ACCENTURE UTILITIES

Enabling the
Utility Business
of the Future
Bringing traditional and new products
and services together in the cloud
Contents
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Utilities Building the Enabling new Planning your
require new foundation of business with transformation
strategies the future utilities cloud
 Delivering new
energy experiences
for future growth
Utilities
require new
strategies
The business context:
Slower-growing margins, new business models
Changing customer expectations
Their new normal is a connected energy experience across traditional and new products and services

Digital tech exposes new opportunities

Including digital customer journeys, online sales and services, personalisation and AI-driven customer operations

Slower demand for energy

As electrification of transport and heating are offset by energy efficiency measures and distributed energy resources

The race to renewables

They’re competing with and beating traditional generation sources on price

Businesses make climate commitments

Alongside increasingly ambitious government-led sustainability targets and regulation

Investors want sustainable businesses

The financial industry looks to innovative, green-focused utilities as the energy business of the future

New competitors are moving in

Auto manufacturers, tech companies, oil and gas majors and start-ups are all looking to capture part of the market
The energy
transition is here,
and now is the time
for energy companies to
capitalize.
We’ve identified four
strategic plays to
execute on the
emerging
opportunities,
depending on the
individual context.
Now is the time for energy companies
to seize the initiative

1 Energy value
provider
Commodity focus, with value-added
2 Energy & home
services provider
Adding “status quo” services in
3 Connected energy services
provider
Offering future-forward energy
services to improve retention tandem with commodity products and services

Focuses on increasing customer
lifetime value by offering extra
services to drive perceived value and
customer “stickiness” without the
intent to generate additional profit.
In addition to commodity sales, this
play includes offering closely related
“status-quo” home services
(e.g. smart home) to customers—with
the intent to generate additional profit.
Provides products and services for
emerging opportunity areas like
energy management, distributed
energy resources, electronic vehicles
and flexibility, with the intent to tap
into new and fast-growing profit pools.

4 Beyond Pivoting into manufacturing, technology services

energy related to the energy transition, and addressing
other emerging needs in the new power
ecosystem.

Source: Accenture Research – New Energy Consumer 2020

1 Energy value provider
What?
Focus on commodity, and offer value-added services to
retain more customers

How?
This means focusing on increasing a customer’s lifetime
value by offering extra services

Why?
To drive perceived value and customer ‘stickiness’, without
the aim of generating additional profit
2 Energy and home services provider
What?
Adding extra available services to customers, alongside the
commodity

How?
Businesses can offer home services closely related to
commodity sales, such as smart home technology

Why?
These extra services are designed to generate additional
profit
3 Connected energy services provider
What?
Offering innovative energy products and services

How?
By providing products and services for emerging
opportunities, such as energy management, distributed
energy resources, electronic vehicles and flexibility

Why?
To tap into new and fast-growing opportunities for profit
4 Beyond energy
What?
Pivoting into manufacturing and technology services related to
the energy transition

Addressing other emerging needs in the new power ecosystem

Making it real,
Building the
foundation
of the future
Energy companies can go beyond the traditional
commodity model to drive growth

Switching from a high-volume, Transforming the traditional

low-margin business business capabilities

A low-volume, Digital, intelligent and

high-margin business automated capabilities

• It takes both evolution and revolution

• Optimising the core business and supporting new business models
• With the right platform in place, this challenging transition can go smoothly
Reimagining
and enabling the
utility business of
the future, together
Transform the business model to become more agile and efficient,
achieving business goals and outperforming the competition.
Utilities cloud:
bringing the platform
for success to life
A digital cloud platform drives flexibility
and intelligence, and takes core
capabilities to the next level.
The transition to a connected energy business requires

Front office transformation

1 Shifting from traditional marketing, sales and service capabilities to
intelligent marketing, digital sales and automated self-service capabilities.
Deregulation processes for the market communication must become part
of the cloud software, so updates of regulatory changes happen
automatically, saving time and effort.

Back office transformation

2 Moving from the classic meter-to-cash process to a lead-to-cash process,
supporting commodity and non-commodity operations.

