20 May 2010
1,000,000,000,000,000, or “Peta” for short. It’s a term being thrown around to quantify the amount of bytes the utility industry could be managing as the industry “smartens” itself. This time last year, we were in the midst of a severe global economic downturn with many utilities putting investment plans on hold. Now there is a definite thaw in the spending freeze as “smart” technology deployments begin with the issuance of $3.4 billion in cost matching stimulus funds. The challenges utilities face are many—from developing and successfully marketing products, to more effectively managing customer communication and education. The data explosion that comes along with the new ways of monitoring and interacting with customers is driving new information systems, architectures, and business models. These challenges are highlighted in the interviews that UtiliPoint® recently conducted with executives from some of the leading vendors in the utility customer service sector. This compilation of interviews marks the tenth annual collection of this type.
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15 March 2010
Trillions of dollars: That is the amount the electric utility industry will invest globally to build a more efficient system in the coming decades. What fundamental changes do energy leaders think must be made along the entire electric value chain — from wholesale, where low- or zero-emissions generation resources are expected to become mainstream, to retail, where technology innovation is opening doors to practical ways of empowering customers to better control how and when they use energy?
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