Dallas, TX: ReportsandReports announce it will carry BI and Analytics: Making the Smart Utility Intelligent Market Research Report in its Store. Browse complete BI and Analytics: Making the Smart Utility Intelligent Report With an unprecedented number of external pressures, utilities are being forced to change decades-old business processes. Smart investments are the solution to many of the factors bearing down on utilities. However, smart investments in themselves do not bring significant differentiation. If new meters make a utility smart, it is through BI and analytics that a utility becomes intelligent. Scope Highlights Utilities will be faced by an onslaught of data if they invest in both smart grid and smart metering technologies. Ovum expects that the largest utilities will have storage requirements of petabyte proportions. From generation, transmission and distribution, through retail and into energy trading and risk management, utilities can extract value from BI investments right across the utility value chain. There are a number of barriers to adoption of BI and analytics: a culture that prevents members of staff from the commercial side of the business from accessing operational data; data whose quality is so poor would render analysis meaningless; data that sits in silos due to a disparate information architecture. Reasons to Purchase Table Of contents SUMMARY Catalyst 1 Ovum view 1 Key messages 2 Extraneous pressures are forcing utilities to change decades-old business processes 2 ‘Smart’ technologies address many of the market pressures currently affecting utilities 2 ‘Smart’ infrastructure investments will create a huge surge in the volumes of data a utility will have to manage 2 While BI and analytics are the end point of any ‘smart’ investment there is a lack of utility-specific products from the major vendors 2 The current convergence of BI and GIS makes an even more compelling case for investment in these technologies 2 Utilities can extract significant value from BI and analytics across the entire business value chain 3 While there are significant benefits to be gained from enterprise-wide BI investments, there are also a number of barriers 3 There are a number of reasons for this: an historic culture that effectively bans members of staff from the commercial side of the business from accessing operational data; data whose quality is so poor it would render analysis meaningless or incorrect; the fact that data sit in silos due to a disparate information architecture; and privacy concerns regarding the use of customer data. 3 Although application upgrades are slowly overcoming these issues, smart meter and smart grid investments will require utilities to adopt an enterprise data management approach 3 Recommendations for utilities 3 Recommendations for vendors 4 Table of Contents 4 MARKET CONTEXT: EXTRANEOUS PRESSURES ARE FORCING UTILITIES TO CHANGE DECADES-OLD BUSINESS PROCESSES Environmental concerns lead governments and regulators to reduce carbon emissions 4 Utilities face unprecedented demand on resources, particularly in electricity and water 5 High fuel costs put pressure on utility retail prices and force operating cost cuts 6 Future capital expenditure on infrastructure is vast 6 Market liberalization is coming, albeit slowly 8 An aging workforce will see a large proportion of utility staff retire over the next 10 years 10 The economic downturn has increased payment defaults 11 BUSINESS FOCUS: SMART METERING AND SMART GRID DATA CREATE A HUGE OPPORTUNITY FOR UTILITIES TO PROFIT FROM BI AND ANALYTICS Smart technologies address many of the market pressures currently affecting utilities 12 Smart grid investments overcome scarcity of resource by improving the efficiency of delivery networks 12 Utilities can decrease GHG emissions through increasing renewable generation capacity and deploying energy storage Smart metering overcomes scarcity of resource by influencing customer behavior 13 Greater insight into customer behavior can give a competitive advantage in liberalized markets 14 Smart metering enables more sophisticated payment protection, reducing cost-to-serve 14 ‘Smart’ infrastructure investments will create a huge surge in the volumes of data a utility will have to manage 15 Distributed generation requires many more sensors per gigawatt of generation capacity 15 A smart grid involves exponential growth in sensors 16 Smart meters will cause an explosion in customer usage data 16 While BI and analytics are the end point of any ‘smart’ investment there is a lack of end-to-end utility-specific BI products from the major vendors 17 Smart grid applications require BI and analytics to create intelligence 17 BI in the utilities industry must mature to fill a functionality gap 18 The current convergence of BI and GIS makes an even more compelling case for investment in these technologies 19 TECHNOLOGY FOCUS: WHILE THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR BI ARE EXTENSIVE IN UTILITIES, THERE ARE STILL SIGNIFICANT BARRIERS Utilities can extract significant value from BI and analytics across the entire business value chain 21 There are a significant number of opportunities for BI and analytics in the retail side of the business 22 Customer satisfaction 22 Reduce customer churn 22 Marketing 23 Cost-to-serve monitoring 23 Contact center optimization 24 Payments and debt management 24 Customer usage portals 24 Generation, transmission and distribution can all benefit greatly from BI and analytics 24 The planning cycle will benefit from BI overlaying asset investment planning and asset management tools 25 The operations side of generation and T&D will benefit from BI the most 25 Load analysis 25 Health and safety 25 Contractor management 26 Project management 26 Asset and workforce management 26 Demand response programs 26 Efficiency savings can be gained in maintenance by optimizing inventory and predicting asset failures 27 Inventory optimization 27 Predictive maintenance 27 Load forecasting is a critical tool for the energy trading side of the business 28 While there are significant benefits to be gained from enterprise-wide BI investments, there are also a number of barriers 28 Cultural barriers are a significant obstacle to deploying enterprise data management 28 Data quality is poor 28 Data sits in silos 29 The unbundling of utilities in markets with a number of retailers creates an issue in terms of extracting value from smart grid investments 29 Privacy concerns surround the use of customer usage data in many countries 29 Although application upgrades are slowly overcoming these issues, smart meter and smart grid investments will require utilities to adopt an enterprise data management approach 30 System interoperability is improving as a natural consequence of technology upgrades 30 ‘Smart’ applications will create a demand for reliable data from across the enterprise 30 Utilities undergoing smart deployments need to plan for their future system architecture 31 Should a smart utility’s information architecture mimic comparable architectures or learn from them? 31 The current preferred model is for interoperable data silos 32 Some vendors are recommending utilities do away with data silos and store data directly into a data warehouse 32 There is no right answer to a utility’s data infrastructure; each utility must decide on the right architecture that will allow it to access the right data at the right time 33 RECOMMENDATIONS Recommendations for utilities 34 C-level support is vital 34 Vendor selection should not just focus on core functionality 34 The interoperability of applications becomes imperative 34 Recommendations for vendors 35 The future growth of BI and analytics lies outside of specialists’ domains 35 Vendors pitching end-to-end solutions need to answer one question ‘why not BusinessObjects’ Best-in-class vendors cannot be complacent in the long-term 35 Data quality can be as bad as you will have ever seen – be realistic about what you promise a utility 35 APPENDIX Ask the analyst 36 Definitions 36 Further reading 38 Methodology 38 Disclaimer 38 Browse complete BI and Analytics: Making the Smart Utility Intelligent Report Browse all IT & Telecommunication Market Research Reports Browse all Datamonitor Market Research Reports RSS Browse all Latest Report Related Reports: Decision Matrix: Selecting a Contact Center Analytics Vendor (Competitor Focus) Smart Meters Create a Huge Opportunity for Data Services in Utilities (Analyst Insight) About Us: Contact:
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