Implementing a digital platform

3 Drives flexibility and intelligence while core capabilities are taken to the
next level.
The benefits
of utilities cloud
Intelligent marketing
Enables new business models supporting commodity
and non-commodity operations and bundles of
products and services

Digital sales
Provide an online storefront with central product
catalogue where customers can buy commodity,
non-commodity and bundles

Automated service
With streamlined end-to-end operations to enhance
customer experience, including self-service
processes, supported by bots and digital assistants

Order to cash
Non-differentiating processes in the back office can
be optimised through simplification, standardisation
and automation
The benefits of utilities cloud
Digital platform
• Deregulation processes are provided as a service
• Central and streamlined data model with best practice from end to end,
integrated across every building block
• Transform legacy infrastructure into a decoupled platform for increased
flexibility and extensibility
• Central data hub and integrated external source to enable a full 360-view
of the customer and a foundation for new business models
• Gain insight into existing customer base and behaviour, with details of
activity and more efficient processes
• Enhance the agent experience with consistent user experiences and
intelligent system (ML/AI) support
• Fully cloud enabled, with a SaaS license model and continuous innovation
• Runs on a hyper-scaler for increased scalability, and can be combined
with differentiating capabilities of the cloud platform

New business models enable additional revenue streams

Decoupling drives flexibility and extensibility
Intelligence increases efficiency and customer satisfaction
Cloud solution comes with continuous innovation and scalability
Enabling
new business
with utilities cloud
Your customers expect a tailored service.
Your route to transformation is equally unique.

There are many ways to get there:

• Transformation could start in the front office, back office or both
• You could leave your commodity business as is and set up a new business
in the cloud, migrating when the time is right

To succeed:
• Define the future role you want to play as a utility
• Set out the guiding architecture that supports your goals and gives you flexibility to transform
• Find your right path to get to the destination – consider business value, business priorities and
technology readiness From other projects I know that ‘North Star’ is a term that Accenture
uses a lot. I’ve taken it out of the presentation as it may seem like consultancy speak, but we
can add back in if needed.
Move at your own pace
Transform the customer experience first, the back office, or both at once
SAP® Cloud for Utilities
Probably the most complete end-to-end solution for traditional and new business models

• Combines SAP C/4HANA customer experience functionality with SAP S/4HANA® for efficient back office operations
• Cloud for Utilities represents the digital platform of the Cloud for Utilities with all its benefits
• Links front and back office, handling the complexities of a modern architecture for both traditional and new
business processes

The strengths of SAP

• Strong solutions for digital marketing, sales and service to enhance customer experiences
• Simplifies, automates and integrates back office processes
• A cloud-native digital platform that is unique in the industry

Cloud for Utilities in detail

• An extensible, central data model that gives a 360-view of customers across business areas and software
• Based on microservices and comes with open APIs that can be consumed easily by any application
• Drives decoupling for utilities, increases flexibility and enables extensibility of the SAP system’s core with additional
data sources and business applications
Accenture and SAP

• Accenture is co-developing the SAP Cloud for Utilities software, focusing on the digital platform
• We collaborate with a consortium of customers to understand their needs and challenges
• This encourages innovation in partnership, creating solutions relevant for the industry

Accenture’s expertise:
• Extensive experience in the utilities sector
• Proven approach for business and IT transformation
• Knowledge of new as-a-Service business models
• Agility in applying technology innovations
• Experience in integrating solutions and partners within one architecture

The landscape is open, enabling businesses to leverage multiple applications – with Accenture as the
perfect partner to orchestrate transformation
Planning your
transformation
Milestones on your journey to transformation
You may have needs and goals that are similar to other utility businesses, but the role you want to play and the
priorities that define your transformation are unique.

1 3
Your strategy – the role you want to play in Your priorities – these will determine the
the energy ecosystem. This is the foundation path you take to achieve your strategy
for all the steps you need to take to succeed

2
Your architecture – this guides your journey
and must be based on your strategy. It’s your
blueprint for transforming technology
Conclusion:
Technology &
Business Capabilities

Technology & business capabilities go hand

in hand as you work towards your optimum
architecture, unleashing value and enabling
speedy transformation
Let’s get started on
your transformation
How we can help:
• Assess your current situation and define your future needs
• Develop a value case (2-3 weeks) and a comprehensive
business case and roadmap (2 months) for your transition
• Define a future-proof architecture based on your needs
• Support your transformation at every step:
• During pre-planning and preparation
• When implementing the transformation
• For taking care of your application landscape
• In running your business process operations
You can rely
on Accenture
We bring you unique capabilities:
• Industry benchmarks, leading assets and best
practices with Accenture myConcerto
• Industry-specialised capabilities to
support you throughout the journey
• Co-development partnership with SAP
About Accenture Vincent Nguyen
Accenture is a global professional services company with leading
vincent.nguyen@accenture.com
capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched
experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries,
we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and
Operations services—all powered by the world’s largest network of
Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our Benjamin Bender
537,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human benjamin.bender@accenture.com
ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We
embrace the power of change to create value and shared success
for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities.
Visit us at www.accenture.com.