• Ask Your Network

  Member Spotlight: Vijoy Mathew

  Posted by Kevin Praet (Adm) on June 30, 2020 at 6:53 am

  Vijoy Mathew is an active UAI member and provides outstanding influence and contributions to the UAI community through any of our multiple channels, including, but not limited to engagement on UAI Connect, volunteering with UAI, involvement and/or leadership in monthly Community Conversations, and/or speaking at UAI events, plus so much.  As thanks, we are featuring him in the UAI Member Spotlight. Vijoy is an Executive Director, IT at Consumers Energy responsible for architecture and delivery functions within IT including the Data and Analytics team.   

   

  Kevin: How did you get into the utility analytics industry?

  Vijoy: I’ve been in the utilities sector for eight years now, the last four at Consumers and the first four at PG&E. I’ve been responsible for Data/BI teams throughout these years and in earlier roles. The availability of smart meter data combined with other data sets opened many possibilities for analytics in the electric utilities. This required IT to put in the right technology platforms to democratize the data for analytics teams across the enterprise. This challenge caught my attention and drew me into the utility analytics industry.

   

  Kevin: What project have you enjoyed working on most in your career?

  Vijoy: I spent ten years in the airline industry IT prior to utilities. I’m going to pick a project from that experience, probably to the disappointment of my utilities sector friends 😊. I was with United Airlines when 9/11 hit us. Airlines struggled financially and reducing costs via IT automation was a priority. I led the airport kiosks team for two years, building a ton of functionality and deploying kiosks to airports across the globe. It was particularly enjoyable because we were a small high performing team and our work had a direct impact on customers. The team had great affinity and we built friendships outside work that last to this day.

   

  Kevin: What has been your biggest professional challenge and how did you work through it?

  Vijoy: Learning how the utilities industry works was an interesting challenge when I entered this sector and I’m still on that journey. I spent the last couple of years in the airline industry navigating the technology integration for a merger between two large airlines and that was quite the experience! My approach to these challenges is two-fold and straightforward. First is to breakdown what might appear overwhelming into smaller manageable pieces, prioritize, and start addressing them one by one. Second, and maybe more important, is to build relationships with people across organizations.

   

  Kevin: If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice before entering the utility analytics industry, what would it be?

  Vijoy: The power of analytics in utilities is fully realized when data across the enterprise is available for reporting, analysis and modelling. This means having a culture of data democratization, and the technology platform to leverage data sets across business areas. If such a collaborative culture does not exist, I would start with building that; both at a grassroots level via an analytics community and finding a senior leader or two to champion the cause. In parallel, I would work on providing a technology platform that is easy to use and populate it with the most commonly used data sets.

   

  Kevin: What would you like to talk to fellow colleagues and members about in UAI Connect? Or, what issues or topics would you like to see more discussions on in UAI Connect?

  Vijoy: I would like to hear examples of where others are getting the desired outcomes from analytics and operationalizing it; use cases, data sets and technology used. I’m also interested in cloud usage and its financials. 

   

  Kevin: Thank you so much for sharing with us and for being a highly engaged member of UAI! Do you have any final thoughts, ideas, or comments you would like to share with your fellow UAI members?

  Vijoy: Utilities are a great industry to be in during this time of change and innovation. Our industry is open to sharing and that makes a forum like UAI perfect for us to learn from each other and leverage each other’s successes. That’s why I believe the time we commit to UAI and each other is well worth it and I hope the day comes soon where we can meet in person again!

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  Kevin Praet
  Membership Coordinator
  Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
  Boulder CO
  315-440-3033
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  Kevin Praet (Adm) replied 4 years, 4 months ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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