The world of utilities is changing. Despite being slow to begin digital transformation due to traditional, risk-averse cultures, the global utility sector is undergoing a wave of disruption.
According to Capita, there are four areas where the utility industry is experiencing disruption:
Utility organisations can improve their customer service by creating self-service websites. These allow customers to easily make payments, add or remove services or change personal information. This reduces the need for large call centres, disliked by customers for not being a good customer experience and disliked by organisations for being a large and inefficient cost centre.
Utility organizations are data-rich. That means they have huge opportunities to use data analytics to better understand and improve their operations. This might mean understanding how much ‘downtime' they experience, how long maintenance projects really take or by better understanding supply chains or seasonal trends.
Strong Cloud and data strategies also hold the potential for a much more efficient organization. Leveraging data can help reduce duplication, improve automation and simplify tasks, ensuring that companies are more efficient and productive.
When data is stored in highly available cloud environments, the risks of data loss or downtime significantly diminish. Modernizing and strengthening IT and OT security also can't be forgotten. Digital transformation, specifically advancements in AI, are driving development of tools that expedite threat detection and response.
Many companies have applied innovation from other industries and used that to gain a competitive edge. As the utility sector becomes more comfortable with digital transformation, there will be space for them to invest in their R&D and use technology to solve problems unique to the sector.
The utility sector faces many challenges. Increased regulation, climate change and higher customer expectations are all making the industry a more difficult place to compete. However, digital can improve processes and provide a better experience to customers. It is time companies in the utility sector fully embrace digital transformation or risk getting swept away by more innovative competitors.
If you'd like to talk to ProArch about these changes to the utility and power generation industry, get in touch with us.