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28 | 18TH - 24TH SEPTEMBER 2015 | UTILITY WEEK Community Research I n May this year, Utility Week and global technology and consultancy company Wipro launched a partnership to cham- pion innovation in utilities. Our aim is to help technology and innovation leaders under- stand more clearly how they can overcome barriers to progress in their organisations. To help us fulfil this ambition, we will conduct a quarterly innovation survey to measure industry sentiment on key innova- tion challenges. The results of our first sur- vey are now available and provide insights into the perceived challenges respondents face in extracting value from programmes designed to demonstrate the viability of new technologies or ways of doing business. The Innovation Barometer was targeted at chief information officers, chief technology officers and directors of innovation across the electricity, gas and water industries. Their responses show a fairly even divide of opinion between those that feel their organi- sations are investing enough in innovation to meet the challenges of the future, and those who do not, with the optimists winning out by a small margin. Among those who feel that their organisa- tions do not invest enough in innovation, the overwhelming reason is seen to be "risk aver- sion", with regulatory settlements and lack of support from shareholders also strong contenders. Our findings reflect a wider theme of polarisation between top performing utilities and laggards, as identified by the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) in its early 2015 UK Customer Satisfaction Index where there was a gap of 21 performance points between the highest scoring organisation and the low- est. ICS chief executive Jo Causon said this showed that many organisations clearly are "struggling to adapt and compete" and it seems this may also be true for innovation beyond the realms of customer service. With almost half of our respondents sig- nalling that there is significant room for improvement in attitudes towards innova- tion in their organisations, utility boards should ask themselves which camp their organisation lies in. Innovation Barometer How enthusiastically do utilities embrace innovation, and how effective are they at implementing it? Exclusive research from Utility Week and Wipro aims to find out. DO YOU BELIEVE YOUR ORGANISATION INVESTS ENOUGH IN INNOVATION? If no, is this because (choose all that apply): DO YOU FEEL THAT INNOVATION IS EMBEDDED INTO THE CULTURE OF YOUR ORGANISATION? WOULD YOU SAY INNOVATION ACTIVITIES IN YOUR ORGANISATION ARE MAINLY FOCUSED ON: Yes No The regulatory settlement prevents you from doing so It is not seen as a priority by shareholders Yes, it is embedded and supported at all levels No, but embedding it is a strategic priority No, it is neither embedded nor supported Process innovation Service innovation Asset optimisation The organisation is risk averse Innovation is seen as the responsibility of the supply chain 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90 100% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Adopting disruptive new technologies and business models There is a good balance across a variety of different innovation styles 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%