Utility Technology Trends in 2023
The future of technology in the utility sector looks promising, with a continued focus on developing new and more powerful solutions.
Technology has been a driving force in the UK Utility industry, and its impact is only
expected to grow. Retailers are constantly seeking innovative solutions to
improve their operations and provide better experiences for their customers.
Wholesalers are looking to improve efficiency in their infrastructure and
operations.
Our predictions on the future of technology in utilities:
- Retailers will continue to leverage innovative technology more and more, in every aspect of their operations. The importance of future-proofing your business to take advantage of exponential innovation will grow (ideally software that is constantly being upgraded, highly integrated, fast onboarding)
- More retailers will develop their own technology. Some retailers will be successful and some will fail to deliver their own tech as it moves too far from their core business strengths. Sharing learnings will be key to industry growth.
- More powerful and innovative, Utility industry-focused technology, will continue to become more easily available at lower costs and is not restricted to large utility businesses.
- AI usage will continue to grow. Any repetitive tasks will be replaced by technology, leaving people to optimise processes, investigate exceptions, and customer service will be heavily complimented by AI
- Small agile lean functionality with high levels of integration will provide faster, cheaper, more powerful and more innovative technology
- More data will be created, and public awareness will grow – resulting in higher public accountability for operations and future planning.
How to prepare for the future tech demand:
- Legacy solutions:
- Technology is innovating quickly. Avoid solutions built on legacy technology that has not demonstrated or promised to include future innovation within your package.
- Slow and Expensive Large-Scale Transformations:
- Onboard small pieces of technology over time so you are receiving benefits from day one and always prioritising the biggest and most relevant wins for your business.
- Future Restrictions:
- Reduce the risk of restricting your architecture to one vendor or platform. Technology is changing exponentially, and the ideal position is one where you can utilise new technology as it becomes available.
- Trying to build everything yourself:
- It always sounds cheaper to build solutions yourself. This is rarely the case where a solution exists already and is cost-effective and tested. Choose which parts you can deliver quickly and which ones you can leverage from the existing market.
- Ignoring new global tech trends:
- Cutting-edge technologies such as Conversational AI or Homomorphic Encryption may seem far fetch or unrelated right now; however, can become a real part of daily business operations very quickly.
- Legacy solutions:
What to encourage:
- Integration without overcomplication
- Always be ready to plug in new solutions or replace ones that are no longer viable.
- Leverage the best tool for the job
- One all-encompassing platform is unlikely to be the best solution for all of your problems. If you can maintain the first point and integrate new solutions always choose the best one for that specific job.
- Fast adoption and experimentation
- It may sound repetitive now but failing fast and learning is still incredibly applicable to quick, incremental improvements.
- Internal ideation and innovation:
- Every business has a wealth of knowledge and ideas across its entire employee base. Get everyone involved in generating new ways to do things – and we mean everyone.
- Integration without overcomplication
Retailers and Wholesalers who remain at the forefront of technology innovation are giving themselves the best chance of success. They can focus on providing better customer experiences for lower costs and benefit the entire market with improved accuracies and efficiencies.
Whilst this was historically restricted to businesses pouring out huge amounts of
cash. The increased access to technology as well as the ability to combine
in-house solutions with cloud providers means any business of any size can
leverage the benefits of technology within hours or days.
At Valytica we have developed our business model with the above future state in
mind. We aim to help every retailer transform their operations to be powered by
technology and driven by their own internal people expertise and ideas. We understand
the importance of technology in the Utility industry, and our business model is
designed with the future state in mind. Our goal is to help every retailer and
wholesaler transform their operations and be powered by technology while
leveraging their internal expertise and ideas.