The Future Role of ICT in Meeting Operational Challenges in Energy Utilities

In an ever-changing business world, the energy industry relies on innovational technology to meet market demands. Companies understand the important of the role of technology and the positive possibilities up-to-date technology brings. In the article I read, it exemplified several different market trends that will govern how energy companies use/invest in their new technology and how they will chose to run their business. Some examples include merger and acquisition activity, climate change, government policy and regulation, rapid shifts in consumer demands patterns, and the renewable energy debate. The company must also determine how it will be the most operationally efficient throughout the entire company. This will help greatly reduce costs. Although cutting costs is a goal of nearly all companies, with the increase of M &A’s companies must now manage a larger set of assets, while trying to drive down costs. The main idea is to cut costs without conceding any quality or capability of the operating systems. It is particularly essential to think about the three C’s (Condition or health of the systems, Capability (today and in the future), and Capacity). In the business world today it is imperative to have a modern and quick communications infrastructure. Everyday the amount of information available is increasing and if technological innovations are not made in the communications field, companies will be left behind. For example, page 5 of the article states, “databases will need enhancing to be capable of handling massively increased amounts of data in real-time, billing systems will need upgrading, network bandwidth will need improvement, and customer management processes will have to be transformed”. These necessary advances will take place in the near future as well, absolutely within in 15 years for most companies. The bottom line is that companies must prepare for investment in new technology and make smart technological investments as well. The rapid modernization of technology on a daily basis is intriguing to me. In my opinion, I not only agree with the article, but I believe that our technological growth is growing exponentially. In the upcoming years, it will take close monitoring of the success of a company’s information and communication systems to make sure that company doesn’t fall behind in their particular industry. I feel as if this is currently happening at a greater pace, especially with the United States and international markets struggling. Companies are fighting for that technology edge in their field and at this point, with the world’s economy on thin ice, they are fighting for their lives. Take the Grand River Dam Authority for example, their CEO looked at two questions concerning his company, “where are we, and where do we need to be? He realized that his systems needed upgrading and that his existing infrastructure was unable to meet regulation standards. In my mind, this article illustrates how companies must take a particular interest in technological innovation and focus on informational communication as top priority.
Written by Danny Orr
Source: http://next-generation-communications.tmcnet.com/topics/business-critical-communications/articles/43562-future-role-ict-meeting-operational-challenges-energy-utilities.htm