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PROFILING THE CONTRIBUTORS UTILITY WEEK | 8TH - 14TH JULY 2016 | 25 Sponsored report: Cloud adoption Brought to you in association with TCS VIEWPOINT Getting rid of infrastructure for commodity applications such as HR and email and mov- ing to the cloud seems a no-brainer for the industry. But utilities are still trying to figure out how best to use the cloud to differentiate themselves. While cost is the easiest win, other benefits of transferring applications to the cloud should not be overlooked. Indeed, at times cloud is not the cheaper option. Hence it is important in any cloud adoption strategy also to look at other reasons for mov- ing to the cloud, such as increased agility and dynamic scalability, which ultimately improve the time to market for innovation. There is a global trend in the utilities sector to phase out traditional on-premise ERP-CRM or works management applications in favour of cloud-based options. As a result, the largest solution providers are either completely cloud-based – salesforce.com – or fast adopting the cloud as a deliberate strategic direction – SAP AG. On the other hand, depend- ency on in-house IT is diminishing as employees, customers and business partners look towards self- service capabili- ties free from the shackles of the IT function. The ability of these point solu- tions to give the user increased con- trol over operations is a key driver of cloud adoption. However, the need to integrate point solutions into the core ERP for a seamless process has been an issue. It is our view that eventually the ben- efits will increasingly come from cloud-based self-service intelligence and operations appli- cations rather than cloud-based personnel and commodity services. "Without an overarching strategy, many business are disappointed that their 'cloudification' does not yield the efficiencies they set out to achieve" DO YOU BELIEVE THE ADOPTION OF CLOUD TECHNOLOGY NECESSITATES CHANGES TO YOUR ORGANISATION'S STRUCTURE? WHICH AREAS OF YOUR BUSINESS WOULD YOU EXPECT TO BENEFIT MOST FROM ADOPTION OF CLOUD TECHNOLOGY? TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH EACH OF THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS? 75% 25% 7% 45% 48% 38% 62% 50% 10% 40% Overall Energy company Energy retailers Energy network Energy generators Water No Don't know *Other: Customer engagement, Analysis and optimisation Yes CRM Billing Energy mgt Workforce mgt Finance/accounting HR Field deployment Pricing Energy settlement Business development Demand-side mgt Asset mgt Energy procurement Other* Scheduling and billing Supplier relationship mgt HR Billing Finance/accounting Field deployment Commercial contract mgt Billing and settlement Asset and work mgt Plant control system Central data Meter data 67% 67% 33% 88% 63% 50% 50% 38% 25% 25% 25% 25% 13% 13% 13% 13% 25% 33% 33% 33% 33% 33% 33% 33% 33% 33% Cloud technology creates the opportunity for flexible scaling to help cope with infrequent periods of unusual high demand Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree/disagree Agree Strongly agree % agree 34% 47% 69% 77% 85% 92% Changing business processes with cloud computing will remove the barrier between business and IT resources Cloud technology helps facilitate mergers and acquisitions Cloud technology helps facilitate changes to the business model The on-demand, self-service and rapid elasticity capabilities of most cloud providers create an opportunity for business to have better operational control Cloud technology enhances business agility and flexibility 85% managers or more senior 65% work in the IT division 16% director/board director 50% chief/head of department