Joining forces
In December 2003, Xcel Energy launched an initiative to determine if leveraging information technology could improve its business operations, cost structure, delivery reliability, and customer satisfaction. As an industry leader, Xcel is choosing to share the results of this initiative with its peers. Xcel Energy's belief that collaboration is the key to innovation was put to the test when the company first brought together its leading technology suppliers—IBM, Indus International, and Itron, among others—to form Utility Innovations. (To better understand the initiative and the role of the partners, visit www. xcelenergy.com and click on Utility Innovations, under the Newsroom tab.)
For Xcel, the first step was to get its suppliers in the same room and convince them that collaborating to find permanent solutions to vexing problems would benefit them as much as it would their host and customer. After much conversation and outside-the-box thinking, the suppliers began to grasp the possibilities of partnerships among vendors. Utility Innovations (UI) serves as the framework for a new kind of relationship, one in which IT providers work together to test and validate new technologies and integrate existing technologies in novel ways (see box).
Initiatives proposed by Xcel employees or UI Technology Partners (either individually or in concert) are first approved by the UI team and then presented to an internal executive board or UI's Strategic Advisory Board for implementation. If implementation requires different expertise, new Technology Partners may be invited to join UI. Any competing proposals also are reviewed, and whoever presents the best business case is named the winner and invited to negotiate a contract with Xcel Energy.
The completion of a series of successful pilot projects during 2004 led to the 2005 establishment of Utility Innovations as a formal business unit, headed by an executive director appointed by Xcel Energy's CEO on a one-year rotating basis. Since then, many more technology providers have joined the initial group of partners to bring the best solutions possible to the table. This year's new members include ABB (www.abb.com), Meridium Inc. (www.meridium.com), SmartSignal Corp. (www.smartsignal.com), GE (www.gepower.com), Zolo Technologies (www.zolotech), and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
"Utility Innovations is leveraging this unique technology partnership to make our business processes industry leaders, increase customer satisfaction, and provide reliable power at a low cost," said Xcel Energy Vice President of Customer & Enterprise Solutions and Chief Administrative Officer Ray Gogel. "Our company is providing the canvas on which technology providers can work with us to create a new, standard-setting picture for the electric utility industry."
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