Featuring:

• Don McPhail, VP Market Development, eSmart Systems
• Erik Åsberg, Chief Technology Officer, eSmart Systems

In today’s energy landscape, utilities are under pressure to do more with less, modernize aging infrastructure, respond to extreme weather, and meet rising expectations for reliability and sustainability. At the center of this transformation is data. But data alone isn’t enough. It’s what you do with it that matters. Join us as we go behind the scenes of eSmart Systems’ Grid Vision^® platform to explore how our intelligence layer is helping utilities turn raw inspection data into real-time decisions with AI, digital twins, and a smarter approach to grid management.

Don McPhail:
I’m joined today by Erik Åsberg, our Chief Technology Officer here at eSmart Systems. Erik has been leading the development of our AI and data platform strategy for over a decade and is widely recognized as a thought leader in applying advanced technologies to utility operations.
Erik, we often talk about Grid Vision^® as a game-changer for utilities. But behind the scenes, there’s a powerful data platform making it all possible. Can you walk us through what that platform actually does?

Erik Åsberg:
Absolutely. At the heart of Grid Vision^® is our intelligence platform, a cloud-native system that ingests, organizes, and analyzes all inspection data. Whether it’s drone imagery, infrared scans, LiDAR, or even handwritten field notes, the platform links everything to the utility’s assets. The result is a living digital twin of the grid.
But it’s not just about storing data. The platform transforms raw inspection inputs into structured, actionable intelligence. It gives utilities a single source of truth for asset condition, enabling them to shift from reactive maintenance to proactive, risk-based decision-making.

Don:
So it’s not just a database, it’s a decision engine?

Erik:

Exactly. Utilities have no shortage of data. The challenge is making sense of it. What makes our intelligence platform unique is that it brings together three key dimensions:

• A graph-based model that reflects how assets are physically and electrically connected, so every pole, conductor, and substation is contextually linked.
• Time-series history, which tracks how asset conditions evolve over time, enabling trend analysis and predictive maintenance.
• Spatial awareness, integrating GIS and environmental data to understand where assets are located and what risks they face, like terrain, vegetation, or weather exposure.

Together, these dimensions create a rich, intelligent model of the grid. This structure allows for fast, intelligent queries, like identifying aging assets with recurring defects, and enables seamless integration with AI, so insights can be surfaced and acted on in real time.

Don:
Let’s talk about that AI. How does the platform support the AI capabilities in Grid Vision^®?

Erik:
It’s AI-ready by design. Because the data is structured and fully connected, it’s ideal for training and deploying machine learning models. For example, our AI can detect defects in images and automatically associate those findings with the correct pole or component.
We’ve also integrated natural language interfaces. You can literally ask the system, “Show me all critical defects within 5 miles of a substation,” and it will return results instantly. That’s the power of combining structured data with modern AI.

Don:
That’s incredibly powerful. What about integration with other utility systems, GIS, EAM, BI tools?

Erik:
We’ve made openness a core principle. The platform exposes standard APIs and supports a query language familiar to many data teams. That means utilities can pull data into their existing systems without vendor lock-in.
And because we support spatial, temporal, and graph-based data, it’s easy to add new sources, like weather feeds or new sensor types, without rearchitecting anything.

Don:
Utilities are dealing with massive volumes of data. How does the platform support scale?

Erik:
Great question! It’s built on modern cloud infrastructure and designed to handle the scale and complexity of utility operations. Whether you’re managing 10,000 assets or 10 million, the platform can ingest, organize, and analyze that data in real time. As an example, we’re working with many large utilities across North America and Europe such as Evergy, Xcel Energy and E.ON.
And it’s secure, as demonstrated via our ISO 27001 compliance, and support of technologies such as SSO and multifactor authentication. Utilities retain full ownership of their data, including hosting data in their local region, and we provide enterprise-grade access controls to ensure privacy and compliance.

Don:
One thing I hear often is the need for faster insight-to-action cycles. How does the platform help with that?

Erik:
That’s one of its biggest strengths. Traditional inspection workflows are slow and fragmented. With our platform, everything is connected and instantly quarriable. You can go from image capture to defect detection to maintenance planning in hours, not weeks.
And because we support predictive analytics, utilities can start to anticipate failures before they happen. That’s the future: a grid that’s not just monitored, but truly intelligent.

Don:
Final question, what excites you most about where our technology and intelligence platform are headed?

Erik:
It’s the convergence of AI, digital twins, and real-time data. We’re building more than a platform, we’re building a foundation for autonomous grid operations. As we integrate more AI capabilities and natural language tools, we’re making it easier for utilities to interact with their data and act on it. This is only increasing in importance as we seek to make the grid more efficient and adaptable to extreme weather, changing supply side, and growth in demand.
We’re not just helping utilities inspect assets, we’re helping them reimagine how the grid is managed, making them more efficient in having AI take on the mundane and tedious work, and prioritize their investments where it’s needed most.

Don:
Thanks, Erik. For utilities navigating aging infrastructure, climate risk, and rising expectations, this platform offers something rare: clarity, speed, and control. That’s what real transformation looks like.

Want to learn more about how Grid Vision^® and our intelligence platform can help your utility? Book a demonstration or reach out to our team to see how we’re helping utilities turn data into decisions.