ITechnology Interview with Gregory Raby, EMEA Channel Partner Leader at Itron

“Key Technologies Delivering an Optimized Customer Experience Are Edge Intelligence Applications, or Distributed Intelligence Applications.”

Hi Gregory, please tell us about your role and the team/technology you handle at Itron?

As the EMEA channel partner leader at Itron, I work with our channel partners in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to deliver smart solutions for cities, utilities and municipalities. I work directly with members of our partner program, Itron Engage, to provide access to enhanced tools, training and support for Itron solutions. Leveraging these technology and services, our partners are equipped to deliver smart solutions to the communities they serve around the globe to create a more resourceful world.

What is the most exciting part about working in the Big Data as Service industry? What do you like the most about the technologies used to create and deliver best CX in the Energy Management industry?

For me, it’s exciting to be able to help our customers tackle real-world problems with smart city technology. These cities, utilities and municipalities experience challenges ranging from aging infrastructure, the drive towards decarbonization, water scarcity, disaster preparedness, and more. I feel fortunate to be able to work with them to ultimately improve sustainability initiatives and the overall quality of life for their citizens.

Key technologies delivering an optimized customer experience are edge intelligence applications, or distributed intelligence applications. Itron’s distributed intelligence provides utilities and cities with unparalleled knowledge and real-time information to accurately control and manage the grid and enhance customer engagement.

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What is Itron and what are your top offerings / solutions?

At Itron, we enable utilities and cities to safely, securely and reliably deliver critical infrastructure solutions to communities in more than 100 countries. Our portfolio of smart networks, software, services, meters and sensors helps our customers better manage electricity, gas and water resources for the people they serve. Working alongside our customers and channel partners, we help improve quality of life by ensuring the safety and promoting the well-being of millions of people around the globe.

Tell us more about your Sales Channel Partner Program. How would it help you extend to new markets?

Our channel program Itron Engage was developed to empower our diverse group of channel partners to meet the demands of a transforming customer base. The program features a variety of benefits and rewards partners who exhibit both expertise across the entire portfolio and exceptional, consistent performance. Itron Engage also provides partners with access to Itron University, a robust online training program augmented with best-in-class support to ensure partners clearly understand the breadth and depth of the Itron portfolio.

By expanding our footprint to EMEA, we are helping support an increasingly interconnected scope of customers looking to improve their communities. With so many challenges facing our customers—everything from rising consumer expectations, integrating renewables, navigating increasingly connected and smarter communities, aging infrastructure and more—Itron Engage serves to help deliver the best technology, services and support to help our partners address today’s concerns while transforming their business to better serve tomorrow.

We recognize the Itron Engage Partner Center is a unique opportunity for our partner community to make it easier to collaborate. We have listened carefully to our partners for the recent years and as a result we have heavily invested into a series of tools and resources that will help simplify, accelerate, and make the entire engagement more predictable.

Which other markets / regions are you planning to grow in the next 2 years?

We are glad to have introduced Itron Engage to EMEA and North America (NAM) and are looking forward to expanding to Latin America (LAM) and Asia Pacific (APAC) next. With the continued goal of empowering cities, utilities and municipalities all over the world, Itron Engage serves to bring partners together on a global scale and drive collective success in solving universal challenges.

How do you compare utility management trends in pre-covid days with what’s happening now?

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in dramatic changes for utilities. During a typical day before the pandemic, businesses and homes would begin consuming power around 5 a.m. As more people began working from home following the issuance of stay-in-place policies, daily commutes were eliminated, and power consumption trends shifted to a later start time. This change, combined with less power required in shuttered office buildings and public facilities, has resulted in dramatic swings in power consumption for residential and commercial residencies. During this time, many utility providers could not afford to wait weeks or months in order to retroactively review these changes in consumption. Power plants require real-time data on demand levels in order to gauge and adjust power output and operations to meet these needs.

As a result, many utilities have turned to advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) technology and distributed intelligence to accurately measure the amount and timing of when energy is consumed. Analyzing this data helps utility providers predict more accurate short-run forecasts as well as long-run energy usage by day and time of day. In this way, utilities can meet demand efficiently and appropriately while also providing insight into how to prepare for the future.

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Which industries have been leading versus lagging in the adoption of automation capabilities for utilities and safety? How do you enable such companies come to terms with modern data science trends?

Water scarcity is a severe crisis plaguing communities everywhere, many of which lack the proper technology to mitigate this issue. Water use has been growing globally at more than twice the rate of population increases in the last century, and an increasing number of regions are reaching the limit at which water services can be sustainably delivered. Constrained by resources in terms of manpower and finances, water utilities are looking to optimize the operations and management of their drinking water systems, especially with respect to water losses. While systems have matured in recent years, many cities and utilities are still working to address aging infrastructure and rising customer expectations. In response, many utilities are turning to ultrasonic meters and acoustic leak detection to help mitigate water loss.

We continue to see strides being made in the adoption of smart city technology, particularly through the implementation of smart streetlights. A city that exemplifies this futuristic outlook is Copenhagen, which has set the ambitious goal of becoming carbon neutral by the year 2025. As part of this initiative, Copenhagen has worked to provide a flexible smart city platform for street lighting and many other smart city applications. To date, more than 19,000 light points have been upgraded with LEDs and advanced controls, and a****** lighting endpoints are required to have advanced controls. By building a truly comprehensive, open-data hub, Copenhagen is optimizing resource allocation across a number of smart city applications. This approach promotes integrated uses of technologies that improve citizen services and overall quality of life.

Your prediction on the “future of Utility Management strategies” – how are you planning for the future at Itron?

At Itron, we’re focused on connecting people, insights and resources to build a more resourceful world. We see three macro trends that will continue to challenge the industry in the years to come: higher rates of natural disasters requiring increased resiliency, demand for real-time feedback, and aging infrastructure. Looking ahead, we realize that long-term transformation requires innovation, and innovation starts with people. That’s why our solutions are developed to address real-world challenges on localized scales, helping individual communities become smart and connected.

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Tag a person from the industry whose answers you would like to read here:

One of the wonders of the energy industry is the emergence of thousands of newcomers in the recent years. Every week a new player will emerge with a fresh new take on current challenges utilities and consumers are facing. Amongst the constant stream of rising stars, I can think of two names.

First, our very own Itai Dadon, global head of smart cities at Itron. Itai is a visionary who connects the needs of our changing markets and environment with the practical benefits of technology for communities.

The second name that comes to mind is Jean-Marc Jancovici. Jancovici contributes to several think tanks, university chairs and is a recurring EU climate commissions advisor. He is known for his pragmatic data-driven views on the energetic transition.

Thank you, Gregory! That was fun and we hope to see you back on itechnologyseries.com soon.