【CXO观点】国家电网全球首席信息和数字官Karaboutis：IT推动国家电网的能源转型

有些人可能会想，为什么一个技术高管会辞职并为一家公共服务公司工作。这就是一些人对 Adriana “Andi” Karaboutis 提出的问题，她是戴尔的前 CIO ，离开这家计算机巨头后，于 2017 年被任命为国家电网的全球首席信息和数字官。提出的问题，她是戴尔的前 CIO ，离开这家计算机巨头后，于 2017 年被任命为国家电网的全球首席信息和数字官。

她的回答是她要改变世界。

Karaboutis 说：“保障和改造国家重要的基础设施是最有压力，但也是最有挑战性的工作之一”。她为自己同时是两项全球重大倡议参与者感到兴奋——既可以保障国家基础设施免受网络攻击，还可以在技术突飞猛进的时代通过改造全球能源网以减缓全球变暖。

作为全球首席信息官， Karaboutis 又是这家市值 200 亿美元的英国跨国公司横跨英国、纽约以及新英格兰的数字化转型首席架构师。目前，她正在与两国政府合作，以加强北约多个电网的网络安全，同时将国家电网转变为“智能互联公共服务”公司。

如今，美国总统或英国首相更有可能接听国家电网首席信息官的电话，而不是一个技术高管的电话。Karaboutis 将在下周举行的麻省理工学院斯隆 CIO 研讨会上发表讲话。她认为，身处她所谓全球能源转型的“前沿”可能会让她好几个晚上都辗转反侧，但“回报”是难以言喻的。她说：“你可以想象《基础设施法案》和绿色环保(倡议)对我的预算意味着什么。这意味着我的预算提高了30% – 40% 。我不想给你们一个确切的数字，但我在戴尔担任首席信息官时得到的预算可要少得多。”

一、.使公共服务的数据架构现代化

Karaboutis 指出，国家电网不仅因为其具有安全、专有性质，所以是微软 Azure 云计算的大客户，而且国家电网还正在使用大量的前沿工具，包括数据工具如 Snowflake、Azure 和 Matallion ETL ，用于数据质量的 Informatica ，用于主数据管理的 Reltio 和用于 RPA 的 Blue Prism 等等。

国家电网大约完成了三分之一的云计算过渡，并专注于将客户数据和劳动力数据率先迁移到云端，以获取最大的商业价值。Karaboutis

说，下一步，国家电网将把数据由服务于消费者和企业的 7000 多名现场工作人员手中迁移至云端。

她指出，为了将更多的数据转移至云端，国家电网也正在整合重大数据中心：“因为摆脱了单一的内部环境，所以这些功能使我们降低业务风险并提供了云的弹性和规模。我们在数据架构和想要什么上已十分成熟，并且离达成越来越近。”

Karaboutis 还指出，并非所有数据都会被迁移出去，只有那些在云中运行确有意义的数据才有迁移的必要。

“我称其为云密度” Karaboutis 补充道。“我们所有的投资都是为了产生价值。在很多情况下，这并不是纯粹的投资回报率和节约成本，而是消除隐性成本和管理技术投入的共享成本，比如不必要的升级更新。这是关于增强国家安全，是关于容量管理和弹性的问题。这些都是我们衡量迁移至云端的价值方面的考虑。

二、为向基于产品的IT转变配备人员

人才、数据和云运营模式，这些是国家电网向数字化努力的核心组成部分， Karaboutis 将其等同于构建“智能互联公用事业”。

首先是建设和吸引人才以助力国家电网的 IT 转型。这些转型涉及到将电网数字化并将其与各种物联网 (IoT) 传感器和设备、太阳能、风力涡轮机、水力创新，甚至电池技术等大量新兴可再生能源连接起来。国家电网不仅仅承诺在 2050 年实现不使用化石燃料，并且在纽约有一个正在进行的地热项目。

Karaboutis 将依靠 1,400 名持证 IT 员工和 2,500 名承包商去实现这一目标。她的预算大幅增加，而且，作为将 IT 运营向敏捷和基于产品的运营模式过渡的一部分，她聘请了产品经理。Karaboutis 还聘请了 UX 设计师、数据科学家、企业架构师和 RPA 人才，但她仍然无法迅速提升“人才密度”。

为了解决这个问题， Karaboutis 正在使用 Pluralsight 和 LinkedIn 来提升技能水平，并继续将应用程序开发与维护，外包给 Wipro、IBM 和 Atos 这些公司。Karaboutis 说，国家电网也在与传统的招聘机构合作以建立“人才密度”，并与 Thinkworks 、Giant Machines 和 Palantir 等敏捷创新咨询公司合作。

三、利用机器学习进行优化

与此同时，国家电网正忙于建设与太阳能、风能和电池存储对接的网络。它还在探索从垃圾中提取天然可再生气体，并购买了风电场。但它一直在密切关注并使用先进技术来优化其核心电力业务。

作为其中的一部分，国家电网正在应用微软人工智能机器学习 ( ML ) 算法来优化“Copperleaf ”项目中的部分“植被管理”修剪计划，以此防止火灾和其他灾难的发生。它还将地理空间技术与人工智能相结合，以做出维护海底电缆的“正确决定”，并做出路由和投资决策。

