How humans are steering tomorrow’s digital powerhouses

At a private roundtable at Eurelectric’s Power Summit in May 2021, I asked a virtual roomful of energy experts what will take digital utilities from good to great. The answer I got is “humans”.

 Technology got a look in, of course it did, but humans – and by that I mostly mean customers and employees – provide much of the impetus and predicted value that will come from accelerating the digitalization of utilities.

 What the industry says

We discovered that today’s conventional utility can be tomorrow’s digital powerhouse, when you put humans at the center. Roundtable participants cited how the human focus is accelerating their own digital capabilities.

 “When you put the customer at the center of the process, you give power to people outside of your organization to deliver change within it,” said one. “Customer expectations and what your competitors offer become more important than what your R&D has delivered up to that point.”

  “When you put the customer at the center of the process, you give power to people outside of your organization to deliver change within it,”

One successful market newcomer has built its technology, and culture, around the customer. This customer-centricity means: “New features or products can be live on our website within 40 minutes.” For an industry that typically talks in terms of three-year innovation cycles, this is fantastically radical. “We’ve also given more autonomy to staff so they can take control of customer interactions and resolve issues quicker.”

New features or products can be live on our website within 40 minutes.” For an industry that typically talks in terms of three-year innovation cycles, this is fantastically radical.

 Recognizing that customers have grown accustomed to digital experiences in other sectors, another said: “We need to move from making processes digital to making digital processes. If our teams don’t feel the market pressure to do things faster or more efficiently, then all the efforts of digitalization will be voided from within the internal organization.”

 The importance of valuing internal skills while being receptive to new talent resonated with participants too. “We want to convince digital entrepreneurs to turn us energy corporates and utilities into a fast-moving sector. And for that, we look to hire external people who would ordinarily make their careers in small start-ups rather than in big utilities like ours.”

 Human acceleration delivers digital value

It takes a “triple win” approach

An understanding of the interplay between humans, digitalization, culture and value is perhaps most succinctly put by a Nordic utility. It takes a “triple win” approach. “We show customers that by engaging with us, and giving us access to their data, we can help them to optimize their energy bills. If we do that, in the right way, we earn their trust and loyalty. And, if we can count on the flexibility and adaptability of our loyal customers, we can make the energy system cheaper to run.”

 And that, one of many enlightened views from an enlightening roundtable debate, concurs with EY research. It finds that utilities which lead on digital are more likely to see enhanced revenue growth, gross profit and EBITDA over a five-year period than those behind the digital curve.