Accenture and Siemens have launched a joint venture, Omnetric Group, in the smart-grid field that will work with utilities to improve energy efficiency, grid operations and reliability. Jack Azagury, global managing director for Accenture Grid Services, explains in this podcast that the effort will help utilities solve the problem of integrating data with engineering. For example, the joint venture will take smart metering data and package it to help customers make better decisions about saving energy. Azagury says the effort can be "market changing" and save utilities up to 20% in their demand response efforts.