The mounting pressure to transform also offers the rare opportunity to rebuild strategies, structures, and processes from the ground up. View in article, Josh Bersin et al., The employee experience: Culture, engagement, and beyond, Deloitte University Press, February 28, 2017. This orientation helps ensure that initiatives are undertaken according to their value and the corresponding need for change. This means that today’s utilities face a digital transformation of their organization and business. Its main goal was to keep the lights on without breaking the bank. Digitalizing your organization can give you a competitive advantage by doing things better, faster, and cheaper than your competition. This information is now at the ready. If you would like information about this content we will be happy to work with you. An end-user orientation supports the elevated role of design and the agile approach. The topics of resilience and digitalization proved valuable and timely because when the pandemic halted travel and events, the Forum itself had to demonstrate resilience and go digital. Digitalization offers the opportunity to embrace new technologies that enable energy and Only later did it become clear that the greater transparency obtained through digitization allowed for better management of parcels, vehicles, and distribution processes. Since 2014, utilities have been increasing their investment in digital infrastructure. Establish two-speed IT. To activate this catalyst, a company should determine: How digital are we today? More precisely, this means finding the points in the value chain where digitization would make the largest revenue contribution in the next year or two. For utilities, the improved customer processes are also more cost effective. Smart homes, connected buildings, smart cities. To begin, they must develop a digital transformation strategy that can be successfully embedded and … The manufacturing sector is using … Disruptive forces are transforming the electric power sector, and many power company leaders are planning their digital journeys based on the impact of these forces (figure 1). Utilities struggle with digitalization – especially in retail business Similar to the smart home market, utilities struggle to make use of digitalization in the customer segment as well. Learn more about cookies, Opens in new Digitalization is when you use digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about our global network of member firms. A sequenced road map that is actively managed and well understood internally and by regulators is critical. The company also uses 3D printing to save costs by producing needed parts such as spare parts for turbines in house. Fostering a digital culture and standing up a digital foundry, as described below, can provide the foundation for a successful innovation process. Some are already available today but integrating them all on one platform, accessible through multiple channels, is a goal of many power companies. The rewards of process standardization and automation are therefore growing. Eventually, the utilities could own the distributed facilities and sell optimized hours to facility operators and other customers. Digitalization can trigger the earliest possible warning. Such rapid and multipronged change may, in turn, compel organizational and cultural transformation to manage and adapt to new technologies. The aggregation and real-time action of energy assets and industrial loads could provide accurate frequency regulation and demand response, providing new revenue streams for struggling fossil-fuel assets. The agile approach to change is based upon a culture of sharing, open communication, and visible support from top management. Continuing what they’ve been doing for the last century is likely not going to work. Experience in other industries has already revealed that the possible gains from digitization are greater than early project planners had believed. Most customers prize a multichannel platform that seamlessly connects their interactions across all channels—online, mobile, call center, and local sales. Digitalization and digital maturity can help power & utilities companies to answer the challenges of decarbonization and growing demand. Digitalization in Utilities – What is it and is it worth it? Discover Deloitte and learn more about our people and culture. When executives were asked to indicate the top priorities for their business in the next 3–5 years, their responses were heavily weighted toward improving productivity, reliability, and operational efficiency, while they ranked “using insights from advanced analytics to better manage new resources” slightly below that (figure 6). On the left side of the continuum are organizations that are still dabbling with traditional technologies in the “exploring digital” phase. As in sectors such as private equity, the approach grants additional funding to successful projects, while identifying lagging projects for modification or termination. already exists in Saved items. Since the 1990s, this process has been managed through enterprise-resource-planning systems, which have generally been unwieldy—easy neither to use nor to extend to scale. Simply select text and choose how to share it: Digital innovation Efficiencies in energy and facility maintenance. Digitalization, he continued, will continue to develop and be needed by society. Our “see, think, do” approach to transformation means we can help you identify needs and opportunities, visualize your future state, thoughtfully design processes and strategies to support your “to be” vision, and perform the hands-on work for turning that vision into a reality. In many of these challenges lie opportunities to create value through innovation. Practical resources to help leaders navigate to the next normal: guides, tools, checklists, interviews and more. HR will create strategies to find the requisite skills in the marketplace, or to develop them from within. In one case, a company digitized a single core process and cut process costs by 20 percent in the first year while also improving customer satisfaction. While solid and dependable, the sector wasn’t generally considered cutting-edge, innovative, or exciting by any stretch of the word. Enjoy the journey. A common thread runs through these four types of forces—digital. Inspections can be cut from 5 hours to 30 minutes, while reducing labor and equipment costs and eliminating the safety hazards associated with manual inspections at that height.13 In addition, drone inspections can improve efficiency and reduce asset downtime and potential revenue loss. Digitalization in Utilities – What is it and is it worth it? Being already there, with assets in place, terabytes of customer information, and typically a high degree of brand permission,16 incumbents may have an advantage from the starting gate—but likely not if they keep doing things the way they’ve always done them. In Deloitte’s survey, 95 percent of power sector respondents agreed with the statement “Digital transformation is a top strategic priority at my organization.”14 But how can they approach this transformation and what are the pitfalls to avoid? Water utility asset management in the cloud Effortless compliance with government regulations; Project monitoring in real time; Accessibility of data to the public . Many projects within the utility have a digital focus and are using techniques of the digital economy, such as agile development. Our Digitalization solutions allow you to manage day-to-day performance safely and reliably. The array of means used to better analyze existing information ranges from local diagnostic tools to highly complex planning instruments. To advance to the next level in their digital transformation journey, organizations should focus their efforts on three key areas: Innovation. Oosthuizen, Linde, Durrant, Gopaldas (2018) Future of Energy and Power Utilities in Africa 2 ABOUT THE AUTHORS Marius Oosthuizen Marius is a member of faculty at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), at the University of Pretoria. Utilities face continued uncertainty as the industry continues to transform. With such tools, utilities can optimize staffing levels at power plants and manage the intricate energy terrain of renewable and conventional sources, trading options, and patterns in demand. Digital foundry. In fact, capital expenditures have trended upward in recent years as utilities boost spending to upgrade aging infrastructure; harden systems against increasingly severe climate events; modernize and digitize systems and processes; defend against increasingly virulent cyberattacks; and address the growing mandate for cleaner energy sources from legislators, regulators, and customers.6 Other societal changes pose additional challenges, such as sophisticated consumer expectations set by high-tech companies and the need to replace retiring workers and attract new ones. Capabilities allow utilities to benefit the community Leader: there ’ s never been time. ), '' he said, all parties need link and match cooperation area! 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