Utility companies are being pressured to upgrade their mission-critical systems, and at the same time, face resistance from politicians and the public when it’s suggested that customer bills should increase to fund much needed modernization.
What if there was a win-win for you and for your customers?
The key is to transform your IT systems from a cost center to a profit center, empowering CIOs to reduce the operational cost of maintaining existing ERP systems while increasing the funds available for innovation.
Join Coy Wright, VP, Energy, Utilities, & Resources Industry Solutions, Rimini Street and Dave Keating, experienced broadcaster, journalist and moderator, for an intriguing discussion focused on ways to drive investment in IT modernisation while reducing expenditure.
Mr. Wright serves as VP, Energy, Utilities, & Resources Industry Solutions. In this role he is responsible for global strategy and business development to build and grow revenues across the energy, utilities, and resources (e.g. mining) industries. Mr Wright will act as Rimini Street’s thought leader for all things related to this industry both internally and externally and will also establish and maintain strong relationships with key industry stakeholders, partners, and customers to understand their needs, support their innovation strategy, and ensure ongoing satisfaction.
Mr. Wright is an accomplished information technology executive with more than 25 years of success in energy-related businesses, across the upstream, midstream, and downstream lifecycle for traditional fossil fuels and renewables industries. He has managed multiple global SAP and Oracle implementations/operations, one of the first production SAP Business Suite on HANA go-lives, and one of the first production S/4HANA go-lives on AWS.
Mr. Wright has been a successful early adopter and developer of several current mainstream cloud technologies including an early online banking system, one of the first Microsoft Office sharing ventures, then as an early adopter of Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), the precursor of Office 365.
Prior to joining Rimini Street, after a short stint in private equity, Mr. Wright was Chief Information Officer and Vice President of IT and Digital for Engie North America, where he was responsible for all IT and Digital for the North American (U.S. and Canada) region of the French renewable energy company. His scope included Digital Solutions, Cyber Security, IT Architecture, IT Operations, and business applications for the Renewables, Energy Solutions, Networks, and Thermal/Supply business units.
Previously, Mr. Wright was Chief Information Officer for Pacific Drilling, a startup global deep water drilling contractor with operations in West Africa, Brazil, and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. He has also held management roles at Weatherford International, Halliburton (Landmark Graphics), and Gulfmark Offshore (now Tidewater).
In addition to his corporate leadership roles, Mr. Wright was previously an Executive Board Member and the Technology Committee Chair at Ronald McDonald House Houston.
Mr. Wright holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration from University of Houston, and a Master of Business Administration degree with a cybersecurity concentration from Baylor University.
The session includes topics such as:
- Tackling the vendor mindset. Major software vendors are pushing their customers to adopt the cloud. Some are even forcing it by imposing deadlines to cut off full support. And if that doesn’t work, they’ll often raise the threat of software audits. How should you expertly and confidently navigate your vendor’s strategy and get to the best for your organisation?
- Building the business case for change. You need to demonstrate to the board that IT modernization will deliver value and appease growing stakeholder frustrations. The question is, how should a CIO assess the merits of moving to the cloud or staying put? Do you know your true range of options? How can you evaluate time-to-value to understand where precious resources should be targeted? We can help demystify.
- Why innovating at the edges is a more effective approach for utility companies. Maintain your existing core applications, optimize them, and focus resources on introducing best-of-breed innovation at the edge. Why? Because this approach is more effective for utility companies in gaining greater flexibility while being more affordable and nimble for industry inflections.
How? Let Rimini Street Help
Together, let’s analyse the benefits, risks and costs associated with different paths – whether it’s staying on-prem or moving to various versions of your ERP systems, based on your timeline, both real and perceived.
Most importantly, let’s get you back in the driver’s seat of your own IT roadmap and to your business goal destination: GROWTH & PROFITABILITY