Columbia, SC, October 05, 2021 –(PR.com)– AAC Utility Partners and Israel Electric Corporation (IEC), through their recently formed North American Alliance, partner with South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority (RWA) to successfully develop an enterprise cloud transformation strategy focused on a “Cloud Smart” approach addressing risk mitigation from a cybersecurity perspective.
The Regional Water Authority (RWA) is a forward-thinking water utility and environmental services organization recognizing that the cloud is an operational model not a place. So, the convergence of the IT/OT components of its nonprofit corporation are a necessary operational modification in today’s – and, more importantly, tomorrow’s – complex cyber-sensitive climate. The RWA set out to develop a cloud strategy that would encompass the totality of the company’s operations regarding not only digital transformation, but complete information systems security.
The RWA’s project objectives and the mission of the AAC-IEC Alliance align perfectly, in pursuit of a strategic approach that embraces how each major vertical of the organization will be impacted by decisions made in the two major areas of focus: 1) business-focused technology services (traditional and cloud); and 2) cybersecurity. Utilizing the NavigateOne™ and SOPHIC™ methodologies, AAC and IECyber (the Cyber Entrepreneurship and Business Development Department of IEC) examined the RWA’s operations, infrastructure, cybersecurity and compliance, governance, program management and people.
The team reviewed numerous artifacts provided by the RWA and conducted a number of working sessions with key resources from the RWA’s Technology and Business transformation & Strategy Groups. The team also conducted a cybersecurity pre-assessment exercise using the Rapid Cyber Assessment methodology (RCMA), a core component of the SOPHIC Pro™ suite. The engagement culminated in creation of a strategy, with actionable recommendations, providing overall direction for moving IT functions to the cloud, as well as continued improvement in the RWA’s organizational cybersecurity maturity level. This included recommending adoption of a “Cloud Smart” strategy. Adopting this strategy will provide the RWA with a roadmap to evaluate safe, secure, cloud computing options before making any new investment decisions, not just with IT but also with OT in the long-term.
Premjith Lakshman Singh, RWA’s Chief Information Digital Officer and Vice President of Customer Care, commented, “Every organization has to go through a journey to understand their business capabilities and identify how they can use technology to enable their business efficiently and safely both now and into the future. This Enterprise Cloud Transformation Strategy provides the RWA with actionable recommendations to move our organization forward.”
AAC and IEC are excited to report the successful completion of this first project undertaken by the Alliance team. The client-expressed value of the strategy developed for the RWA is a testament to the need for such a consolidated resource to help utilities navigate the ever-changing areas of technology and cybersecurity.
“In the exponential world of paradigm change in most of our life processes, alliance with AAC is timely, as the market is calling for the unique combination of expertise, we collectively offer in the utility cloud and cybersecurity space. We are looking forward to taking advantage of the IEC-AAC alliance to serve utility companies across the globe,” stated Yosi Shneck, Head of Cyber Entrepreneurship and Business Development, Israel Electric Corp.
Spearheading this service offering for AAC, Lyndal Haddox, Vice President, Innovative Solutions commented, “We are extremely excited about our alliance with IEC to offer utilities a unique approach to strategically assess their combined systems of IT and OT operations, with a focused view of ensuring cyber safety across all platforms – Cloud/Hybrid/On-Premise.”
Regional Water Authority supplies on average nearly 43 million gallons of water a day to a population of approximately 430,000 people in 15 South Central Connecticut municipalities. It runs four state-of-the-art surface water treatment plants, maintains over 1,700 miles of underground pipes, manages more than 27,000 acres of watershed land, conducts approximately 110,000 drinking water tests per year, and safely operates a myriad of equipment with a team of dedicated, skilled employees that work 24/7 to produce and deliver reliable, affordable, high-quality drinking water.
AAC Utility Partners, LLC provides consulting services exclusively to utilities for the transformation of mission-critical systems. AAC is a vendor-independent consulting firm providing services for CIS and other mission-critical systems in the areas of Strategy, Selection, Cloud Adoption, and Project Implementation Leadership Services (utility-side only). AAC is the leading independent Cloud consulting firm focused on utility industry-specific applications and business process services.
NavigateOne™ is a foundational methodology pioneered by AAC Utility Partners that includes an industry-leading set of proprietary processes, tools, templates, and software completely scalable and customizable to the unique needs of utilities’ software initiatives.
SOPHIC™ – Israel Electric Company’s 25 years of battle-proven cyber experience, insights, practices, and tools formulate a unique game-changing cyber defense and resilience SUITE. This cyber entrepreneurship and business development unit in IEC provides a sophisticated portfolio of cyber solutions based on vast, real-life experience gained in a challenging geopolitical environment facing 24/7/365 Cyber challenges, with the sole purpose of protecting critical infrastructure.
