Recent Posts by Kathleen Wolf Davis

The cloud makes so many business promises, it can be difficult to keep track. It offers flexibility, speed and the ability to outsource some otherwise expensive (and heavy duty) data work. The business case has been made. Repeatedly. But business cases don’t smooth the road to finality. They lay out the positives, but not the path. That path to cloud nirvana for utilities, specifically, admittedly has a few hurdles. Despite the obvious rewards waiting at the end of the...

It’s not new territory, we know—this concept that the customer is no longer just a ratepayer for utilities, that she is now the central figure in everything you do from the frontline CSR gig to the back-office SaaS support guru, to the lineman with the hotstick doing field work. Making a happier, smarter, savvier energy prosumer dedicated to saving energy who understands the power of power (and the world of water, too) has become the guiding principle of the utilities...

Earlier this month, we got to be onsite as the fabulous model-building team put together a special-order working Connected Hub model town into the expanding Oracle Industries Innovation Lab (an Oracle Construction & Engineering-led effort that now includes both Oracle Utilities and Oracle Communications). The model can show off over 30 use cases that feature Oracle Utilities' software and how it can help a utility manage assets, resources, the network and customer-facing...

Oracle Utilities is full of geeks—those who know and love tech, especially those widgets that make the world’s infrastructure work well. We’re proud of that. We’re also full of nerds, too. Nerds are the studious sort, according to the official definition. According to us, they’re our binge readers—the emotional ancestor of all of today’s binge watchers, you might say. So, from our nerds to yours, here’s a short list of great books to buy for all the utilities lovers you know...

As we look forward to DistribuTECH 2020 in our favorite town of San Antonio, we know they'll be one recurring question all around the floor that isn't about low voltage or meter-to-cash or grid management, nor about distribution issues or DER or the juggling of old assets. That question: Have you been to the Alamo? In mythology, it’s a San Antonio staple, a monument to against-the-odds heroics, with a wild cast of characters from former politician and self-made folk hero (even...

Whether you go the Charlie Brown route of popcorn and jelly beans for your friendsgiving or lay out the more traditional holiday spread of cranberry sauce and casseroles galore for extended family, it’s that time of year: Thanksgiving, American style. This year, we here at Oracle Utilities give thanks for our recent customer-centric milestone: consumers have saved 20 terawatt hours (TWh) in cumulative energy savings through Oracle Opower energy efficiency programs. (And we...

We’re wrapping up European Utility Week in 2019, but we can’t go without sharing a few of our favorite social media highlights from the conference. Here's our top five. Thinking differently? Holler at us on Twitter and tell us your favorite social moments.   1. One of our favorite utilities, GRDF, brings the insights to both the show itself and to social with this chat on biomethane at European Utility Week today. GRDF: @ GRDF   2. We were delighted to see that one of our favorite...

Let’s talk about the prosumer. You know the prosumer—even if you may not personally know a prosumer. A few years ago--let's say five--the prosumer was still an "enduser" and no utility talked much about her. Today, I've heard the word "prosumer" at least a dozen times in the last two days of European Utility Week 2019 (#EUW19). So, who is a prosumer? What are her key personality traits? The prosumer isn’t passive. She wants unprecedented info, numbers and communication options...

There are no longer huge changes ahead; they are no longer looming down the road a bit—hurdles on the far horizon. They are right here, right now. Now, they’re still huge. Don’t get us wrong. They are still massive. But, the time to tackle them is today. And, according to the opening keynote insiders at European Utility Week 2019 here in Paris this week, the way to tackle them is together—all of us. Rather than focusing on how one customer, one company, one utility or...