DIGITAL DISRUPTION POWERED BY DATA ANALYTICS
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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AT UNIPER: A KEY PLAYER IN THE ENERGY FIELD BECOMING DATA DRIVEN WRIT TEN BY
L AUR A MULL AN PRODUCED BY
LE WIS VAUGHAN
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Embarking on a root-andbranch digital transformation, energy behemoth Uniper is showcasing the true power of data
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ith about 36GW of generating capacity, Uniper has earned its stripes as one of the world’s largest global power genera-
tors. The Düsseldorf-headquartered firm was founded in 2016 after it carved out its own path 04
from E.ON and since then, it has grown to become a global powerhouse in the energy space, expanding its operations across 40 countries and attracting 12,000 employees to its doors. Technology has obviously played a vital role in this rapid ascension and, more specifically, Uniper’s data analytics plan has been a real tour de force. When it first hashed out its digital roadmap Uniper set itself an impressive goal: to become a more data driven company. This may seem like a straightforward task – that is, if you don’t take into account the scale of Uniper’s operations. The company not only generates power, but it also procures, stores, transports and supplies commodities such as natural gas, LNG and coal, as well as energy-related products. With this in mind, Uniper has reams and reams of data at
8.2 bcm Gas storage capacity
2016
Year founded
12,000 Approximate number of employees
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its disposal – but how to draw real value from this was another challenge it needed to tackle. The problem with data analytics, particularly at this magnitude, is that it’s often isolated and difficult to utilise enterprise wide. “Whether it’s power plants or gas storage, these sorts of assets are actually quite digitised already,” muses Dr. Stephan van Aaken, VP responsible for Digital Transformation of the Asset Business at Uniper. “Nowadays you can hardly run a power plant without sensors or the industrial 06
Internet of Things (IIoT) but none of these are perfectly utilised. Often information is siloed and organised in different places which means the whole organisation can’t reach its optimum capability.” There are many forward-thinking questions facing today’s utility and power giants. How much coal or gas do they E X ECU T I VE P RO FI LE
Dr. Stephan van Aaken Dr. Stephan van Aaken is Vice President of Asset IT, Architecture & Optimisation. His previous roles include Head of Asset Information and Head of Asset Power Market Risk. He graduated with an Engineering Degree from the RWTH Aachen.
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘UNIPER: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON ENERGY’ 07 need to produce today and in the future? Is the market going to pivot in a completely different direction? How can they maximise profit? These queries are daunting yet necessary, and by offering evidenced-based predictions data holds some of the answers. Yet, before you can draw any insights from data, it has to be organised. As such, Uniper sought to standardise the way it collected and organised data, which van Aaken aptly likens to “cleaning up the kitchen before you can actually start to cook your meal”.
“ Employees really bought into the technology because they could see it was really making their lives easier” — Dr. Stephan van Aaken, VP responsible for the Asset Digitalisation program w w w.uni p er. com
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Wanting to break down its data silos, the firm set about the mammoth task of reshaping its architecture. “We started to think about how we can drive value and money from our data at an enterprise scale,” explains Rene Greiner, VP of Data Integration. “From the first moment, it became clear we needed one fundamental thing: a ‘single point of truth’ whereby we can let data flow from one domain to the other.” To this end, Uniper worked closely with an intricate ecosystem of partners to create a cutting-edge data analytics
platform. Over the past several years,
succeed,” Greiner affirms. Similarly,
the energy giant teamed up with
he praises Tableau’s “best in class
Tableau and Talend to integrate more
visual analytics capabilities” noting that
than 120 internal and external sources
it “perfectly supports Uniper’s digitisa-
into a Snowflake central data lake in
tion journey.”
the Microsoft Azure Cloud. Greiner
Embarking on a root-and-branch
speaks warmly of the strong partner-
transformation is no easy feat, but
ships Uniper has formed with Snow-
developing strong industry ties has
flake and Talend, highlighting how “it’s
helped Uniper sidestep any pitfalls.
different than a traditional partnership”.
