Modern utility companies face an imperative for transformation of their operations as they grapple with increasing energy demands, environmental concerns and the evolving technological expectations of consumers. There’s also a raft of legislation that needs to be observed, plus an omnipresent need to modernise infrastructure. Finally, geopolitical events, like the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and economic uncertainties are introducing unpredictability into energy supply chains.

Data, analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT) can be harnessed to enhance operational efficiency and deliver customers a more sustainable and responsive service. The adoption of these technologies by utility companies can also improve safety, enhance the employee experience and uncover new revenue streams.

Prioritisation is key in this situation; after all, funds are not infinite. But utilities also have the potential to be massive data gatherers, from their plant and infrastructure, their delivery methods, consumers, end-users and business operations.

Source: Shutterstock

In some cases, there needs to be a shift in mindset with regard to the information gathered and used by utility companies. TechHQ recently spoke to Wipro – a company in multiple partnerships with UK utilities – about the challenges and approaches their consultants and architects see daily.

The company’s Director of Digital Transformation, Sampathkumaran Hariharan, said: “The data gathered from the field is impacted by the kind of equipment and sensors that have been deployed over a long period of time. Many of the utilities have not refreshed the data-gathering mechanisms from the field. But even from an operational point of view, the information about the customer is also maintained in multiple systems.”

Sampathkumaran Hariharan. Source: LinkedIn

“The customer has not been the centre of data acquisition over a long period of time. Utilities have traditionally been an asset-centric organisation. The emphasis on being a customer-centric organisation is heavily emphasised by the regulator and the frameworks the regulator has. So there is a transitioning that is happening within the industry.”

All over the UK, water companies are becoming more responsive to their customers’ demands for less water wastage from existing pipe infrastructures. Wipro’s use of advanced machine learning algorithms helps one UK water utility monitor 600 DMAs (Digital Metered Areas) to identify those zones where leaks are a substantial issue. IoT devices monitor flow rate and pressure, and with data on the geometrical structure of the network (routes, pipe diameters, existing gate valves, etc.), software can predict pipe burst events and detect major leakage anomalies in pilot the utility’s sites.

Proactive maintenance and infrastructure replacement mean less water is lost to leaks, and critically, water supplies are better ensured to customers at home and in the workplace.

Further up the chain, the combination of OT (operational technology) and IT helps translate collated data and convert it for use by distribution network operators. This amalgamation of new technology with legacy infrastructure combines localised DCS (distributed control system) and geographically widespread SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) data to create next-generation ADMS (advanced distribution management system) solutions.  These solutions are more suited to the highly flexible approach to electricity distribution required for future generations.

Technology also elevates both the customer and employee experiences; utility personnel benefit from streamlined workflows and data-driven insights, while customers receive more personalised services and access to real-time information through smart home utility meters. Furthermore, integrating state-of-the-art technologies creates the potential for new revenue streams, such as energy efficiency consulting and water quality certification services, increasing the longevity of these critical sectors.

Data is the lifeblood of transformation in the utility, transport & distribution (T&D) and water sectors. It powers informed decision-making, bespoke services for customers and efficient resource allocation, to name just a few benefits. However, this data is next to useless if the company does not have the capability, facilitated by a robust data platform, to turn it into actionable insights.

Data-driven approaches can lead a company to embrace ‘Industry 4.0’, or the integration of IT systems with business processes. For example, say a utilities company installed advanced sensors across its power grid infrastructure; it could then apply predictive maintenance models that identify potential equipment failures before they occur. These insights could be integrated into its IT systems, allowing for automated alerts and maintenance scheduling.

Traditional operational threat (OT) practices in the utilities industry primarily focus on monitoring and managing industrial processes and equipment. However, recent technological advancements offer new benefits, particularly in the context of real-time remote sensor data. These sensors provide authorities with detailed and reliable information about damaged locations or faulty equipment, which is especially crucial during emergencies when swift action can be a matter of life and death.

The introduction of hydrogen into the UK’s power infrastructure is an area that’s being pioneered by some companies in collaboration with Wipro. It’s a critically important player in this type of research that has the ability to change the ways in which power and heat are delivered to UK homes and businesses.

Ankit Sharma. Source: LinkedIn

Ankit Sharma, Account Executive at Wipro, said: “Recently, we brought together a number of industry bodies, Ofgem, and a lot of network players, retailers, and so on, all to talk about hydrogen and how we were going to help support [its] use, how we were going to integrate, how that would work, how we use that heat in all forms in the industry.”

