Five Ways Public Utilities Can Accelerate Digital Transformation

Digital transformation in public utilities started as the “e-government” movement in the late 1990s, when billing and other basic services became available online. Over time, the transformation journey evolved from back-office reengineering and network infrastructure enhancements to cloud computing, interoperability, and the blending of physical infrastructure with cyber using sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

While progress was well underway, COVID-19 highlighted a digital gap. Surges in demand for pandemic credits couldn’t be accommodated. Websites crashed and call centers were increasingly overburdened. Any service requests or changes were slow to scale. Today, utilities are increasingly embedding digital technologies and processes across their organization—yet so much more can be done.

Public utilities striving to evolve and adapt are using artificial intelligence (AI), cyber and cloud technologies to elevate the human experience and radically transform service delivery. Along with improving and innovating digital service delivery, we are seeing more utilities focusing on transforming back-end operations and digital infrastructure because establishing robust back-end digital operations goes hand-in-hand with improving front-end service delivery.

Digital transformation is not just about new technologies, it requires an overhaul of organizational structures, governance, work processes, culture and mindset. It also means realizing a wider vision of relationships and business models that will redesign how public services function. The five critical areas for utilities looking to accelerate their digital transformation include: customer experience, public value, citizen security, future workforce and intelligent infrastructure. 

Today’s citizens expect public services to be as personalized and responsive as what they receive from the private sector. Helping utilities to reimagine how digitalization can be used to enhance the end-to-end experience of public services across all touchpoints and lifecycle is critical. The goal is to improve service quality, promote transparent and efficient interactions, enhance the level of public trust in government and drive better citizen outcomes. To keep pace with this demand and meet this goal, modular and scalable digital platforms can enable organizations to better engage, inform, serve and connect with their communities online through a custom citizen portal.

In an environment of declining revenues and rising demand, utilities must find better ways of producing value through services, infrastructure and customer interaction. New solutions and services are available for utilities to reduce costs, improve productivity and optimize public value. Creating opportunities to explore new models for providing services, improve management of resources through smarter spending, and link the money invested in programs and services to the outcomes they produce for citizens will boost accountability and trust. Prompted by a rising movement to confront environmental justice and water equity, solutions must leverage technology to seamlessly facilitate, direct and empower both clients and their customers to make the right decisions towards the outcomes desired.

Network connected infrastructure helps organizations operate, manage and plan enterprise-wide business functions. But with increased connectivity comes a drastic increase in vulnerability to cyber-attacks. Furthermore, nation state cyber-attacks are on the rise due to global political tensions. Combined with a loss of critical infrastructure, the effect on public safety, significant financial, reputational and environmental damages and the potential for regulatory and civil legal action means organizations need to establish secure and customized cybersecurity programs.

Protecting organizations, their critical systems, and sensitive information from cyber-attacks is increasingly vital. Through assessing, improving and managing your environment, industry-leading cybersecurity practices can be applied through people, process and technical controls.

Economic growth, social cohesion and equality of opportunity rely on an organization’s workforce being skilled and ready to embrace the needs of 21st-century employers. Utilities need to build the skills and capabilities of their own employees to drive greater efficiencies, elevate customer focus and strengthen diversity and inclusion. In a competitive labor market, the public sector has not always been an employer of choice for top talent. Utilities need to do more to attract, retain and develop people with the required skills and capabilities across a wide range of areas.

Public utilities are taking steps to build core technical skills such as software development and systems architecture, as well as the new skills that support transformation. As they gradually build a more dynamic and responsive environment, utilities will attract younger workers who are in search of purpose-led roles where they can make a difference to society. Through focused and strategic talent development, utilities can also empower employees to be agile, life-long skill developers able to learn and apply new technological advances, thereby future-proofing utilities.

Infrastructure investment and development is one of the top priorities for modern utilities, imperative for poverty reduction, social progress and inclusive economic growth. Many of today’s most fundamental challenges—urbanization, globalization, pollution, water shortages and climate change—can be tackled with intelligent infrastructure developments such as connected infrastructure, intelligent water networks and plants, energy-efficient buildings, IoT networks and open data portals. Utilities that pursue policies to create the enabling environment for a thriving digital economy are setting themselves up to be future-ready. To do so, they need to work with private businesses to provide enhanced 4G and forthcoming 5G networks and data centers, create high digital literacy among citizens, promote digital inclusion, and enable secure access to service through digital identification systems.

The pandemic demonstrated the importance of digital innovation in surviving unexpected crises. Only those who are prepared to take risks, pivot, and try new approaches are likely to succeed in the long-term. Utility leaders need to rethink the way they do business and deliver public services. Embedding digitalization into every aspect of the operating model, from the back-end through to the citizen facing interfaces, is needed to adapt and evolve for the future.