Utility Week

26 | 2ND - 8TH AUGUST 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Customers Roundtable London, June 2019 U tilities have been trudging through the mire of digital transformation for years now. Yet all too o en they have little to show for their labour and invest- ments, according to insights presented at a private event hosted by Utility Week in asso- ciation with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), last month. Well over a decade has passed since the term "big data" rose to prominence, switch- ing quick-thinking business leaders across sectors on to the fact that the wealth of data emanating from a breakneck escalation of connectivity across assets and consumer devices would drive radical change in organ- isational architectures, operations and busi- ness models. It's safe to say that utilities were not prominent among this ‚ rst wave of digital transformation pioneers. And while most have long since woken up to the fact that data and digital capability will de‚ ne their futures, relatively few have really grasped how to execute the shi to data-driven operations, or so research out‚ t IDC Energy Inisghts found when it conducted a Europe- wide study of digital transformation maturity among utilites on the behalf of TCS. A selec- tion of these ‚ ndings are represented in the graphs, right. According to IDC Energy Insights, the sig- ni‚ cant majority of European utilities have been unable to progress beyond initiative- based digital innovation projects and short- term data leverage. The trend holds true in the UK, where the study found that almost 60 per cent of utilites are stuck in a hinter- land of the "digitally distraught". Speaking at Utility Week's event, Roberta Bigliani, vice president IDC Energy Insights, sparked spirited debate by sharing some of the reasons for this stunted digital progress with a select group of business and tech- nology leaders from a range of UK utility players. Top of the list for the limited success of most digital transformation endeavours was lack of integration with the broader strate- gic objectives of the organisation. Just one in ‚ ve UK utilities can say their digital strat- egy is embedded within business strategy, Bigliani'said. Beyond this a shortage of appropri- ate expertise, weak road maps for change, islanded approaches to digital innovation and outdated KPIs (key performance indica- tors) for success were found to be to blame for holding utilities back. Degrees of success IDC's research messages resonated with the group – comprising representatives from major energy suppliers, monopoly net- works and code governance bodies. While the majority of those present claimed their organisations had achieved integration of business and digital strategies, many com- ments showed that this has not resolved uncertainty around ultimate ownership for digital transformation success. One guest representing a UK power gen- eration and retail giant suggested that sys- tems thinking and design thinking must de‚ ne organisational approaches to digital transformation in order to gain true vis- ibility of its impact across di• erent business pillars and clarify collective responsibil- ity for its success. More broadly, it was felt that "business" leaders should primarily be Dodge digital distress Many utilities are struggling to achieve meaningful change on the back of digital transformation programmes. It's high time for a more strategic and structured approach, says Jane Gray. continued on p28 Modular Break the effort into chunks (use cases) Scalable Think through how the map will evolve THE DIGITALLY DETERMINED UTILITY UTILITIES: ENERGY AS A SERVICE ROAD MAP DEVELOP A ROAD MAP Source: IDC Energy Insights Source: IDC Energy Insights Modular Break the effort into chunks (use cases) Scalable Think through how the road map will evolve Extendable Accommodate changes they develop Modular Break the effort into chunks (use cases) Scalable Think through how the road map will evolve Extendable Accommodate changes as they develop Horizon 2 Horizon 3 Horizon 1 Revenue protection Distributed energy management FMEA automation Virtual power plant Asset instrumentation Digital corrosion management Asset performance management Equipment health communications Connected safety water Modular Scalable Extendable Leak detection Service safety alerts Orchestrated demand response 360 O connected customer management Global trade automation Microgrids Digital grid simulation Intelligent grid management Augmented maintenance Drone-based line inspection Process condition monitoring Water quality Closed loop outage management Predictive grid control Virtual muster Process self- inspection Self-healing assets Predictive underground line service DER as a reliability enabler Device-based energy management Personalised marketing

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