Archiving in the new ‘smart’ world of utilities

“Smart metering and the smart grid are both recognised as having profound implications for the industry”
-Adrian Butcher

Contact Open Text: energy.emea@opentext.com

Answering critical questions for the smart metering challenge, by Adrian Butcher of Open Text Corporation.

If there's one word that's creating a 'buzz' - of excitement and challenge - in utilities throughout the developed word, it's 'smart', the next transformational step for two core components of the utilities business model - the grid and metering.

Smart metering and the smart grid are both recognised as having profound implications for the industry, in terms of energy efficiency, customer service (hence marketing and customer acquisition) and cross-border energy management and trading - these topics are widely and imaginatively discussed throughout the industry.

What seems less discussed is the topic of what to do with the sheer volume of data generated, how to place it in the hands of all who need it and how to manage the exponential change in the volumes of historic data. At Open Text, we see some critical questions emerging and believe electronic archiving will provide some of the key answers - and crucially, that the history of our experience demonstrates that. So, to those questions.

How can we cost-effectively maintain records for the hugely expanded level or scale of meter readings? Where end customers are involved, how and in what media will we choose to present metering data? If on the web, how can we assure performant, controlled access to relevant data in a customer service, or self-service, environment? We must also maintain such records to support the broader relationship with the customer and make them accessible in the broader customer information context. If we provide such access to customers, how can we assure security of data, and of systems? And if all this means investing in new systems, do we still have the cost burden of legacy systems, for the historic data they hold?

Let's see how an enterprise archive might address such questions. Firstly, scale is one of the 'specialist subjects' of the electronic archive, with proven capability to handle truly huge data volumes. It can also do so 'intelligently', optimising the balance between performance of access and storage costs, according to your business policies, but without discrete day-to-day activity by your organisation

Secondly, it's possible to 'render' data from pure data sources in customer and employee-friendly formats. Some utilities have already made this capability their strategy for e-billing, with reduced costs and better customer service. So for them, the presentation of meter reading information may represent extended leverage of an existing platform, not a completely new environment

Of course, in a customer service environment, such data needs to be accessed rapidly, yet securely. So thirdly, by placing information in the archive, access permission can be carefully controlled and access is made to the archive, not to the metering systems that feed it - ensuring electronic security for the metering environment. Customers and customer advisors see exactly the same information, so discussions about it are easier.

Fourthly, where customer meter readings are concerned, they may need to be made available in the broader customer context of bills, enquiries (through whatever channel), and special package contracts - even complaints.

Finally, the archive can be used to hold and make accessible data from legacy systems, delivering cost savings by allowing such systems to be decommissioned.

Smart metering represents a bold step into the future. For utilities, which must manage risks as intensively as assets, it may be comforting that utilities companies across Europe have been using Open Text archiving for years, for e-billing, SAP data archiving, customer relationship management, legacy systems decommissioning, and more - supporting multi-channel customer relations in particular. So for our existing customers, smart metering may present opportunities to further leverage existing data.

We believe the smart new world of utilities will come not just to benefit from electronic archiving but to depend upon it, and we look forward to ever more dialogue with like-minded managers in this transforming industry.

Adrian Butcher is Director, Value Engineering, EMEA, for Open Text Corporation. With management experience in a broad range of industries and processes, including many of relevance to utilities, Butcher leads a function dedicated to helping customers explore, discover and quantify the business value of Open Text solutions in supporting core business processes, reducing cost and supporting corporate compliance obligations.