Editor's Note: This article was originally posted on SmartGridNews.com. Follow the link to view the article in its entirety.
Sometimes, software shapes itself to an organization. Other times, it forces the organization to reshape itself… and that can be a good thing.
Consider enterprise resource planning (ERP) when it came on strong in the 1990s. ERP integrates management information from every department in a company. As ERP was installed, it became a forcing function that caused many corporations to integrate their operations, often to great advantage.
A similar force is quietly at work in the utility sector. The expansion of distribution management systems (DMS) is forcing utilities to integrate data and operations between departments -- a move that is long overdue.
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Edited by
Stefanie Mosca