Energy and Utilities
The Future of Intelligent Operations in Utilities
In today’s era, the power sector is undergoing a transition, driven by a variety of factors such as advances in technology, changing customer expectations, efforts to reduce carbon emissions, and the promotion of sustainable energy. This shift is leading to a more decentralised, digitalised, and customer-centric utilities sector.
Energy companies are now under increasing pressure to adapt to the changing landscape with digital tools and better operations. Digital transformation and managed services play a vital role in modernising utility business models, increasing efficiency, and improving customer service. By leveraging these solutions, energy companies can streamline operations, enhance decision-making, and boost productivity, resulting in higher customer satisfaction levels.
What is the need of the hour?
Digital transformation plays a crucial role in helping the energy sector adapt to the changing landscape. This involves a range of activities from deploying smart metering technologies to track energy usage accurately, utilising data analytics to provide insights into customer behavior and energy consumption patterns, creating digital platforms for customer engagement, using GIS for asset tracking and operation, to utilising artificial intelligence to enhance decision-making, such as forecasting energy demand and managing supply chains.
Integrating Digital Transformation with Managed Services helps energy utilities achieve efficient management by combining technology expertise with business process optimisation. This approach allows for the delegation of process optimisation and management to specialised experts, enabling the utilities to focus on their core competencies. Digitally Enabled Managed Services (DEMS) can provide cost savings and improved operational efficiency, leading to better performance and greater customer satisfaction.
By implementing digital transformation and outsourcing processes, utility companies become more adaptable to the changing business landscape, providing more efficient and effective services to their customers while maintaining a focus on their core competencies.
Intelligent Operations - Use Cases and Applications
DEMS transforms the operations of utilities, which are responsible for providing essential services such as electricity, gas, and water to customers. Here are some of the real-world use cases and applications of DEMS.
Smart Meter Operations and Deployment Center (SMOC):
DEMS assists in all aspects of the deployment of smart meters, from initial planning to installation and maintenance. This includes creating a deployment roadmap, managing the supply chain, maintaining master data, handling field operations, monitoring the meters remotely, conducting maintenance and repairs, performing data analytics on the meter data, and engaging with customers. DEMS optimises the deployment, operation, and maintenance of smart meters while using data analytics to drive insights and improvements in energy management.
Revenue Service Operations:
DEMS improves the accuracy and efficiency of revenue service operations and reduces revenue leakage by leveraging skilled resources and digital technologies such as automation, data analytics, and machine learning. By reconciling billing and financial data, identifying, and resolving discrepancies, and providing real-time analytics and reporting, utilities can transform their revenue service operations and drive business value.
Asset Maintenance Enablement Services:
Utilities have significant investments in physical assets such as power plants, transmission lines, and pipelines. DEMS provides real-time visibility into the status and condition of assets, tracks maintenance history, and offers predictive maintenance insights to reduce downtime. It also provides remote support, improves field service management, and increases the accuracy and speed of maintenance activities.
GIS Data Management:
DEMS assists utilities in acquiring and integrating GIS data from various sources, including field surveys, sensors, and external data sources. By visualising and analysing GIS data in real-time, utilities can make informed decisions and optimise their GIS data management and improve data quality.
Field Service Management:
DEMS manages field service operations by optimising the scheduling and routing of technicians, tracking work orders and inventory, and providing real-time updates to customers. By providing mobile applications, field sensors, and data integration tools, utilities can capture and manage field data more efficiently. DEMS also supports work order management, service levels, and regulatory compliance.
Carbon Emission Tracking:
DEMS manages data more effectively by providing data governance, quality management, and integration tools. By monitoring operational performance, carbon emissions, and energy efficiency, and using real-time analytics and dashboards to identify trends, analyse data, and make predictions, utilities can make data-driven decisions that reduce emissions and improve energy management.
DEMS offer utilities an opportunity to transform their operations using digital technologies like automation, machine learning, data analytics, and IoT.
To summarise, outsourcing firms with expertise in DEMS enable the optimisation of utilities operations with digital technologies, resulting in improved operational efficiency, cost reduction, and enhanced customer experience. Overall, DEMS transforms energy utilities to achieve better operational efficiency, and meet the demands of a rapidly changing industry. These firms offer specialised knowledge in process optimisation, risk management, and compliance, enabling utilities to achieve long-term success and growth. Therefore, outsourcing DEMS is a strategic choice for utilities seeking to modernise and remain competitive in the market.