“But it’s really important that we look at how to integrate [hydrogen] and other renewable energy sources – wind, solar, and so on – and reduce the reliance on the carbon-intensive power generation that we currently have to support our net zero commitments.”

As IT methods are applied to the management of OT environments in enterprise, including utility sectors, further possibilities are opening up thanks to data collection and digitisation in general.

“I think what utility companies have to now look at is how we have efficient workforce management as well,” said Mr Sharma. “That means how they are geared up for the challenge from a grid maintenance perspective, and also how they are looking out for the new skills that are coming within the market. How do you upskill workforces on that?”

For utility T&D and water companies specifically, industrial IOT (IIoT) and the power of data lakes enable the shift from periodic or manual analysis to real-time monitoring of significant assets and processes, like transformers, pipelines and water treatment facilities, plus a host of other operational factors, from financing, accountancy, HR and logistics. These are just a few examples of how the incorporation of carefully chosen IT opens up more efficient and cost-effective work practices.

The future of utility companies relies on data, analytics and the IIoT. As conditions become more challenging, through growing energy demands and environmental concerns, embracing digital innovation is essential. With the integration of IT and OT and business goals that dictate technology choices, utility companies can adapt, thrive, and remain competitive in an evolving yet challenging landscape.

You can listen to the full podcast here, and check out the show notes for links and more information on Wipro’s work in the sector in the UK and abroad.

In the interim, visit Wipro’s website to find out more about its work within the utilities industry.

The post Future-proofing utility companies: The role of data, analytics and IoT appeared first on TechHQ.

While some bad actors target high-profile organisations for political or egotistical reasons, the majority of cyber-attacks are driven by good, old-fashioned greed. And the unfortunate truth is that black hat hacking is a highly lucrative, albeit highly skilled, “profession”. From a hacker’s point of view, the not insignificant cost of a data breach comes with few overheads and represents a very attractive income. Small wonder, therefore, that organisations’ defensive measures should be constantly tuned and reinforced.

To an attacker whose automated scripts and malicious code see only IP addresses on the internet, every industry with any online presence is equally at risk. But the retail industry in the UK and Ireland is particularly sensitive to the effects of a successful attack and is more susceptible. Consider the following four factors:

• The seasonal nature of retail means that business throughput can be concentrated at specific times (Christmas, Ramadan, Halloween, Rosh Hashanah, Diwali and so on). It’s more difficult to detect and respond to malicious activity during these times when systems and people are under maximum load.
• Brick and mortar stores are subject to particular online threats that take advantage of their location on the network edge.
  Retailers’ supply chains are long, complex, and subject to variation as business strategies change. Their scale and complexity add significantly to the attack surface presented to bad actors.
• Brand damage is particularly bad news for large retailers that trade in multiple areas. A besmirched reputation in consumer-packaged goods (CPG), for example, can significantly impact all other sectors where the retailer has a presence (like food and beverage, for example), despite those two trading operations being quite separate from one another. Negative social media and news coverage sticks to the brand and spreads quickly, with a highly undesirable impact on sales that can last months, if not years.
• There are further factors that affect retailers, but not ones that are unique to the sector. Difficult economic conditions mean failed direct debit and card payments, plus more attempts at fraudulent activity. Around these incidents, there are specific communications between consumers and retailers, and it’s easier, therefore, for an attacker to insert themselves into a situation via spoof messaging or phishing emails.

Humans are always the weakest link in any cyber defensive strategy, so technologies like SASE (secure access service at the edge) can help validate not only each user but each device as they interact with systems right across a distributed network of supply chain, brick and mortar stores’ systems, ecommerce facilities and so on. This type of proactive defensive system will also encompass and protect hardware that’s common in retail, like OT (operational technology) devices in warehouses and distribution systems, ePOS (electronic point of sale) and connectivity between edge installations (or “shops” as we might like to call them) and the rest of the business.

Source: Shutterstock

Many retailers have had to ramp up their online activities over the last few years, both because of the advent of large digital and logistical retail operators but also because of the rise in preference for online buying since 2019. The speed of a digitisation journey is not necessarily a red flag for cybersecurity, but the nature of any retailer often is. Older, established retail business systems not only involve technical debt in the form of legacy technology but systems that were designed to operate inside a protected perimeter. With the safe assumption that any company’s perimeter will be compromised at some stage, a new cybersecurity approach may be called for.