This has not only applied to the way
“We’re very close to their network
the firm has overhauled its software
and in terms of knowledge sharing I’d
but can be seen in the hardware
say we’ve created a very open-minded
side of things too. “DXC Technology
culture,” he says. “If we have a problem
is really our backbone from an infra-
or a question, we can immediately get
structure point of view,” explains
in touch with them to solve it.” It’s this
Greiner. “We have a cloud first stra-
same ability to go the extra mile that
tegy but some parts you can’t put in
led Uniper to adopt OSIsoft’s PI System
the cloud and that’s where DXC
software. “They don’t want to just close
Technology comes in. They’re not
a deal and run off – they want to see us
just providing us with technology
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Rene Greiner Rene Greiner is Vice President Data Integration at Uniper. Prior to this, he had worked as Vice President Head of Information Management, Head of End of Day Reporting & Transformation Programme Manager and Head of Energy Economic Planning & Transformation Programme Manager.
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Uniper’s Digital Journey When did the collaboration between DXC Technology and Uniper start? The collaboration started eight years ago in the context of one of the largest IT outsourcing deals at that time — E.ON and HP. Since then we’ve established a trustful collaboration. After the separation from E.ON three years ago, Uniper continued to work with DXC Technology (DXC) to establish an IT landscape independent from E.ON and to enhance Uniper’s digital strategy. How did DXC help Uniper shape their digital journey? Uniper’s market environment faces a lot of disruption — for example, decarbonization, decentralization and digitalization. To stay competitive and secure its position as a market leader, the company decided to focus on the digital transformation and manage the change. Uniper saw the benefit of collaborating with a key partner like DXC, to use our professional knowledge about what “digital” means and to get guidance on their digital journey. How did this collaboration evolve? DXC’s performance in ENVISION workshops with the Uniper leadership team played a key role in getting started. The ENVISION team looked at how the company was adapting to the new era of digitalization. Together they analyzed their current technologies, operating model and culture. This served as a basis for defining strategic options, developing a digital blueprint and helping to navigate the change process. DXC also ran deep-dive meetings with Uniper and Leading Edge Forum. DXC’s Leading Edge Forum is a global research and thought leadership program dedicated to helping clients reimagine their organizations and leadership for a tech-driven future. It serves as a strategic touchpoint to challenge CXO teams and help them win in the 21st century.
A very important milestone was our Silicon Valley tour. This was organized and conducted by DXC to help Uniper’s leadership better understand the value of partnerships, ecosystems and outside-in thinking. DXC introduced Uniper to several startups and the corporate innovation platform Plug and Play. This contact turned out to be a starting point for a fruitful cooperation between Uniper and Plug and Play Energy Hub. What are the benefits of DXC’s approach? As business and IT become inseparable, virtually every aspect of work and the modern firm will need to be reimagined. This creates exciting new opportunities, as “digital” is a business-led transformation. DXC’s industry-leading strategic partner ecosystem and forward-thinking approach result in a precise roadmap — connecting business with IT. This opens up business innovation for securing a leading market position. How has DXC helped Uniper to enable its digital transformation, and what is the outlook? Uniper has used DXC’s Digital Transformation Center to develop and implement key solutions. Uniper established its own Digital Lab based on DXC’s digital development framework and agile principles. The DXC team has deployed Uniper’s new Digital Workplace, which is designed to enable enhanced collaboration and new ways of working for Uniper. DXC’s Security experts also helped Uniper embrace cloud technologies and implement DevOps capabilities. The experts have helped set up new identity and access management services that enable Uniper to manage identity across the enterprise from a digital perspective. Uniper is also using platforms like ServiceNow to enhance the end-user experience. With the help of DXC, Uniper is deploying digital solutions that will lead to new business models and new ways of working in the future.
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“ Our partners don’t want to just close a deal and run off – they want to see us succeed” — Rene Greiner, VP of Data Integration 13
though; they’re also supporting us as
highlights how the platform is empow-
a technology advisor.”
ering the workforce by giving them
Working with these industry leaders,
more input and control. “We’ve seen
Uniper is already reaping the fruits of
that this platform is bringing the data
its labour. Thanks to its data analytics
and people closer together,” he says.
platform, the company can supply data
“In the past, when you wanted to analyse
10 times faster and 10 times cheaper.
data you were kind of stuck. You needed
“In almost every process use case, we
to talk to IT professionals, set up a big
can also ‘free up’ people from data
project and then maybe six months
collection and processing,” Greiner
later you had the data you needed. This
says. “Because the platform is supp-
platform turned this around. It’s changed
orted by cloud technology, we can
our way of working significantly.” Speed
even reduce the cost of storing and
is another key advantage underlined by
preparing our data.” Van Aaken also
the pair. “In the past when we wanted w w w.uni p er. com
Empower people with data.
