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People & Opinion UtILItY WeeK | 31st OctOber - 6th NOvember 2014 | 7 "Misleading, unclear debt collection letters must become a thing of the past. It's vital that companies can pursue debts, but this must be done honestly and with some sympathy" Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, commenting on water company debt letters. "We have been able to take on people facing redundancy because of restructuring in other firms. Many skilled people have moved into our fast-growing wind power business" Mike Jones, HR director, Siemens Energy UK and Ireland. Read more, p25 "Investment in renewable energy in the UK has risen from around £2.4bn in 2005 to around £8bn in 2013" Amber Rudd, parliamentary under secretary at the Department of Energy and Climate Change speaking at Utility Week Congress At the Utility Week Congress earlier this month, Slade made a powerful presentation based on a true life series of billing errors for a single customer. It highlighted the inconsistencies and miscommunications that current industry systems can impose on utilities' customer relationships. He showed how such a situ- ation destroys trust and loyalty. He also claimed that by reform- ing the way in which customer and supply point data feeds into financial and settlement processes, suppliers can make a step change improvement to financial accuracy, customer insight and operational knowl- edge. He says: Speaker's corner Jon Slade, chief executive, ENSEK "By organising and correlating supply point, settlement and customer data in one place, suppliers can make huge advances not only in accounting but also in income maximisation and, ultimately, in the customer experience" Personal notes What has been you most suc- cessful or challenging experi- ence in your career? I co-founded ENSEK, a soware and data business that helps utilities to manage data better. Building up the systems and platforms to deal with some of the fundamental issues that have plagued the industry for years was a technical challenge. But the biggest barrier to overcome was convincing utili- ties that data is an issue that needs to be tackled, particu- larly with smart meters on the horizon. Winning our first deal was a huge milestone – but helping them to transform the way in which financial, cus- tomer and supply point data is managed was the confirmation we needed to demonstrate how vital it is to get to grips with data in energy. Identify five people you would invite to your dream dinner party and why. My wife. I'd be in trouble if I didn't. Sir Bradley Wiggins. overcom- ing personal demons and mul- tiple distractions, he focused on a single goal: to win the tour de France. He strikes me as a uniquely rounded character in a sport dominated by egos. Marc Benioff. Fieen years ago he had a vision that the days of locally installed so- ware and client-server infra- structure were over: soware as a service was born. Now, we're all familiar with the concept of "the cloud" and increasingly we're migrating to it. Marc le an executive position at Oracle to set up Salesforce fieen years ago in his bedroom. It made about $4 billion last year. Dame Stella Rimming- ton. As the first female head of MI5 she's clearly an impressive character. I wonder if she'd also share some stories about what really goes on behind the closed doors of our nation's security service. Me. Name four items you keep on your desk: To be completely honest I spend most of my time out and about talking to clients and partners, so don't tend to spend much time in the office, and have both a clear desk and hot desk policy. Having said that, a regular supply of good coffee is always within reach, wherever I'm working. Individuals who attended the Utility Week Congress are able to access slides from the event online.