customer satisfaction through segmentation and communication personalization; improve operational reliability through monitoring and predictive maintenance; and expand operational efficiencies through improved planning and execution.And there are other benefits to using analytics, too. Across industries, studies by MIT and Nucleus Research have found the following to be true:· Top performers are three times more likely to use analytics than low performers. · 53 percent use analytics to drive strategy. · 50 percent use analytics to transform daily operations. · Organizations that use analytics get $10.66 for every $1 they spend on analytics. Guerry Watersopinionin my
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