| | APRIL 20198IN MY OPINIONScott Bordenkircher, Director, Technology Innovation & Integration, Arizona Public ServiceByThe possibility is slim that Ben Franklin could have imagined what his kite and key would turn into 260 years later. Now, the pace of innovation in our industry is on overdrive and as recently as 20 years ago, we didn't foresee all of the vast technological changes that would be in place today. I come from a professional background of information technology, and if ten years ago you had told me how similar my job then and my current job now would look, I probably wouldn't have believed you. The fact is though, the three areas key to the future success of energy companies isn't far off from that IT realm. Data analytics, operating agility, and smart technology like energy storage are taking over the utility landscape. Analyzing the vast amounts of data in today's world has become crucial in deciphering the needs of our customers. The ability to receive real-time data from the grid has allowed operations to see exactly what customers' needs are at every moment. This information not only increases power quality and reliability for customers, it also helps us better match power output to demand, which is increasingly important as the penetration of distributed generation increases on the grid. This type of information also Ahead of the Curve: Staying Relevant in a Changing Energy Landscape
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