Change in the world is more profound than ever. The heart of the world’s population beats to an urban drum. People flock to cities to work, and increasingly, to live. The rise in urbanization promises unprecedented opportunities and never before imagined lifestyles. Already half of humanity lives in cities, and that is expected to rise to two-thirds by 2050. Riding this fast-moving wave of urbanization will require a new vision to plan a safe, reliable, efficient, sustainable and connected ecosystem. A smart city utilizes innovative technologies and interactive approaches to improve both efficiency and sustainability, resulting in better lives for inhabitants. Densely populated cities already provide a more efficient way to deliver many services, as well as to save energy.
With current technological advances, it doesn’t necessarily mean selling all your worldly possessions and moving to a rustic cabin in the wilderness. In fact, with so-called “net-zero buildings”, you can live or work right in the center of a town, and still be completely energy-neutral. Because of this, these buildings are absolutely essential if we want to achieve true sustainability – especially in our cities.
Believing that Access To Energy is a basic human need, Schneider Electric has provided 4.2 million households at the base of the pyramid, their much needed right to energy. It is also at forefront in transforming and digitizing the Energy Management and Automation in Homes, Buildings, Data Centers, Industry and Infrastructure, ensuring that Life is On everywhere, every moment and for everyone. Schneider is the undisputable leader in power management and provides integrated efficiency solutions, combining energy, automation and software.
Reshaping Cities, Transforming Industries and Enriching Life
Global population growth and massive urbanization presents us with numerous challenges. But they have also provided us – as a species – with an unprecedented opportunity to develop ingenious solutions to make life better. In urban areas, that universal goal is a major part of the impetus for adopting smart technologies. The speed and scale of progress driven by urbanization and industrialization is unprecedented in human history increasing the need for energy demand. Yet we know in the world today, there are over 2.3 billion people with none or limited access to energy. Further the way we generate energy today is not sustainable for the planet.
At Schneider, the team views this as an exciting opportunity for their generation to solve the energy paradox: balancing planet’s carbon footprint with the irrefutable human right to quality energy. Reaping revenues of approximately €25 billion in FY2016, Schneider Electric’s 144,000+ employees serve customers in over 100 countries, helping them to manage their energy and processes.
They help the biggest cloud service providers run uninterrupted power and optimal functioning of their Datacenters, and power over 1 million buildings worldwide with power management and building automation technologies. The world’s top electrical utilities use Schneider grid management solutions and finally the largest O&G, Mining and Food and Beverage companies use Schneider Industrial automation solutions for efficient processes in their plants and machines.
A Philanthropist as well as a Technologist, Iram Shah
A global corporate executive who leads with a purpose is Iram Shah, Senior Vice President at Schneider Electric. She has a successful corporate career of more than two decades, spanning over various Fortune 200 companies in five countries. She has worked for big brands like Gatorade, Coca Cola, BP, and Zurich Financial. Iram’s experience ranges from marketing, digital, business development to general management, specializing in growth, customer management and cultural transformation.
Iram is a sagacious erudite with MBA from UFC Booth School of Business and Advanced General Management Program Degree at Harvard Business School. She has won several awards and accolades; including the 100 Most Influential People Award in the UK in 2005, one of the Top 11 international Woman Leader in Chicagoland by Chicago Women Magazine in 2017 and Chancellor Excellence Award from East West University of Chicago for corporate leadership and impact on education in 2017.
In addition to her corporate efforts, Iram also contributes to philanthropic causes and serves on several nonprofit boards. She serves on the board of Habitat For Humanity, Chicagoland and is chairwoman on the Sonia Shah Organization, a non-profit foundation started by her late daughter. “The Sonia Shah Organization is all about diversity and gender parity at a very basic level…the education and empowerment of underprivileged girls and women,” she says.
Attuning Innovation with respect to Digital Disruption
The clients rely on the valued domain expertise of Schneider Electric. The company leverages deep domain knowledge and applied experience across four end markets; Building, Datacenter, Industry and Grid. EcoStruxure is Schneider’s IoT-enabled, plug-and-play, open architecture and platform where we collaborate with the largest community of Partners and Developers Ecosystem on 6 domains of expertise – Power, IT, Building, Machine, Plant and Grid.
EcoStruxure brings together Innovation At Every Level from Connected Products to Edge Control, and Apps, Analytics and Services, to provide end-to-end solutions for 4 end markets: Building, Data Center, Industry and Infrastructure, delivering enhanced value around safety, reliability, operational efficiency, sustainability, and connectivity for our customers.
With Innovation at Every Level, they are redefining power and automation for a new world of energy. Over a period of several years they have developed a portfolio of innovations across all these three levels for all their end markets. They call this Innovation at Every Level. This is an end-to-end IoT offer. They deliver solutions both on-premise and on-cloud depending on customer needs.
Envisioning to Innovate in Sustainable Development
Culture of innovation and constant change keeps things fresh. Another critical aspect is their diversity, which is an integral part of their history, culture, and identity. Inclusion is the way they treat and perceive all differences.
Schneider envisions huge technological disruption in the digital ecosystem with the advent of IoT. They will continue to invest in cutting edge IoT technology and enlarge their community and network of partners.
