Case Study
The better the question The better the answer The better the world works
Case Study

Case study: How an integrated power utility became growth-centric through digital transformation

A South Asian power utility major was looking to focus more on its customers and growth.

Digital transformation in power utilities
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The better the question

Can digital transformation become the catalyst for organizational growth?

A power and utilities major sought digital solutions to meet customer demand and become future-ready.

Like many power and utility companies in the region, a South Asian major saw many opportunities for improvement in its financial and operational processes. The company saw many opportunities of technological adoption in core areas of business and operations which could prove crucial to reducing current inefficiencies.

The company sought a trusted advisor with strong industry and domain knowledge who could understand their specific problem areas and devise a long-term digital strategy and agile implementation plan to address them.

Reshaping the power sector
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The better the answer

We rolled out digital transformation targeted towards growth drivers.

EY identified major growth drivers and digitized processes for efficiency and agile decision-making.

In line with the national government’s vision of digitizing national services, the integrated power utility major embraced the vision of a “digital utility” and kickstarted its journey in this direction by preparing a digital transformation and IT strategy roadmap. EY played an instrumental role in creating this roadmap, which has since then been the gospel of all digital implementations at the utility. The transformation focussed on four major pillars ꟷ financial soundness, efficiency improvement, customer centricity and agile decision making. Key interventions undertaken by the integrated power utility, supported by EY involved four interventions.

Four areas of digital transformation which EY led at a South Asian integrated power utility

  • Agile decision making

    Revenue enhancement and customer centricity through unified Customer Information System and Advance Metering Infrastructure (AMI).

  • Efficiency improvement

    Process optimization across the value chain, realized through Enterprise Resource Planning.

  • Customer centricity

    Improved grid visibility, better distributed energy resources integration, system control and efficiency in operations through integrated AMI, outage management through SCADA, distribution management, outage management and GIS.

  • Agile decision making

    Enterprise robustness through modular data centre, security operations centre and network operations centre.

Source: EY’s engagement team for a South Asian integrated power utilities major

We utilized our tool and resources, including Power & Utilities Maturity Model and Architecture Tool (PUMMA) and Project Optimization Tool (EY- POTS) which are powered by analytics to perform real time monitoring of program and portfolio progress. These tools factor the dynamically transforming project ecosystem involving over 30 stakeholders (such as, contractors, consultants, multilateral agencies, and the regulatory ecosystem) while effectively and efficiently guiding every aspect of the multiple projects from conceptualization through design, implementation, and support.

Digitization of utilities operations
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The better the world works

The transformation unlocked functional efficiency across the enterprise.

We enabled the organization to adopt relevant and futuristic solutions keeping customers at the centre.

We are helping the integrated power utility unlock long-term efficiencies through the right set of solutions, timely implementation support, in-depth sectoral knowledge and market intelligence. By understanding their needs, building deep-rooted relationships, and providing valuable insights, we emerged as the utility’s consultant of preference.

Benefits of digital transformation for a South Asian utilities major

Our recommendations and support are leading the utility to take giant strides towards becoming a resilient, robust and future-ready power utility, taking conscious steps towards implementing digital initiatives centered around long-term sustainable impact and socio-development of the country.