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Profile Cathryn Ross, Chief executive, Ofwat Cathryn Ross is in her second stint at Ofwat – this time as its chief executive. Introducing competition and driving consistency across the water and sewerage sector has earned Ross a place among Utility Week Live's Top 10 key people and ensure her tenure will certainly go down as one of the most eventful since the water and sewerage sector was privatised almost 30 years ago. Retail competition in the non-domestic market in England takes effect from this April. The last price review saw the water and sewerage utilities having to place greater emphasis on customer service, and adopt whole life costing as well as Outcome Delivery Incentives. Plans are already underway for the next price review (PR19) which will be based around Water 2020, Ofwat's blueprint on the future of the water Consultancy view – Cloud Despite being perceived as essential, cloud adoption by utilities varies widely. N ew energy retailers have built their IT systems using the cloud, while network companies are at the other end of the spectrum taking their first steps. Water companies and large energy suppliers are somewhere in the middle. One thing they all agree on is that investment in the cloud is essential and the argument is now whether they are ready for the cloud, and not whether cloud is suitable for them. Utilities have invested in cloud solutions for the following reasons: • Cost reduction and IT consolidation. • Speed and scalability. • Process standardisation and increased functional capability. As they progress with their cloud invest- ments, we believe it's vital utilities are aware of the following areas: • Technology and IT management com- plexity: Mission-critical systems and security concerns mean some systems will remain on-site. It is also unlikely utilities will get all their cloud solutions from one provider, so must be able to deal with multiple vendors. • Vendor lock-in: Portability between providers remains untested territory that BY 2019 INVESTMENT IN CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE WILL REACH $54.6BN, UP FROM $33.4BN IN 2015 GLOBAL INVESTMENT IN CLOUD GREW BY 32.2 PER CENT BETWEEN 2014 AND 2015 sector in England and Wales. That is a challenging agenda. "It's a tough role that she has at the helm of Ofwat," says Fredrick Royan, vice president, environment and water at Frost & Sullivan. "But Cathryn is driving and encouraging the water utilities to change, become more efficient. She's very keen for the utilities to really embrace the innovations that are out there; become customer-centric; and gather the data which allows them to embark on the journey to improve efficiency." This change in focus driven by Ross has been welcomed by the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater). Its chief executive, Tony Smith, says: "That is quite a shi that we were looking for, and the transformation has really moved on." Ofwat's director of resilience Trevor Bishop will be talking about the new regulatory approach on 24 May in the Water Wholesale Theatre. For more information, visit: www. utilityweeklive.co.uk 2014 2015 + 32.2% $33.4bn 2015 $54.6bn 2019 needs to be considered to ensure the exit costs are not prohibitive and the transi- tion does not result in disruption. • Security: Utilities need to ensure data security and legal issues are considered when getting into cloud service contracts. Utilities have proceeded with caution, but they have now tested the waters. Many are now filled with confidence that by extend- ing their cloud footprint, they will be able to reduce costs and can invest in prepara- tion for the impending market and industry changes. Anand Ganguli, technology consulting director, PricewaterhouseCoopers