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Applying Business Intelligence (BI) to the US Power Market | FirmoGraphs

Written by FirmoGraphs Staff | Dec 6, 2018 7:40:00 PM

Do you wish you had access to better intelligence to offer actionable insights to your customers, to make the right decisions?

All of us know that the US power infrastructure needs an overhaul, and this should generate substantial opportunities. However, as industry experts we also know that this is not an easy undertaking.US power companies are facing increasingly complicated and multidimensional challenges when designing and constructing new overhead lines.

Electric utilities are trying to deal with a variety of expectations or responsibilities:

  • Constructing more compact lines with reduced environmental impact and increased power transfer capacity
  • Incorporating additional structural and electrical resiliency into new line designs to enhance grid reliability in the face of increasing climate variability
  • Constructing lines with improved operational efficiency at the lowest possible cost
  • Creating lines which are easy to maintain, and are designed effectively.

According to a research conducted by Electronic Power Research Institute (EPRI), currently, no documented approach exists to incorporate all of these aspects into a comprehensive design approach.

Utilities need improved control over how multiple needs may be met and integrated into a holistic design approach but also tailor made to each specific application.

To achieve sustained success, the industry needs the ability to integrate data from numerous sources, compile, filter and sort that data and analyze and present the data in a way that is clear and concise and supports rapid, confident and effective decisions.
The industry also needs to have effective control of operational costs to optimize resources and investments.

The Power Industry and Business Intelligence

Energy and utility companies are facing challenges such as:

  • Price volatility,
  • Changing regulations
  • Risk management
  • Increasing customer demands, and
  • The emergence of new technologies.

Harnessing the power of data to drive performance and efficiency, is critical for organizations to stay relevant.

- Analytics & Mobility: Business Intelligence and Data Analytics help organizations transform how they operate. BI helps organizations improve workforce management, monitor and enhance customer service, optimize supply chain activities, ensure regulatory compliance, and drive operational efficiency. 

- Risk Management: Business Intelligence provides companies with unified, consistent views of data that help them navigate the various risks associated with regulatory changes, commodity price volatility, and political and climate uncertainty with a greater degree of confidence. 

- Customer Analysis: With BI, companies provide their customers with personalized, timely insight into energy usage, costs, conservation information, and a comparison of consumption levels at similar locations. 

- Supply Chain Analysis: BI and Data Analytics deliver real-time visibility into complex, multi-tier supply chains so companies can quickly identify and address issues related to energy losses, transportation, storage, inventory, and costs.

Bottom line: The industry uses Business Intelligence and Data Analytics improve workforce management, enhance customer service, ensure regulatory compliance, and streamline production, generation, and refinement operations. 

Optimize Your Go-to-Market

The energy/power sector is a huge market. With investments growing in the electrical transmission and distribution industry, more opportunities are emerging for investor-owned utilities.

Many of these opportunities relate to 3 major needs of the power grid: 

1. Grid resiliency, 
2. Aging infrastructure and 
3. Technology investment.

Rapidly aging infrastructure is one of the biggest challenges for the power industry. Since 70 percent of U.S. transmission lines were installed between 1970 and 1980, these systems are rapidly reaching the end of their depreciated life, giving the industry professionals a much needed call to action to think out of the box about the future of the grid. In other words, the emerging trends in the transmission and distribution industry, are calling for modernization.

With issues such as distributed resources, regulatory constraints, business process redesign and system planning, our industry must embrace emerging technologies for the distribution power grid.

Decentralization of the electricity system coupled with smarter technology should translate into better asset utilization, more security and enhanced reliability. This can only mean growth for associated businesses and services.

Conclusion

You can see that our vital, challenging Power Market is best-approached with a strategic mindset. If this is a challenge the solution maybe Business Intelligence (BI). 

The FirmoGraphs Power Mart is a complete, ready-to-use BI solution to enable your go-to-market with utility customers. 

Click here to learn how to develop better relationships with your US Utility Market customers. 

Firmographs closely follows the utility index. Click here to learn more.

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Disclaimer

None of the information we provide may be taken as legal advice. Please consult an attorney if you require a legal interpretation of this information.

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