Utility Week

14 | 3RD - 9TH APRIL 2020 | UTILITY WEEK Operations & Assets Going out in the open How keen are UK utilities to adopt open data principles and why? Utility Week explores the findings of an industry survey conducted in association with data integration specialist Talend. Analysis U K utilities are wrestling themselves into a digital age. Across the energy and water sectors, digital transforma- tion initiatives are afoot, seeking to develop agile approaches to the adoption of emerg- ing technologies and the exploitation of asset and customer data at a volume and richness that traditional enterprise systems were never designed to accommodate. It's an opportunity and a struggle that Utility Week supports frequent commentary on – either directly or via expert contribu- tions. And over the past year, it is notable that the importance of adopting open data principles has emerged as a hot topic within the sector's digital transformation narrative. The idea of "democratising" access to the spiralling volume of data available, both within the bounds of individual organi- sations and across the sector, in order to unlock unforetold efficiency and innovation has captured the imagination of utilities squaring up to brutally demanding market conditions and regulatory frameworks. It has also been identified as critical to the major systemic and societal challenge of respond- ing to climate crisis. The significance of the data democracy agenda is reflected in the wide recognition it has received from key industry players. At Utility Week's New Deal for Utilities debate in September 2019, Ofwat chairman Jonson Cox identified it as the single biggest influ- ence over the ability of water companies to sustain legitimacy. It was the main focus of conversation at a recent meeting of Utility Week's Technol- ogy and Innovation Council – a community of senior industry experts on technology and innovation strategy – and in February it was the topic of a column from Northern Power- grid's policy and markets director, Patrick Erwin, who emphasised an urgent need to overcome the "persistent problem" of siloed continued on page 16 industry data in order to tackle climate change. Meanwhile, the work of the government- commissioned Energy Data Taskforce, headed by former MP and celebrated energy policy adviser Laura Sandys, has taken the challenge of establishing "presumed open" data principles across the energy system to its heart. In this context, Utility Week partnered with cloud data integration company Talend to conduct an industry survey which aimed to gather perspectives from senior technol- ogy and business leaders on the challenge of democratising access to data and the poten- tial benefits it could unlock. Responses confirmed an almost unani- mous appreciation that there is a need to liberalise access to data. But they also high- lighted varied levels of progress in terms of making this a reality, and identified varying challenges and opportunities in the process. Mixed maturity First of all, the good news: More than 90 per cent of all respondents to the survey – mainly incorporating director-level individu- als at UK energy and water companies – say their organisation has taken steps either to democratise data or to substantially increase access to data in the past two years. That said, more than half of all the

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