Dynamic Enterprise Integration in the Energy and the Utility Industry
Paul J. Yarka
Vice President, Global Information Technology Services
MWH Global, Inc.
370 Interlocken Boulevard
Suite 300
Broomfield, CO 80021
Phone: (303) 410-4000
Fax: (303) 533-1940
Email: yarka@qwest.net
Introduction
Today’s utility industry continues to undergo substantial change with a backdrop
of slowing electric and gas utility industry consolidation, water utility privatization,
and global deceleration of deregulation. Energy and water utilities are placing
stronger emphasis on overall business cost reduction, the creation of new
revenue opportunities, and renewed emphasis on customer service and
customer care improvements. Despite regulatory, privatization, and customer
process-related uncertainties, many energy and water utilities are incrementally
progressing their pursuit of the digital energy or water enterprise.
The digital enterprise is a process-centered organization that places emphasis on
flexibly and dynamically optimizing and integrating the customer process-related
“front office,” the engineering and operations “mid-office,” and the businessenabling
“back office.” In a digital water or energy enterprise, the front office,
mid-office, and back office are seamlessly and flexibly integrated, thereby
allowing information to flow smoothly and unimpeded throughout the enterprise.
Process-centered organizations and their management require broad employee
understanding of key business processes along with relevant process-enabling
integrated systems.
Key technology strategies that are receiving increasing IT investment are tools,
processes, and evolving standards that support the digital enterprise goal of
process and technology integration. With these IT investments, utilities are
seeking dynamic and flexible enterprise and inter-enterprise integration within
organizations, between customers and a utility organization, and between utilities
and their business partners. The preferred current technology strategy is
enterprise and inter-enterprise integration that is supported by process- and
workflow-enabling Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and Business to
Business Application Integration (B2BAI) platforms.
Dynamic Enterprise Integration
Dynamic enterprise integration is a combination of reactive, flexible, and adaptive
business processes, technology tools, integrated systems, and integration
platforms that can serve a current utility enterprise business model and an
evolving and future virtual utility business model. An energy or water virtual utility
business model that is currently evolving is one that combines best-in-class
internally managed and best-in-class externally managed business processes
into a seamless business model that optimally serves shareholders, customers,
and employees. In the virtual utility business model, internally and externally
operated business processes are integrated via an Internet backbone. Internal
business processes and enabling systems are specifically integrated using EAI
platforms. External and internal business processes and enabling systems can
and will be further integrated using evolving B2BAI standards and technologies.
Another way of looking at the evolving virtual utility business model is to envision
a goal of best practices that combines internal human resources, business
processes, and enabling integrated systems that address what a specific utility
does extremely well. Now and in the future, utilities are seeking external service
providers that deliver best-in-class business processes or parts of best-in-class
business processes at which they excel. A virtual utility today could potentially
incorporate: internally provided design, planning, operations, maintenance,
inspection, trouble call handling and other key processes. A virtual utility might
include externally provided customer service, customer care, field service,
construction, vegetation management, and other key processes.
