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UTILITY WEEK | 6TH - 12TH NOVEMBER 2015 | 21 Operations & Assets produced in partnership with: 1. Collaboration Data allows assets to be collected together, which brings with it both benefits and challenges. 2. Predictability Data allows compa- nies to predict faults on the system before they create problems. 3. Complexity An influx of dis- tributed generation and the introduction of smart metering has caused data to become more complex. 4. Innovation Innovation is driven by goals. Innovation must be used to improve data collec- tion, finding ways of joining datasets together and manag- ing data in real time. 5. Regulation The regulator may not be ready for big data. The industry must keep up with data, and the regulator has a role to play in facili- tating this. Five key points to take away measured as tangible and cashable i.e. what is the direct saving as a result of having this new capability? With analytics, one insight may save you millions, another may show your assets are in worse con- dition that you thought and require you to do more work. Another still may just prove you made the right deci- sion. It's therefore quite hard to value it and we need to build up some case studies to help us with that." Robert Murray, head of asset intelligence, Scottish Water "For me data isn't that valuable until it has been analysed and converted into patterns and models that pro- vide decision-makers with more meaningful and useful information. Analytics converts data into stories. These stories have the power it. Companies should look at how frequently datasets are changed – for example, by people updating them, or by new data being added to the set. That can give you an indi- cation of whether the confidence level you can apply to that data is degrading as well." Stewart Reid, future networks and policy manager, SSE Power Distribution "One of the big con- cepts in the utility industry is the criti- cality of assets and the criticality of data. For example, the position of a switch on the electrical net- work is critical. You can be very confident that it is accurate, and if it's not accu- rate, you know it's not accurate. In our industry there's a clear scale of critical- ity in terms of data." to excite and change the beliefs of decision- makers. Businesses that do so effectively have driven massive improvements in service and efficiency. This is where the value of data is best realised." Steve Kaye, head of innovation, Anglian Water "In the water sector, I think we've got an issue with ageing assets, so I think we're moving towards a cliff edge." Richard White, assistant vice president, Cognizant Business Consulting "Data degrades when people interact with