By Jamal Syed, HEXstream president and CEO 

I am now back in our office in Chicago and able to reflect on last week’s Oracle Edge Summit and the OUUG Conference in Nashville. My takeaways…

AI is atop everyone’s mind 

I don’t think I attended a presentation or had a meeting last week that didn’t include artificial intelligence…the emerging capabilities of AI, the best strategies to fully embrace AI in the utilities space, the challenges many face in understanding and harnessing this emerging technology. Professional conferences like this are a great place to get a temperature check
on trends like this, and to share with utilities new solutions, such as our HEXpert contextual AI platform, which we’re now launching (stay tuned for more details). 

In short, AI is here. AI is in use by early adopters within the utilities sphere and in demand by the rest. And AI is empowering smart solutions now available to energy providers that are willing to embrace it. 

Energy and Water Data Intelligence 

I was thrilled to share with the Edge audience our work with the Energy and Water Data Intelligence platform, which we are co-developing with Oracle. Edge was really the launch party for this new platform, a revolutionary solution delivering powerful, actionable insights for the energy and water sectors. This cloud-based platform enables utilities to optimize
essential operations while enhancing back-office functions, transforming how organizations approach data-driven decision-making.

The HEXstream team, along with Oracle's Jason Kriendler, presented on EWDI to a full room at the event. It was an informative, deep dive into the new platform. We’ve already seen momentum and enthusiasm for EWDI build in the days since the events; our team is working with utilities interested in adopting the platform and we’re eager to start building use cases to spotlight just how powerful this tool is. Stay tuned for those updates. 

The Hybrid Approach 

I also noticed in Nashville a common need  among utilities for a comprehensive hybrid solution—between cloud and on-premises—that is future-proof and capable of converting into a complete cloud solution in the future without the need to redesign the whole system. We all recognize that the cloud is the future, but we’re at different stages of ability and eagerness to fully make that leap. For now, this hybrid approach is the ideal strategy for many utilities. 

Likewise, as utilities have invested in various cloud platforms, inter-cloud operability is increasingly important to teams that work closely with their data. Silos don’t just exist on-prem, regrettably, but simple solutions to this challenge are available. I had many fruitful discussions on this topic during Edge and OUUG. 

Lastly, a wonderful component of these annual events is the social activities. We in this vertical are a unique bunch of smart, dedicated, civic-minded professionals. I am proud to be a part of this energy community.

I’d like to thank all of our friends, clients and new partners who joined us for our annual dinner on Tuesday night. The event was louder than in years past (Nashville!), but still a terrific opportunity to connect and remind ourselves of the terrific people with whom we work each day.

Now…back to work with new insights, new challenges and new opportunities ahead!