Head of Data Analytic PPL, Abhijit Bhatwadekar: Data is the Glue for Every Business

(US and Canada) Abhijit Bhatwadekar, Head of Data Analytic PPL, and David Williams, Managing Director of Ahead, discuss how cybersecurity is on everyone's mind and the steps PPL is taking to protect data in the face of recent cyber assaults in this space.

According to Bhatwadekar, PPl invests extensively in cybersecurity measures. Effective governance and security risk compliance are the main steps that PPL takes to handle cyber security. All systems are subjected to a security assessment, and other policies are followed all the way down to the team. To ensure that PPL is fully compliant, they collaborate with regulatory authorities such as the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, North America Energy, Reliability Corporation, and even Sarbanes-Oxley. PPL works with law enforcement, the Edison Electric Institute, the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center, and even the FBI to collaborate and exchange this information. According to him, the process is more of a community and industry-driven approach rather than PPL controlling their cyber security and perceiving it as an internal approach. He goes on to explain how the entire ecosystem shifted and paced throughout the pandemic. Every business has been altered in some way, and everyone has had to pivot to a new model. The essence of the transformation in the majority of these examples has been data and analytics or AI. As a result, organizations that engage in digital platform ecosystems that are powered by data and AI algorithms have a major advantage. Business units' data strategy is becoming a critical differentiation.