Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 30TH NOVEMBER - 6TH DECEMBER 2018 | 23 Operations & Assets When did you last catch yourself shouting at an inanimate object? Well, you might find yourself doing a great deal more of it in the future if voice control becomes ubiqui- tous. Samsung, for example, predicts that talking to objects will become as common- place as talking to people in the near future. Is that really likely? And what might it mean for energy? Talking is our natural way of communi- cating so it seems intuitive that voice control might minimise barriers to uptake of smart systems. Right now, it's just one way of controlling the actions of things around us. While Alexa and its peers may be convenient to avoid having to press the "play" but- ton or open the door to see how cold it is outside, they hardly change the world for us, do they? Well, not yet. But what if voice recognition were the interface between you and a truly connected, intelligent home or workplace that learns what you want and how to deliver it? The voice systems of the future will be able to understand nuance as well as content, so if you shout that you're freezing, a different priority is understood than saying it's a bit cold. While both would be inter- preted similarly from turning the setting on the thermostat, an intelligent system might tell you where it's warmest in the house so you can thaw out quickly, and learn about the context of your mood and comfort in order to factor that into its future algorithms. It's this combination of data analytics, intelligence and nuance that holds the key to a future where the voice-controlled, connected home seamlessly organises all aspects of your energy world. In addition to automatically operating your energy assets to deliver warmth, light, power and mobility according to your need, a truly connected home will also optimise local generation, storage and demand flexibility to maximise your personal position in peer to peer, local and national markets to minimise your costs. Rob Saunders, interim challenge director – Prospering from the Energy Revolution, Innovate UK Wipro-Utility Week Technology and Innovation Council representatives provide their outlook on the importance of voice. Sound future Amazon Echo (Alexa), Google Home and Apple's HomePod, all voice technologies and yet another disruptor in the list of many technical disruptors that are emerging in today's technological world. The market has grown massively in recent years, with an estimated 40 million-plus "voice-first" devices sold by the end of 2017. Google's says it sold "more than one" of its Google Home product every second between Octo- ber and December 2017. With large growth forecast in 2018, some predict that voice will dominate in years to come. So will you be able to buy something using voice only and interrogate other services? Well, you already can, because Starbucks has been operating voice- activated ordering for many months in some of its US shops, which surely indicates the start of something bigger. Others have followed suit, including online supermarket Ocado, a first for UK supermarkets. You can ask Alexa to add garlic to your shopping order or check the status of your delivery. So what about other sectors? The speed and extent of adoption more generally will be interesting – will people be comfort- able talking to their little box as opposed to typing into a web page? For some, yes, and the adoption is likely to grow as more and more companies provide services support- ing voice. However, Amazon and its peers and the companies offering voice-enabled services need to ensure the customer experi- ence is seamless and the technology doesn't become a frustration. Products will need to evolve quickly as companies provide new services in order to gain consumer confi- dence and increase adoption. Utilities and their respective digital customer strategies need to be considering voice as a new customer channel to serve. The trend is quite clear in terms of con- sumer demand. Companies need to consider appropriate services to offer and be ready to support a future "new norm". Nick Rutherford, 2020 IT investment pro- gramme director, Bristol Water Utility companies are going through fast change, driven by the need to improve efficiency, increasing competition, rapid adoption of new technology, but more importantly, a shi in customer behaviours. In the past, utilities may have appeared to be struggling to match the leap forward in other sectors. However, they are catching up fast, and digital is playing a big part in this revolution, with the rise of the connected home. Companies like Google and Amazon are making their virtual assistants accessible to third party services and this is driving fast adoption and organic growth, supported by an explosion in connected devices. Good customer service relies on sound and real-time information in the first place, which can sometimes be difficult to extract from operational systems, and it will also take some time before smart networks become ubiquitous. At the moment, custom- ers only spend a few minutes a year interact- ing with their utility suppliers to discuss their account or service. There are three areas where voice- controlled interfaces can increase customer engagement: • helping customers manage their accounts with ease; • helping them be in control of their usage and budget; • giving them access to information about services. Affinity Water has recently become the first UK water provider to offer customers a new Alexa skill for the Amazon Echo. When paired with their online "My Account" service, customers can ask for their balance, find out when their last payment was and ask for water saving tips. Customers with a meter will also be able to use it to submit a reading or find out their last one, helping them to stay in control of the water they use. In future, it could be used to provide more tailored messages (no longer buried in a website), by moving away from customer segmentation based on demographics, and focusing instead on behaviours and motiva- tion. In time, it could even allow customers to control connected water devices and help reduce consumption, however we haven't yet seen the level of adoption experienced with heating, lighting and security devices. All of this requires an ability to manage and analyse big data to answer customer requests and questions in real time, driving an even more proactive customer service from utility companies. Arnaud David, formerly head of business intelligence – asset strategy, Affinity Water

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