Achieve Digital Transformation success.
Today, data drives our world. The challenge is to get the data we need, at the right time, to the right people, in the right format. Our passion is to help you transform your operational data into rich, real-time insights for reducing costs, increasing productivity and improving asset performance. Over 1,000 leading utilities, including companies like E.On, RWE, Uniper and, TSCNET, rely on our software, the PI System, to get the most out of their businesses. We believe people with data can transform their world.
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to integrate data it was an intensive, long and expensive process,” Greiner adds. “Today, we are able to do it within days if not hours. This drives value as you have more time to dig into the data and gain insight.” Demand in the utility and power market fluctuates daily. As you can imagine, a colder winter season will see more people turning on their heating for longer spells, whilst a heatwave could see a spike in air conditioning use. By using predictive data analytics, Uniper plans to use its portfolio, safely, to its utmost capability. “A major driver of the profit-
“A major driver of the profitability of your portfolio is, of course, how you manage your assets” — Dr. Stephan van Aaken, VP responsible for the Asset Digitalisation program Combining data about how a com-
ability of your portfolio is, of course,
ponent was run with predictions about
how you manage your assets,” explains
the future energy market, Uniper can
van Aaken, noting that when the firm is
now forecast how power plants will run
planning to invest and maintain its assets,
in the future and when they will need to
it is doing so on a portfolio basis rather
undergo maintenance. Van Aaken likens
than looking at individual power plant
this to maintaining a car, noting: “You
sites. “We have a strategy for our power
could change the tyres of a car every
plant portfolio and the maintenance of
two years and you would probably be
our components,” he continues. “These
safe, but what if half of the time the car
components are stressed differently
is parked and you’re only driving short
according to how you operate your
distances within the city? Changing the
power plant, and that obviously depends
tyres every two years would be a waste
on the market and the strategy of the
and you wouldn’t be using up the life-
traders. Now, for each component, we
time of the components.” On the other
can collect data about how it is operating
hand, he adds: “What if the car suddenly
through our digitisation strategy.”
needs to drive longer distances the w w w.uni p er. com
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next year? Then you’d have to change the tyres more frequently. In power plants you have a similar system – you need to ensure that it’s well maintained.” By being able to see how changes in the market will impact its portfolio, this resourceful strategy is helping Uniper keep a close eye on its maintenance budget and capital expenditure. This digital transformation journey has no finish line, and van Aaken and Greiner are proud of what Uniper has achieved so far. For the business, it’s not just about technical advancements: Van Aaken points out how a vital piece of this transformation involved creating a culture shift and enabling the workforce. “In the end, one of the biggest challenges involved is around enabling the people,” he says. “In my lifetime, technology has developed more quickly than people can follow – it’s a game changer. It also means that technology changes quicker than people’s mindsets. We have to take care to ensure that people are ready to take on this journey because the people have the actual knowledge. If you lose them, then even your greatest product won’t help you.” This is perhaps best exemplified by Uniper’s hydro business, where workers now use mobile devices (which are linked to SAP Plant Maintenance) for daily maintenance operations. Working across different power stations, these w w w.uni p er. com
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workers often used pen and paper
the development of the app,” says van
when conducting surveys. However,
Aaken. “They really bought into the
this caused problems: it was laborious,
technology because they could see it
susceptible to human error, and ineffi-
was really making their life easier. This
cient. To change this, Uniper developed
strategy also focuses on the benefits
a seemingly simple app, where emplo-
for the people.”
yees could send their notes directly
When it comes to digital disruption,
to the SAP PM tool. “It’s interesting
Uniper is keen not to slow momentum.
because we included the workers in
The world of technology is unpredict-
able but over the coming years, one
one knows what is set to come in the
thing is certain: Uniper will work hard
future, but by preparing our teams and
to ensure that it maintains its position
our organisation, we’re well equipped
as a digitally savvy energy leader. “We
to take it on.”
want to carry on with this journey,” adds Greiner. “We need to make digital part of our DNA. We need to take our digitised legacy and move towards becoming a more digital business. No
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E.ON-Platz 1 Düsseldorf, 40479 Germany T +49 211 732750 www.uniper.com