Why Data Is the New Currency for Utilities, and How To Use It

For utilities, data is the new currency that’s key to achieving better work environments, revenues and sustainability. But to use data correctly, organizations must develop the proper roadmap, cloud strategy and data management framework, emphasizes Iris Harel, regional client business executive at Amdocs.

“Why is my power bill so high?” “When will the power come back on?” “Wow, I didn’t realize I used that much water this week.” These all-too-common utterances should not be common at all, but inevitably you or someone you’ve known has faced an unpleasant utilities outage, bill or experience that was sudden, unexpected and infuriating. 

No matter the size of a utility, both customers and employees alike want the same thing – seamless services tailored to the specific needs of end users. This will lead to better  work environments, more revenues for businesses, and more customer satisfaction. The key to achieving this is data, and as metering infrastructure evolves, there’s more of it to leverage than ever before. 

So, how does one use data to make things better?

Data Segmentation: The Key to Personalized Customer Experiences

Proper data segmentation can enable utilities to address specific customer needs based on their usage patterns, demographics and other criteria, enabling organizations to provide tailored services, pricing plans and insights. 

For instance, targeted data could help avoid outages by incentivizing customers to plan to use resources during off-peak hours, showcase energy assistance programs to those who are delinquent in their bills, improve outage response times, and inform people about how they can reduce waste. 

To feasibly gain these benefits without being overly invasive, organizations will need to intelligently track and segment customer behavior data from smart meters and other sources, to ensure each bill, alert or interaction is customized or positioned correctly. 

Achieving this could involve: 

• Avoiding over-collecting processes: clearly identify what data to capture and make sure data is only used in ways understood by all parties.
• Segmenting and cleaning data: ensure data quality for tailored customer outreach and to capitalize on AI, which needs the right info to make decisions.
• Data distribution: distribute segmented data across the organization—from the call center to marketing, so all units are consistent in their communications.
• Aggregating internal information: match data to the right bundled services and programs for increased program participation.
• Managing customer communications: ensure the message, look and feel of all outreach is consistent, even if it’s personalized.
• Pinpointing opportunities: Use data to generate new revenue streams by matching customers to preferences.

See More: Data as Currency: Consumers Willing to Pay for Personalized Experiences

The Future of IoT 

When forming a data roadmap and business plan, utilities must also develop the right infrastructure to leverage IoT devices. This is not a question of tomorrow but a matter for today. 

There will be over 29 Billion IoTOpens a new window devices at the end of this decade. Additionally, in the US alone, electric utilities have completed over 111 millionOpens a new window advanced metering infrastructure installations.

If just a fraction of these devices can be used to generate meaningful insights for utilities, operations can be overhauled significantly. For instance, by using IoT data with automation, utilities can increase viability of microgrid and battery storage, drive load reduction, increase electric vehicle adoption and empower customers and employees through improved demand side management. 

To reap the benefits of IoT, organizations must develop a proper cloud strategy, which offers a scalable, flexible, and cost-effective way to manage large amounts of data. If cloud is not used to house and exchange IoT data, organizations will not be able to scale and will inevitably suffer as devices struggle to communicate with one another and valuable insights go unnoticed. 

See More: How IoT is Revolutionizing Remote Patient Monitoring and Chronic Disease Management

Harnessing the Cloud and Securing Data

As technology from utilities and in the home evolves, the amount of data generated will keep growing, leading to an urgent need to store, manage, analyze and secure information in the cloud efficiently.  

Here are some elements to consider: 

• Securing data in the cloud: secure the grid network to avoid hacking and protect data in a world of third-party sharing with techniques like strong authentication and access controls, data encryption, firewalls and intrusion detection, frequent software updates, backup procedures and employee training.
• Determine a cloud business model: decide which applications to migrate to the cloud and which to store on-prem. (i.e., apps that use a lot of resources for short periods may be best for the cloud, where they can be accessed on demand).
• Governance: iron out the policies, procedures, goals and guidelines needed to manage a cloud resource from day one, ensuring infrastructure is used efficiently, securely, and in compliance with relevant regulations and standards.
• Managing multiple cloud platforms: in terms of security, cost management and overall goals, every cloud service should be approached as an independent platform with similar architectural goals and different implementations.
• Take advantage of virtualization: Virtualization enables automation and application improvements via software, meaning operation teams can easily rollout capabilities like backups for all workloads by defaults, automated alerts and important security controls.
• Operating model: When feasible, organizations can greatly benefit from a separate cloud operating division like a Cloud Center of Excellence, which has experts in cloud architecture standards and best practices that can teach, efficiently manage and drive continuous improvements in cloud adoption.
• Managing Cloud Costs: while public clouds are highly scalable, increased data traffic from sources like IoT could translate to high costs; therefore, organizations must understand their data needs and calibrate settings for items like data retention correctly.

Data Is the New Currency

Data is the new currency for utilities because it not only leads to improved operations, increased revenue and new ways to monetize infrastructure, but it also guides them in how to move forward and use their resources to improve services and solutions.

To use data correctly, though, organizations must develop the proper roadmap, cloud strategy and framework for managing increasing stores of data responsibly. If this is done, customers may be pleasantly surprised by utilities companies, making today’s frustrations a thing of the past while innovation abounds. 

Are you applying data management to innovate how you manage utilities? Share with us on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!

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