On a recent episode of the Tech Means Business podcast, Prabhu Ramaiah (Director and Head of Retail for Wipro UK) said, “[moving online] puts them [retailers] in a very difficult position because they were not born in the digital world. They were born in a world [of] legacy technology. Then they get more and more exposed as they go into the digital world. So, it’s very, very important that they have the right measures and the right technologies to protect them from these elaborate attacks, which could happen to them at any point in time.”

At the other end of the technology spectrum, digital-first retailers are not immune from risk. For example, adopting multi-cloud computing and storage strategies widens the attack surface presented to bad actors. Retailers hold highly valuable data for attackers that’s not limited to payment card details, for example. Personal information, including shopping preferences, location data and other personally identifiable data trades well in the darker corners of the web. Regardless of a company’s IT posture, it’s apparent why retail is a sector that offers fast gains for malicious actors.

Whether it’s penetration testing, anti-phishing education, SASE or an overhauled, cybersecurity-first IT procurement policy, many retailers are partnering with specialists to advise and accompany them to a safer future. Partnering with third parties in IT need not replace internal IT staff but supplement existing skills. Cybersecurity specialists – at least experienced and well-qualified specialists – are thin on the ground at present and those that are available command huge salaries. Drawing on deep experience and a broad range of cybersecurity skills and toolsets, third-party multiple service providers (like Wipro) can help retailers meet their transformational objectives – and do it with safety baked into every solution. Ambitious companies need not be deterred by the fear of cyber threats; they just need to recognise that the sector has particular challenges that can be addressed with the right application of expertise and technology muscle.

To learn more about Wipro’s cybersecurity work in retail and CPG, click here.

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Public sector organisations are seeing their budgets squeezed, with tax receipts relative to the size of the economy in the UK and Ireland at their lowest since the COVID epidemic. Few departments or para-governmental bodies have been left unscathed by broad-ranging cuts in funding, so the ongoing quest to wring value from every tax pound (or Euro) has entered a critical stage.

Public sector organisations have to provide better value for citizens, yet are expected to offer the type of always-on, always-available services that people have come to expect from the large, privately-owned names in technology and, increasingly, every other sector too. There’s also been a natural rise in demand for the types of service and support the public sector offers – a rise caused by people increasingly struggling just to get by.

To combat the quandary of having to respond more rapidly, with better services yet with little budgetary room for manoeuvre, many public bodies are outsourcing and offshoring many of the backroom systems on which their services are built and delivered. While that can bring significant cost savings and increases in delivery efficiency, there’s a corresponding increase in cyber risk. In cybersecurity terms, attack surfaces presented to bad actors can grow with the addition of every external player in the mix. While that needn’t be the case, it’s certainly a consideration that’s in the mix in any IT leader’s decision-making process.

For the private sector, the motives of attackers tend to be monetary. In the public sector, some attackers try and penetrate systems for kudos or, on occasion, political gain. The IT function in the sector has had its share of cutbacks and budget constraints, and attackers have been quick to capitalise on the type of traffic that’s more prevalent during times of economic downturn: there’s been a marked spike in phishing campaigns, for example, around tax refunds, charitable donations, public grants and many of the same ilk.

The irony is that, as the needs of the citizen increase, those providing services funded by the taxpayer have to make access by the citizen as easy as possible by multiple routes. With a broad range of technical abilities across the average citizenry, any supplier of services has to provide several pathways by which services are found, accessed and delivered. That contrasts with the private sector (personal banking, for instance), which has more leeway to be stringent as it sees fit, placing security hoops through which customers have to jump to access services. The public sector sometimes has little choice but to operate at lower tolerances – a fact bad actors are well aware of.

Source: Shutterstock

Risk assessment and management has become a huge factor in the running of cybersecurity protection systems, therefore, and it can be unclear whether contracted third parties have the expertise and experience to make proper assessments. Longer-term partnerships with external partners go a long way to ensuring the right balance is found between, for instance, the ease of accessing multiple vital services and the cyber risk levels involved. There’s also the complex consideration of data compliance, especially when part of the remit of any service is data-sharing with other public and private sector bodies. In this area alone, public bodies must find external contractors whose methods have been battle-tested in similarly constrictive environments.

Companies that have worked with security services, law enforcement bodies, and government departments worldwide are fairly thin on the ground, at least, ones that don’t charge at sky-high rates only accessible by massive multinationals. In the public sector, where budgets are highly constrained, such companies are difficult to find.

