Utilities have been faced with many changing urgent business drivers of the past two decades. During the nineties, Total Quality Management, Managed Competition and Privatization were the buzz words and in the frenzy that followed many Utilities embarked on major “Best Practices” programs with the end goal of staving off the Privatizer. As we all know, many Utilities went through very painful changes and are still feeling the effects of them today. The privatization buzz had not fully disappeared when all attention turned to Security and Vulnerability programs. To complicate matters further the Asset Management beast reared its head with the stark specter of infrastructure catastrophes and the potential for Utilities to go bankrupt or just finding it impossible to meet service levels and regulations. We are in the peak of the Asset Management feeding frenzy and many Utilities have dropped other initiatives and have started implementing Asset Management programs or Initiatives to deal with this perceived threat. Many Utilities have been at a loss about how to deal with this business threat and are wondering where to start. While all of this is going on other business threats are developing that may be totally new and can blindside even the most strategic of Utilities. Wouldn’t you like to be ahead of the wave and not be crushed by it each time? Imagine, being able to anticipate potential threats and convert them into opportunities for your Utility on your terms and condition! This paper provides an analysis on how Utilities have been dealing with business threats in the past and discusses the next big wave that is coming. In addition, the author proposes a robust framework for Utilities that can help leaders develop an organization with the foresight and resilience to identify major waves out on the horizon with enough time to make the necessary adjustments to ride them successfully and enjoy the experience.
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