| | June - July 20188The Digital Utility Needs and Promotesa Changing Corporate CultureUtilities and energy companies are rapidly adopting deeper and broader digitization to remain relevant to their customers and to respond to the changing parameters in the regulatory world. Solar arrays, large scale renewables, wind farms and the emergence of prosumers (customers generating and selling electricity) represent one of the shaping forces of the changing utility world. Disintermediation by vendors that allow large commercial and industrial accounts to disconnect from the grid by providing distributed generation and storage solutions represent the other force.Caught between these two forces, those in the utility industry must quickly respond ­ and that response, to a large extent, has been the adoption of new technologies. In particular, this has included the renewed effort to further digitize all elements of the utility: generation, distribution, customer service, energy delivery, etc. This digitization is based on a collection of advanced technologies, such as:· Internet of Things (IoT)· Next generation Industrial Control Systems (ICS)· Grid Edge Devices (SCADA, AMI, etc.)· Analytics· Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence· Digital Workflows and Robotic Process Automation (RPA)Utilities are embracing digitization in order to control cost and deliver innovative energy services in a world where customers ask for more choices and participation. This is a new challenge to utility employees, where customers are no longer satisfied by merely dialing into a call center, but measure service, support and convenience by comparison IN MY OPINIONDr. Dirk E. Mahling, CMVP, VP Technology and Strategy, Alliant EnergyBy
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