In a recent episode of the Tech Means Business podcast, we discuss many of the issues discussed here with two security experts with extensive experience working with public sector organisations worldwide. The guests’ work at Wipro has seen them work alongside sensitive UK governmental agencies, security services and public bodies around the world.

There are specific considerations that need to be taken into account when working with UK public sector organisations, of course, yet hacking and cybersecurity are international activities in nature and take place on the borderless internet.

There may be slight differences in the aims of some bad actors targeting the public sector, but there’s little difference in methods of protection. SASE, for instance, is replacing a perimeter-based security approach, and a fragile VPN is the same construct in the public sector as it is in the commercial world – and just as unwieldy for large-scale remote working patterns.

Yet with the right approach and partnership frameworks in place, there’s no contradiction between the need for security and the scaling of accessible public sector services.

To learn more about Wipro’s cybersecurity work in the public sector, click here.

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The public sector supplies some of the most critical services a person can experience throughout their life. Childhood immunizations, kindergarten, school, hospital care, public transport, even street lighting and waste disposal: government-funded organizations allow society to function. The key phrase here is “government-funded”, which, in fact, means taxpayer-funded. Providing the absolute best value to the citizen ensures that as small a gap as possible exists between what tax is paid and what value is received by the citizen who needs it. The less waste and the lower the overheads, the better, therefore. But of course, services provided by any governmental or para-governmental entity have to be useful, effective and life-improving, and that’s often not cheap.

It is no surprise then, that allocation of public funds comes under such scrutiny, and public organizations have to prove that they provide the best value possible. In almost every area of public sector operations, this means technology, either as a significant provider of a service or at least as an integral part of a larger service offering. With years of central government funding cuts arguably offset by leaps forward in the abilities of technology, smart solutions are providing some compelling answers.

To ensure costs are low and efficiency metrics are high, many public sector organizations, like their private sector counterparts, expect cloud services to provide desired results. The cloud is where the latest and greatest tech is found right now and, thanks to mass adoption, it’s production-hardened and competitively priced.

As on-premise legacy solutions reach end-of-life, public sector IT decision-makers have some difficult decisions to make. While a stalwart mainframe on-premise might continue to run critical services, even the most powerful devices can’t offer the scale-on-demand and agility that their cloud counterparts can. The same is true for significant parts of on-premise data center systems: overheads like power; cooling; building lease and maintenance skills for various networking/hosting/security services; upgrades and updates; security patching; and maintenance begin to produce less value on legacy investments per tax pound, year on year.

Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash

With millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money needing to be carefully allocated to long-term services and projects that support whole communities, choosing the right mixture of hyperscalers, local providers, and as-a-service provisions is tough. There are multiple options in the type of cloud provisions that might bring high value to the organization (Software-, Platform-, Infrastructure-as-a-Service, etc.), and with each comes different weighting between fully outsourced and in-sourced but hosted in the cloud. Each purchasing decision requires consideration to find the best price vs. operational advantages. Plus there’s usually the need to expedite matters: the mean time-to-value has to be as short as possible without compromising the quality of outcomes.

Thanks to the Tender process, procurement officials can at least see the track record of those organizations that could be possible providers. Relevant experience, track record in CSR and budgetary responsibility, and evidence of a long-term commitment to the ethos of the public sector are all “boxes that need to be ticked.”

Tenders provide a degree of first-line vetting. But the real work begins after suppliers are chosen. Bringing projects home on time and on budget aren’t the needs solely of the private sector, and public sector officials, like shareholders, can be harsh judges of performance. In either sector, a company’s ethos and ideology, experience, history and reputation all need to be considered in the context of similar projects.

From its very beginnings, Wipro is a company that has committed to philanthropy in society at large: to this day, it contributes a significant proportion of its profits to good causes.

That ideology, combined with extensive private and public sector experience in delivering large-scale cloud migration projects, means it’s an ideal fit for public sector organizations in the UK. Our Tech Means Business podcast currently features Wipro in a detailed discussion of issues pertaining to the UK public sector – we suggest you give it a listen. Alternatively, read more about the digital transformation specialist here, and learn about its FullStride Cloud services for both the public and private sectors here.

