First, this type of transformation demands significant IT investments. However, quantifying the business impact and value of such investments remains challenging. Significant complexity arises from enterprises’ reliance on legacy systems (ERP, GIS, or CRM) with large volumes of data, which may be sufficient for core business processes such as accounting or customer billing, but are woefully inadequate in the accuracy and repeatability required for analytics and digitalized asset risk management. Internal efforts to address these gaps often fall short of the need, are always time-consuming, and can be a source of frustration to management Instead, UMS Group deploys a consultative approach and provides tailored software applications which pierce information silos and provide integrated views and more rapid definition of business rules in areas such as reliability, productivity, asset integrity, and performance analyses. Shearman says, “it is commonly held that asset management has five key processes: asset risk strategy, asset investment planning, delivery assurance, performance measurement/management, and Industry Intelligence. Our tools improve an organization’s ability to leverage data and make better decisions across these key areas.”
The company’s spend optimization suite (“SOS”) supports the strategic asset management planning process by delivering an optimized portfolio of capital investment and operations and maintenance spending plans. AERO, the company’s asset economic risk optimization tool leverages asset health data and risk indices, allowing visualization and analysis of data to drive more effective decision-making regarding repair, replace, and allow-to-fail decisions.
Our goal is to help clients accelerate and sustain performance improvement to be ready for changes coming in their markets
UMS Group leverages its deep understanding of how information is collected and gathered, and continually develops algorithms and approaches for data clean up, while simultaneously providing guidance in the design of data governance processes. The company’s consultants have in-depth expertise and experience, and travel across the globe advising CIOs and development teams on how to move beyond obstacles and achieve better business outcomes. Such a nonpareil approach of providing custom solutions instead of trying to fit every client into the same box has enabled the company to carve a niche in the market and stay ahead of its competitors. “We do considerable work around the globe helping utilities understand different trends, project likely future scenarios, and frame robust strategies for dealing with the uncertainty involved in planning for the ‘Utility-of-the-Future’,” continued Shearman.
Their access to emerging technologies and insights into best practices and new business models has been instrumental in UMS Group’s recognition as an IAM (Institute of Asset Management) Endorsed Assessor and Trainer for ISO 55000. The company today serves almost 100 utilities each year. As an example, PSE&G has been an asset management client of UMS Group since 2001 and currently has one of the more robust asset management programs in the US utility sector. This has allowed them to retain a position as the top Mid-Atlantic utility in customer reliability for 17 consecutive years. Over the past five years, their asset management capabilities have enabled a significant turnaround in reliability and customer perceptions at PSEG Long Island (1.1M customer utility owned by LIPA, and managed by PSEG).
With many compelling accounts of customer success under its belt, UMS Group is now expanding its presence into other regions such as South America. One significant differentiator in that market is that regulators have taken a much more aggressive stance on leveraging competition, than is prevalent in the U.S. “It is literally the only place in the world where you can drive into a large substation and see maintenance crews from 6 or 7 different companies working there, because many companies own parts of these substations,” mentions Shearman.
The greatest challenges and opportunities facing utilities today stem from rapid technology evolution and uncertainty in the changes that will spawn in regulation, competition, and customer expectations. Shearman believes that UMS Group will play a vital role in helping utilities address these challenges and defining new industry models for success. “Our goal is to help clients accelerate and sustain performance improvement to be ready for changes coming in their markets,” he concludes.
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Company
UMS Group
Headquarters
Parsippany, NJ
Management
John M. Shearman, CEO
Description
Being globally operational in the energy and utilities asset management space for the last 30 years, UMS Group holds in-depth cognizance of the obstacles that block organizational growth. Having access to emerging technologies and insights into best practices and new business models have been instrumental in UMS Group’s recognition as an Endorsed Assessor and Trainer for ISO 55000, by the IAM (Institute of Asset Management). The company today caters to more than 50 utility entities in asset management with is its spend optimization suite (“SOS”), The Operational Performance eXcellence (OPx) dashboard, and DRx or Distribution Reliability eXcellence platform