国家电网还在探索部署 ML 算法的方法，以更好地管理在电力激增期间仍然可能发生的停电风险，例如在世界杯或皇室婚礼的期间。Karaboutis 说，这种对“电力平衡”的投资在未来可能依赖于电池技术，因为它可以被储存。

“我们曾说过数据是公司的资产，对吧?” Karaboutis 指出， “今天，我们知道数据的存在，我们靠它呼吸，我们靠它生活，但我们不必把它挂在嘴边儿了。“正是我们不断努力和改进数据质量”将使国家电网的愿景成为可能。

翻译：

Some may wonder why a technology executive would quit and work for a public service company. That’s the question some are asking of Adriana “Andi” Karaboutis. A former CIO at Dell who was appointed National Grid’s global chief information and digital officer in 2017. After leaving the computer giant. She is the former CIO of Dell, who left the computer giant before being appointed State Grid’s global chief information and digital officer in 2017.

Her answer was that she wanted to change the world.

“Securing and transforming the country’s vital infrastructure is one of the most stressful, but also challenging, jobs,” Karaboutis said. She is excited to be part of two major global initiatives at the same time. To secure national infrastructure from cyber attacks and to slow global warming by transforming the global energy grid in an age of technological advances.

As global Chief Information officer. Karaboutis is also the chief architect of the $20 billion British multinational’s digital transformation across the United Kingdom, New York and New England. She is currently working with both governments to strengthen cyber security across NATO’s multiple power grids. While transforming National Grid into a “smart connected public service” company.

These days, the US President or the UK prime minister are more likely to take a call from National Grid’s chief information officer than from a technology executive. Karaboutis will be speaking at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium next week. She thinks being on the “front line” of what she calls the global energy transition may keep her tossing. And turning for several nights, but the “rewards” are ineffable. “You can imagine what the Infrastructure Act and Green [initiatives] mean to my budget,” she said. That means my budget has gone up 30-40%. I don’t want to give you an exact number. But I was given a much smaller budget as CIO at Dell.”

Modernize the data architecture of public services

Karaboutis pointed out that not only is State Grid a big customer for Microsoft Azure cloud because of its secure, proprietary nature. But State Grid is also using a number of cutting-edge tools. Including data tools such as Snowflake, Azure and Matallion ETL. Informatica for data quality, Reltio for master data management and Blue Prism for RPA, among others.

State Grid is about a third of the way through the cloud computing transition and is focused on moving customer data and workforce data to the cloud first to maximize business value. Karaboutis

In the next step, State Grid will move data to the cloud from its more than 7,000 field workers serving consumers and businesses, he said.

She points out that State Grid is also consolidating major data centres in order to move more data to the cloud. “By getting rid of a single internal environment, these capabilities allow us to reduce business risk and provide the resilience and scale of the cloud. We are very mature in terms of data architecture and what we want, and we are getting closer.”

Karaboutis also points out that not all data will be migrated, only data that makes sense to run in the cloud.

“I call it cloud density,” Karaboutis added. “All of our investments are about value generation. In many cases, this is not pure ROI and cost savings, but rather the shared cost of eliminating hidden costs and managing technical inputs, such as unnecessary upgrades. It’s about enhancing national security. It’s about capacity management and resilience. These are some of the considerations we use to measure the value of moving to the cloud.

Staff the transition to product-based IT

Talent, data and cloud operating models are central components of State Grid’s efforts to go digital, which Karaboutis equates to building a “smart connected utility”.

The first is to build and attract talent to help State Grid’s IT transformation. These transformations involve digitizing the grid and connecting it to a variety of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and devices, solar power, wind turbines, hydro innovations, and even battery technology, among a host of emerging renewable energy sources. Not only is National Grid committed to going fossil fuel-free by 2050, it also has an ongoing geothermal project in New York.

Karaboutis will rely on 1,400 certified IT employees and 2,500 contractors to achieve this goal. Her budget increased significantly and, as part of transitioning IT operations to an agile and product-based model. She hired product managers. Karaboutis also hired UX designers, data scientists, enterprise architects, and RPA talent, but she still couldn’t quickly ramp up “talent density.”

To address this, Karaboutis is using Pluralsight and LinkedIn to upgrade skills, and continues to outsource application development and maintenance to companies like Wipro, IBM and Atos. State Grid is also working with traditional recruitment agencies to build “talent density” and with agile innovation consultants such as Thinkworks, Giant Machines and Palantir, Karaboutis said.

Optimize with machine learning

State Grid, meanwhile, is busy building networks to link up with solar, wind and battery storage. It is also exploring extracting natural, renewable gases from waste and has bought wind farms. But it has been paying close attention and using advanced technology to optimize its core power business

As part of that, State Grid is applying Microsoft AI machine learning (ML) algorithms to optimize some of the Copperleaf project’s “vegetation management” pruning plans to prevent fires and other disasters. It also combines geospatial technology with artificial intelligence to make the “right decisions” about maintaining submarine cables and make routing and investment decisions.

National Grid is also exploring ways to deploy ML algorithms to better manage the risk of blackouts that can still occur during power surges, such as during the World Cup or royal wedding. Karaboutis says this investment in “power balancing” may in the future rely on battery technology, as it can be stored.

“We talked about data being the asset of the company, right? Karaboutis points out, “Today, we know data exists, we breathe it, we live it, but we don’t have to talk about it. “It is our constant efforts and improvements in data quality” that will make National Grid’s vision possible.

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