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Driving growth and reducing costs are talents that top business leaders can rely on. But in retail, C-Suites currently have a particularly tough challenge on their hands. Economic conditions are putting a squeeze on consumer spending as high energy prices cut into disposable income, and rising inflation means that what’s left doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. But that’s not to say that profits can’t be found. Today, success in retail means being able to seamlessly connect customers, workers, and data, which explains why expertise in enabling retail in the cloud has become highly prized.

Enterprise-scale

Retail in the cloud puts mission-critical services on a central, accessible, and secure platform. Combining customer insight, payments services, merchandising / range management, inventory management, business intelligence, logistics / transport management and more, in the cloud, allows firms to get ahead of their competition by lifting retail performance.

Naturally, transitioning from legacy solutions to a unified retail in the cloud platform comes with its own costs – and that’s why CFOs are right to ask tough questions of potential partners. Experienced IT services providers such as Wipro, which has more than two decades of experience in working with retail clients, are capable of accelerating digital business transformation so that productivity gains far outweigh overheads and setup costs.

Skills to look for, more specifically, include the ability to modernize retail operations. Artificial intelligence (AI) can streamline customer interactions – for example, through smart chatbots that can engage with shoppers to maximize sales conversions. Recommendation engines are another powerful use case. AI can generalize large data sets to efficiently pull out trends in sales, help with inventory, recommend next best action, improve fulfilment, and identify patterns to reduce fraud.

At the board level, especially for big-name retailers with large numbers of stores and complex operations, machine learning tools can cluster important metrics to guide strategy. Supply chains can be examined to optimize warehouse utilisation and suggest logistical efficiencies.

As Chief Data Officers are aware, there’s an abundance of insight to be gained from information gathered across sales and fulfilment. But – to maximize value – AI and machine learning tools need to be at the core of retail operations, not just on the periphery. CIO’s need to look for an IT services provider with experience in moving from legacy systems to best-in-class platforms capable of seamlessly ingesting data and creating powerful, unified information models.

Putting business data at the core gives workers a real-time window on performance. It also makes it more straightforward to pull information in from retail stores across the sales network, warehouses, and coordinate with delivery providers.

Omni-channel agility

Operationally, retail in the cloud can provide big gains in inventory management. Stock queries are just a quick API call away, and alerts can be sent efficiently to branches to facilitate customers wishing to collect their goods in-store. Having a unified, single source of truth, builds confidence in the data and goes hand in hand with improving supply chain management. In sectors such as fashion and food, retail in the cloud allows operators to be much more responsive – for example, to cater for changing trends or keep track of stock with a limited shelf life.

Physical and online stores offer rich sources of information on shopping habits and give retailers the capacity to deliver more personalized experiences to their customers. Loyalty schemes, particularly in highly competitive sectors such as food retail, can make the difference between being a leader in the industry or falling to the back of the pack. Wiring customer behaviour into the fabric of retail in the cloud, allows firms to do more than just put the right goods into the hands of shoppers.

Data-driven solutions enable retailers to be creative and road-test new ideas, and IT services providers with first-hand experience of helping clients to achieve their ambitions are key partners in the process.

Value-driven experiences

Retailers at the top of their game want to provide customers with a superior shopping experience – for example, by integrating a virtual store within a physical retail setting. Wipro – an IT services provider that’s gained deep expertise in the sector through major collaborations with various global brands – notes extra services that can be added on top. Opportunities include bringing past purchase patterns into play to further personalize the interaction for shoppers. And then to make payments as frictionless as possible, technology allows retailers to seamlessly transfer virtual transactions at a kiosk to in-store point-of-sale systems.

Transitioning from a patchwork of legacy systems to retail in the cloud provides a convenient, central ‘plug-in’ point for a wide range of digital products. Retailers can pick from the best of different vendor solutions and rely on the expertise of IT services providers to apply the feature set to the client’s digital operations. Much like the trend for smart cities with a network of sensors providing meaningful inputs, retail is moving to a ‘smart shopping’ model. Here, IT service providers such as Wipro, and others, can bring Internet of Things (IoT) skills into play. IOT is playing a significant role in areas like digital manufacturing where risks associated to supply chain failure are mitigated through predictive maintenance of supply chain assets.

Sensors and other smart endpoints add to the value proposition of retail in the cloud by supporting greater automation of operations as well as adding big data rewards. Digital transformation has the capacity to shift retail into a higher gear and – most importantly – provide C-Suites with powerful tech platforms for achieving growth and cost targets.

For more details on “How Retailers and Brands Drive Revenue and Growth with Cloud” and Wipro’s FullStride Cloud Services, download our report here.

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