Creating or increasing the efficiency of an operational technology (OT) division for a company is no easy task. Corporations often seek operational technology consulting to effectively deploy operational technology to optimize the efficiency of day-to-day operations through careful planning and deployment of resources.

What is Operational Utility?

We refer to Operational Utility as a reference value of a company’s profit from the business. This value does not include interest, taxes, or profits from investments. When we refer to technology, operational technology refers to computer systems used for a wide range of operations to monitor machines powering energy and utility companies.

In this case study, we examine the challenges we faced in an operational technology consulting activity, the process we defined, and the results we obtained for this midsize energy utility.

The Challenge

A midsize southwestern utility’s operational technology (OT) division needed help maintaining and improving operational area responsiveness to keep pace with industry changes. ScottMadden was engaged in helping the OT leadership team streamline processes, gain greater visibility into their system, and improve the end-user experience.

The Process

Our consultants:

• Created a comprehensive service catalog to standardize service offerings
• Bundled and connected assets and applications to the service offerings to provide visibility into service linkages
• Developed a service delivery model to improve operational efficiencies and performance
• Conducted design sessions to identify system priorities and simplify the decision-making process
• Facilitated configuration sessions to ensure the solution met design requirements

The Results

The energy utility:

• Selected, implemented, and launched a work management system and asset management system
• Increased system transparency and developed process efficiencies
• Improved end-user experience and accessibility to OT services