Speaker: Leif Aanensen, Managing director, Norsk Elektroteknisk Komite
Can you introduce yourself and describe your digital transformation initiative?
Leif Aanensen: Hi everyone. My name is Leif Aanensen and I am the managing director of NEK in Norway. So first of all, thank you for inviting me to share a story about digital transformation of an industry which is very important in our country and I believe also in your country as well, and that is the utility service.
Leif Aanensen: This industry is very complex and it has a lot of digital interaction, both towards other grid operators, towards the regulators, suppliers and so on. And in such a system, you really need to have a common information model. Secondly, I would also like to share the story of building lighthouses and you may wonder what does a lighthouse has to do with a digital transformation. So just hang on and I will share that with you in a moment.
How do international standards play a role in your digital transformation initiative?
Leif Aanensen: A few years ago we learned that utility services or the grid operators if you like, they had decided that they should really move into the digital transformation.
Leif Aanensen: base your system on. And luckily we had standards that really covered this need. It is standards that are provided by TC 57 within the IEC system that really covers the need of the energy industry or the grid operator in this case. So they were really lucky to learn that we can could provide them with our future proof standard, future proof common information model that they can depend their heavy investment on because this digital transformation really costs a lot of money but it's needed of course because in the long term it will be beneficial to really invest in digital transformation. But doing so you really need to rely on the investment you're doing is future proof. So having such cases, we always try to establish a kind of lighthouse that is also an inspiration for other industries. It's a kind of proof of concept where you have used these standards as a basis of their investment. And what we also learned is that they can really take inspiration from other stakeholders not only within our own country but also abroad. Because also on the international level you work on the common information model that is provided by TC 57. So the corporation within the Norwegian industry of course, the energy industry and distribution can also be supplemented by experience that has taken place in other countries as well.
Leif Aanensen: So what we are actually doing in such cases, we provide them of course with access to standard, but also the support of the technical committee that are really important.
What is the value of digital transformation or learnings in your experience?
Leif Aanensen: So, digital transformation should really be fueled by the need of doing things more efficiently. If you don't have that reason, you should just stick to the old system as such. My experience so far is that you really need to have a very clear picture on what are you going to achieve within your system regarding efficiency and the value that you can have as a takeaway from the investment.
Leif Aanensen: And in any case you should not develop a system that is not based on interoperability with other systems as well. And that really shows the value of using standards as a means of really getting this interoperability with other systems as well.
