What is a business solution architecture?
The final step of a digital business transformation process is to keep refining,
planning, and implementing strategic business and IT agendas. Old economy
utility organizations will need to evolve toward a "reinvention" culture, as
required. The digital business transformation must continue with a focus on
increasingly open and unified technology strategies and architectures. Utilities
will eventually replace back-office systems; update legacy Customer Information
Systems with web-enabled systems; and implement modern deregulation-aware,
web-enabled billing and settlement systems, supplemented by modern
Internet-accessible, rate-handling models and web-based customer interaction
platforms. As a utility transforms increasingly toward a digital enterprise,
relationships with solution and technology partners should be strengthened and
Application Service Provider models for utility processes and systems should be
pursued, as viable options are established.
Enterprise Application Intergration and B2C/B2B Integration
EAI is an enabling business, process, and technology platform for linking IT
applications into a single enterprise process. B2C integration enables customer to
business process integration, and B2B integration enables business to business
process and technology integration. These technologies are a response to the
increasingly heterogeneous and complex hardware, operating system, software,
database, and application environments that transcend a single organization, as
well as industries. Modern integration platforms are acknowledgements of the
rapid technology evolution that has increasingly caused more separation
between islands of information and has allowed disparate systems to exchange
business information in formats and contexts that other systems understand.
Recently, the introduction of integrated workflow and business process modeling,
automation, and analysis tools has enabled process definition, information
sharing, and process optimization, thereby providing a key tool set for digital
business transformation.
Process, knowledge, and information integration are of paramount current and
future business importance. Integration of processes and knowledge across a
utility and within the energy industry will be key to functioning as a digital
enterprise (Figure 1). Information must be synchronized to eliminate
redundancies and inaccuracies. Utilities sharing electric grids and gas networks
must share consistent rationalized views of information across their organizations
and their industry, as they move to the digital economy, which is driven by
information.
The Internet Utility
Recent introductions of Internet utilities provide a glimpse of the potential digital
enterprise futures for old economy utilities. Currently, some traditional utilities
are investing in new dot-com utility ventures, in some cases earning preferred
energy supplier relationships for their investments. Today's Internet utility
provides multiple energy, telecommunications, and even Internet services in a
one-stop shopping model. Although rate structure and regulatory requirements
differ significantly across state boundaries, these new entities are working to
serve customers online with sophisticated billing and friendly customer service
functions. To rapidly gain acceptance, Internet utilities are even building their
brands and marketing their services with traditional utilities.
Figure 1. Process and technology architecture of the future digital enterprise.
Summary
Digital business transformation is an ongoing process that will allow traditional
utilities to survive and thrive in the digital economy. A digital business
transformation process should place considerable emphasis on eBusiness-based
strategy and IT planning; business process redesign and optimization; modern
process-enabling integration platforms; optimized customer interaction models;
and ongoing refinement, planning, and implementation of strategic business and
IT goals. EAI and B2C/B2B integration platforms may prove to be a key
technology ingredient assisting utilities in the transformation from old economy
utilities to digital enterprises. Finally, recently established Internet utilities
provide an early view of future digital enterprise opportunities and business
architectures for traditional utilities.
