GIS and the corporate board room: issues and strategies
Barry J, Kemble
Executive Vice President, UGC Consulting ,6200
S. Syracuse Way, Suite 222, Englewood, Colo. 80111
303-773-6166, 303-773-6618 (f)
Abstract
A key business trend among energy sector utilities is the accelerated adoption of
information technology, which is helping utilities achieve greater competitiveness and
effectiveness, and is proving flexible and adaptable enough to meet changing market
conditions at every level of the uti Iity organization. The actual rate of adoption
appears to vary between and among electric and natural gas utilities. The dichotomy is
especial Iy apparent when it comes to integrating two or more technologies. The paper
presents an executive-level strategy for pursuing an integrated systems approach at
both electric and natural gas utilities.
Introduction
Scan the recent trade press headlines and you’ll see an ongoing shift in just who sits in
the executive board rooms of energy utilities across North America.
The headlines show that more and more key management positions are being filled by
men and women who have spent years in highly competitive industries outside of the
energy sector. With their arrival, these executives bring an outlook that is highly
focused on enhanced customer service, capitalizing on market opportunities and
seizing strategic advantage.
A somewhat less reported trend is the accelerated adoption by these same utilities of
information technology. These technology tools are helping utilities achieve paral Iel
goals of greater competitiveness and effectiveness by managing information about
facilities, markets and competitive challenges. Like the new mix of corporate
executives, information technology is proving flexible enough to meet changing
market conditions and adaptable enough to have a positive effect at every level of the
utility organization.
Even so, the actual adoption of these technologies varies between utilities. The
dichotomy is especially apparent when it comes to integrating two or more
technologies. This type of integration strategy is of great importance as competitive-minded
executives attempt to ful Iy leverage the corporate technology investment and
pursue enterprisewide business strategies.
A Dichotomy
Broadly speaking, energy sector utilities appear to be adopting information technology
solutions from slightly different points of view. Of course, this is a broad generalization
and many cases can be cited where this trend is unfounded. Where it does exist,
however, this dichotomy may point to subtle differences in how utilities view
competitive markets and the need to adopt information technologies.
In broadly general terms, natural gas uti Iities general Iy seek to adopt technology on a
stand-alone basis such as Automated Mapping (AM), Faci Iities Management (FM),
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other related spatially-based systems. The
gas utility also looks to have these individual technologies up and running within 24 to
36 months, on average.
Electric utilities or combination utilities generally adopt the same suite of spatially-based
technologies. But they also, coincidentally, are specifying Work Management
Systems (WMS), Mobile Data Terminals, Trouble Outage Entry/Analysis (TOE/A) and
related business geographies applications of these technologies, for enhanced
customer responsiveness and competitiveness. Not only that, they are specifying
integrated systems--and in doing so are making the same type of information broadly
available across the corporation. What’s more, electric utilities are expecting delivery
of these integrated systems within 24 to 36 months, on average.
This apparent difference in approach maybe explained in part by examining the
different operating nature of electric and gas utilities.
First, electric uti Iity faci Iities are more apt to be disrupted by accident or storm than
are natural gas facilities. News reports following a storm or accident routinely cite the
number of households without electricity. More rare are reports of natural gas service
disruptions caused by simi Iar incidents. As a result, electric uti Iities typically have
more of a need to integrate outage management, work management, customer
information, and geographic information systems to help them provide a timely and
effective response to an outage.
Second, competition in the natural gas industry has placed more of an emphasis on
commodity price, while competition in the electric industry is focusing on both price
and services such as energy management. The services side of the business is more
technology driven. This in turn maybe increasing the desire among electric utility
executives to adopt technology capable of addressing competitive situations, while
contributing to cost reduction.
