As the energy industry continues to undergo a transformation period like never before, the relationship between utilities and the consumer is also seeing a change. Instead of the traditional one-way relationship between centralised, assetintensive utilities and the consumer, we are instead entering a new energy paradigm – one with the emerging prosumer at the heart.
The shift will include a new, consumer-centric, decentralised and bidirectional energy system and an increasingly electrified economy.
To thrive in this new world, a successful future utility will need to build compelling, integrated value-added services, overcoming complexity to present a personalised and seamless user experience to the customer.
Build: establish a cloud platform fit-for-purpose
This is the time to create cloud-native engagement and collaboration platforms that are flexible and scalable enough to keep up with transforming energy markets, able to integrate disparate data sources, provide deep analytical insight, and exceed increasing customer and stakeholder expectations. Truly agile utilities require a cloud platform that’s built specifically with energy and utility business models in mind.
Six questions to ask yourself when selecting a platform
1. Organisational agility
Can you quickly adapt to rapidly changing market conditions, regulations, and new forms of competition?
2. Speed to market
Can you easily configure integrated, multi-product offerings and promptly launch them in the market?
3. Software interoperability
Can you easily integrate internal applications, third-party applications, and future acquisitions?
4. Lower operating cost
Can you minimise the software, hardware, and human resources needed to manage business processes?
5. Frictionless experiences
Can you create personalised and seamless experiences for customers, communities, employees, contractors, partners and regulators?
6. Business transparency
Can you access real-time, predictive analytics to provide deep, actionable insight into business performance?
This sponsored editorial is brought to you by Salesforce Industries. For more information, visit salesforce.com/au/utilities.
