{"id":6430,"date":"2022-06-24T21:29:14","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T20:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theoaklandgroup.co.uk\/?p=6430"},"modified":"2025-09-25T06:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T06:57:09","slug":"digital-transformation-in-utilities-an-uphill-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weareoakland.com\/blog\/digital-transformation-in-utilities-an-uphill-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital transformation in utilities: An uphill battle?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This won\u2019t surprise you, but digital transformation is really hard. It\u2019s even harder when you\u2019re working in a heavily regulated industry with legacy systems, messy data, and impatient stakeholders. We can all wax lyrical about how things should be (predictive maintenance, anyone?) but getting there is a tricky journey for a large energy or utility business. Most of the time, the desire for solutions outstrips organisational patience, with everyone racing off in different directions simultaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are the one trying to drive meaningful digital transformation (for digital transformation, read data-driven transformation), it can be a nightmare. People set out with good intentions, but they can end up accidentally creating more of the problems you\u2019re trying to solve. This triggers a downward spiral of frustration and reactive behaviour that ends up with no one being able to access the information they really want, complexity growing exponentially, and money being wasted left, right and centre. It can be a thankless job if you\u2019re responsible for data transformation or delivering a data strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is that real, systemic change can take years, and it doesn\u2019t start with the shiny stuff. You need to show your colleagues a different way forward. Everyone needs to stop talking to those beguiling tech vendors and focus on the data holy trinity of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Data Strategy.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll need a persuasive one that has executive backing. This is Utilities, not Fintech, so long-term investment in strategic data capabilities is not a given. This means you need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7      Clear, specific objectives for monetising the organisation\u2019s data, backed up with a target operating model and<\/strong> a strategic roadmap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7      Alignment to business strategy and critical organisational goals. As in, properly aligned, not just lifting a few buzzwords or an infographic from your last \u2018meet the CEO\u2019 session<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.      Enterprise Data Model(s).<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Actually, your stakeholders will constantly be asking for this; they just don\u2019t know they are. People complain about what is staring them in the face \u2013 poor data quality, low data access, inaccuracy, and conflicting truths. The real cause of their pain is that there is no underlying information framework or shared vocabulary for your organisation. There are as many truths as there are organisational siloes, and the kinds of cross-functional insights that unlock value are cut off before they can emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.      Data Governance.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not a crowd-pleaser, but also non-negotiable. We mean proper, business-wide effort to get on top of and maintain organisational data,  not just a few hardy souls in IT or the data team fighting a futile battle against indifference. It is critical not to blur accountability or give data owners even the faintest hint that someone else will do it. Find them, provide them with a process and repeat ad infinitum: manage and monitor, manage and monitor\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sitting behind all this is a shift in underlying mindset: from impatiently pursuing point solutions to building enduring foundations. The hard part is to sell it to an organisation that wants quick fixes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The temptation is to put together a detailed presentation about your ideas, backed up by many best practice examples and quotes from textbooks. The problem is, nobody really cares. Theory is never as powerful as the audience seeing capability in action and what it can do for them. People need to experience the benefit of doing it differently, and they need to experience it quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Oakland, we\u2019ve got a way of doing this. We call them \u2018Lighthouse projects\u2019 \u2013 self-contained, high-impact initiatives which take a narrow scope but drive deep through the data value chain. Think of them as a chance to lay the first few bricks of a much bigger building. The trick here is picking self-contained problems but offering the opportunity to demonstrate strategic data capabilities in action. That means knowing your organisation. If you\u2019re in the Energy or Utilities business, here are a few examples of what we\u2019ve seen work well in organisations like yours:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.      Major capital projects are nearly always where utilities make big bets but are notoriously hard to track and risk assure. Can you bring that data together at last? It shows the value of a data model and platform in action in an area most of your senior team are secretly (or not so secretly) stressed about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.      Find a specific, legacy operational process or application nobody\u2019s happy with and build it back better and cheaper (preferably with open source tools in the cloud). Here\u2019s one we prepared earlier! https:\/\/bit.ly\/3bYXPv7<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.      Pick a few key assets or sites, profile the data, and then work with the local teams to clean it up. Show the impact on data quality but also, crucially, on outcomes. How many fewer abandoned work orders were there from the improved equipment records? It\u2019s Data Governance in action. It makes everyone\u2019s life easier, and it\u2019s not as hard as you think if everyone does their bit. I mean, it\u2019s still pretty hard, but the important things are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you pick the right Lighthouse projects, the wider organisational relevance of what you\u2019re doing should be clear and easy to explain, even to a (previously) sceptical audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you\u2019ve landed some of these projects and built momentum, the case for a more significant investment in data capability is much easier to make. Now you can mobilise that wide-reaching, strategic investment in data capability that you’ve known all along is required. Who knows, that headache you\u2019ve had for the last five years might even go away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019d like to speak to one of our utilities experts, please click on the link below to book a discovery call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Contact us<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This won\u2019t surprise you, but digital transformation is really hard. It\u2019s even harder when you\u2019re working in a heavily regulated industry with legacy systems, messy data, and impatient stakeholders. We can all wax lyrical about how things should be (predictive maintenance, anyone?) but getting there is a tricky journey for a large energy or utility…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":6457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[402],"tags":[174,333,7,30,42,334,335],"class_list":["post-6430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-data-strategy","tag-data-consultancy","tag-data-consultant","tag-data-governance","tag-data-strategy","tag-digital-transformation","tag-digital-transformation-in-utilities","tag-enterprise-data-model"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDigital Transformation in Utilities: An Uphill Battle?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Oakland Group specialise in digital transformation within utilities including data strategy, governance and building data 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