Recent Posts by Kathleen Wolf Davis

It’s not going to be simple, and it’s not going to be easy—but, of course, you already know the growing pains involved in this massive industry-wide digital evolution we’re all immersed in. Still, there are some simple steps you can take to move forward faster with your digital transformation. We’ve got five bits of advice to share with all that transformation—the five don’ts to do to make sure you’re #InnovatingWithIntent. Too often, we follow a singular digital path and...

Arizona Public Service (APS) CIO Ted Geisler—a self-proclaimed “utility guy”—loves the difference he makes every day working at a utility, but rather than coloring his vision, that adoration only seems to make his planning for the future more pragmatic. In our short chat with him a few weeks ago, we talked about his devotion to his utility and his chosen industry (read more on that here), as well as how he and APS are tackling the big, big task of future-proofing. While APS...

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...

In this world, there are people who do their jobs and there are people who are their jobs. In the vernacular of our business, there are those who work at a utility—people who come in at 8, take a full lunch hour, leave at 5, and leave the work behind—and then there are those few who are the life and breath of that utility—people who are passionate about the ways and means that a utility makes society function, who lovingly serve as the infrastructure of our world’s...

It’s not going to be simple, and it’s not going to be easy—but, of course, you already know the growing pains involved in this massive industry-wide digital evolution we’re all immersed in. Still, there are some simple steps you can take to move forward faster with your digital transformation. We’ve got five bits of advice to share with all that transformation—the five don’ts to do to make sure you’re #InnovatingWithIntent. It’s absolutely true that digitizing your utility...

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. The Opower...

Wonder Woman saved Steve Trevor (and at least one war). The Avengers saved New York—at least the parts they didn’t flatten. (Recently, they tried to save the world, but we won’t talk about that sad story today.) Green Lantern saved the universe once, and Dr. Strange tried to save multiple timeline versions of the universe to the point of exhaustion. Being a superhero seemed fun as a kid. As an adult we know the truth: Being a superhero is time-consuming hard work that you...

The tech is in place. We’re all evolving quickly there. We’ve making things smarter, more interconnected and more tied into the internet (of all things). And why are we doing these things? Because of our growing number of digitally engaged (and even digitally obsessed) customers for every utility, whether it’s in Denver, Dublin or Dubai. While we, as an industry, are experienced in solving issues with technology and research, with architecting and engineering, we are less...

We’ve been talking about a lot of powerful new innovation possibilities during European Utility Week, but perhaps the most interesting is blockchain—a concept with lots of opportunities and excitement but few practical projects currently available to keep an eye on. The “Blockchain – Democratising Energy” panel attempted to make both the positives and problems of this new concept practical and real, moving us past the “what is this” chat that has dominated just about every...