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"Ninety per cent of effort should be in effective execution. Strategy is only 10 per cent of the challenge." Alan Kelly, chief operating officer, Unipart Expert Practices UTILITY WEEK | 30TH OCTOBER - 5TH NOVEMBER 2015 | 27 1. ENW urges regulator to allow rollout of viable innovation projects. 2. Don't underestimate consumer interest, says Good Energy. 3. Eon slams CMA profit analysis, saying earnings are "fair". 4. DSR is not without unintended consequences, warns SP Energy Networks. 5. SIM scores can take priority over customers services, warns NI Water. Read all of these stories and more breaking utilities news at: www.utilityweek.co.uk Headlines from Utility Week Congress 2015 Conference Utility Week Congress, Birmingham, 14-15 October 2015 Lots to talk about Utility Week's flagship conference saw some of the biggest names in utilities wrestle with some of the biggest problems of the day. H ave utility companies got the appetite and wherewithal to innovate in the right ways, at the right times, to meet the sector's challenges and transform customer experience for the better? This question lurked beneath the surface of so much debate at Utility Week Congress 2015. Frequently it bobbed to the surface, linking subject matter that spanned new strategies for customer service and brand management, the role of regulation in incen- tivising high performance, the place of tech- nology in shaping services, the need for more collaborative and "co-creative" busi- ness models and much more. A cast of high profile industry executives, regulators and technology providers led the conference across two days, spurring a string of news stories with their insights and opin- ions (see right). Day one brought insight into programmes to revolutionise communications with util- ity customers, introducing more rigorous approaches to measuring customer satisfac- tion and benchmarking "what good looks like". New perspectives on brand marketing, absorbing contractors into company culture and evangelising the public ahead of the smart meter rollout were all on the agenda. On the second day, the subject matter became more technical and looked further into the future to try and feel the shape of business models, competition and opera- tions in a world of decentralised and decar- bonised infrastructure. The role of data and the rise of the "inter- net of things" fascinated attendees from the water and energy industries alike. And although the numbers surrounding this topic are daunting – involving trillion dollar estimates for market value within the dec- ade and billions of connected devices, both industrial and consumer – the breakdown of the strategies and systems being applied to extract value and intelligence from data, were reassuringly methodical. However, in addition to the positive insight into the strategies and actions being taken to address industry challenges and optimise service, significant questions remained as to whether these are enough. Doubts about whether the pace of innova- tion is sufficient to keep ahead of technology curves, rising customer expectations and competitive pressures were openly expressed and Denise Massey, chief executive of the Energy Innovation Centre, warned her audi- ence that "inertia" still kills off too much smart thinking in the sector. The following pages highlight more key lessons and insights expressed at Utility Week's flagship conference. "Get started with the internet of things now – get more value from the data you already have." Chris Witkowski, internet of things marketing lead, Microsoft "Utilities will need to reinvent themselves. They face similar challenges to those that telcos have addressed" Upendra Dharmadhikary, VP global transformations & client partner, Tech Mahindra Community