Tech Vision 2024: Utilities industry perspective

This year’s Tech Vision marks an inflection point in the relationship between humans and technology. Technology is becoming more human and consequently more accessible. It helps people become more productive and better connected. “Human by Design” shifts technology from impersonal automation to human augmentation. It changes people’s approach to work. It democratizes the technologies and specialized knowledge that could only be accessed by the highly trained or deep-pocketed.

The utility industry faces a different inflection point. Decarbonization necessitates a dramatic change in the utility business model, across its entire value chain. Yet, utility providers are still tasked with delivering safe, reliable and affordable energy.

For any new business models, utilities can leapfrog their old technology stack and adopt immediately the tenets of Human by Design. But these same tenets can also help with existing processes. They help utilities to do more and do better than their peers – optimizing critical infrastructure, improving work order processing, and enhancing customer service.

As the energy transition progresses, utilities will have access to an increasingly powerful array of more human technologies to support completely new customer interactions.

Billing systems will change dramatically to support different customer relationships. The role of the contact center will change. Many more customer contact points will be created, while customer expectations will rise based on the standards set by other industries. Grid management systems will support more complex and digitized infrastructure.

A new, virtual workforce of autonomous agents will help manage the increasing complexity of customer relationships. For simpler processes, they will replace human agents, but augment them when completing more complex tasks.

In operations, intelligent interfaces will transform how staff interact with information and software. Spatial technologies will blend digital and physical worlds. Even technologies like brain-computer interfaces that once sounded like science fiction are starting to find enterprise use cases. For example, utilities can use these technologies to monitor field workers’ stress levels when operating in hazardous situations.

97% of Utilities executives agree that AI agents will begin to collaborate with other agents to accomplish organizational tasks.

Don’t just take our word for it. Almost all utility executives agree: 98% of utilities executives believe that making technology more human will massively expand the opportunities of every industry.

93% of Utilities executives agree that with rapid technological advancements, it is more important than ever for organizations to innovate with purpose.

A match made in AI

The recent developments of Gen AI epitomize the shift to more human technologies. It is revolutionizing the way we interact with information. Something as basic as online search is being transformed. Moving from simple data retrieval, Gen AI will provide data-led advice or answers. Utilities executives are virtually unanimous about how Gen AI will transform the way the industry interacts with data. 97% agree that the way we interact with data will change, from searching for information to asking questions and receiving direct advice and answers.

Gen AI’s ability to create new content is the real game-changer, and represents a huge leap in the evolution of AI in utilities. The journey began with diagnostic analytics – analyzing data, running scenarios and segmenting customers.

Then it became predictive – producing models and forecasts, optimization simulations and recommendations engines. Now it’s becoming generative. Rather than analyze existing information, Gen AI creates new, original content – advising on actions, creating code, automating processes and improving security.

Gen AI chatbots are transforming how employees search for data, from operations and maintenance through to the contact center and company websites. It will also transform the futures of software and data-driven enterprises.

Accenture research suggests 38% of working hours in utilities can be either automated or augmented by Gen AI, delivering a potential 25% productivity uplift and create an additional $334B in value.

There are many areas where Gen AI could have a positive impact, but not all impacts are equal. It’s therefore imperative to assess Gen AI’s potential impact on cost cutting, revenue uplift, productivity gains and customer benefits.

It’s also important to understand that Gen AI’s ease of deployment varies. The effort required to integrate, upskill, gain regulatory compliance, and access sufficient learning data depends on each specific use case.

Currently, Gen AI is not plug and play technology. However, the technology is rapidly maturing. Vendors are building out co-pilots and core capability to make deployments easier, so enterprises will not have to build their own.

Enterprises will need a fresh approach to data management, however. Regardless of the software that drives it, Gen AI will always rely on robust learning data, accessed through a strong digital core.

Without this digital core, utilities will always face the issue of how to access this data – particularly when addressing use cases in operations. When operations and systems are siloed, so is the data. Few utilities operate a single data repository from which Gen AI can derive insights.

For that reason, Gen AI could well be the catalyst for greater investment into utilities’ digital core. Most utility executives concur. 96% of them agree that generative AI will compel their organization to modernize its technology architecture.

Importantly, Gen AI must be responsible. As AI becomes more human, so the ethical implications of its use rises to the fore. It’s imperative we align Gen AI’s use with human values and take steps to prevent or mitigate any negative effects.

Responsible AI minimizes unintended bias, ensures transparency and builds trust. Therefore, it’s important to empower employees to raise any doubts they may have about AI-generated output, protect privacy and the security of data and analytics, potentially through the use of an AI ethics board.

Meet my agent

Where in the utility value chain will Gen AI have the greatest impact? Retail is primed for many results-oriented use cases. Gen AI can add value to core operations, customer enablement, compliance, and regulatory advisory.

Gen AI agents promise to change the world of work for many. The focus shifts from assisting people to action-led tasks. In the near-future, whole ecosystems of AI agents could support major aspects of the utility business. Instead of generating ideas, AI agents can either work together to perform specific tasks, or complement human activity.

96% of Utilities executives agree that the capabilities of AI are expanding, moving from assisting to acting independently.

Think of the possibilities Gen AI agents can bring, just in the contact center. The current suite of chatbots have only delivered mixed customer success because their answers are only as smart as the chatbot designer. Gen AI chatbots come armed with next-level functionality. They can help directly with customer support, from advice on payment plans and program certifications, through product and service recommendations.

In the future, customer relationships will be far more complex. Many more households will adopt solar, storage and EVs, and customer affordability will continue to be an issue. Gen AI will be central to managing the intricacy of new business models focused on energy management and flexibility as much as they will basic energy supply.

The same technology can help agents as much as customers. In fact, it’s where Accenture recommends utilities start on the AI journey. Not only can AI agents transcribe calls, they can analyze transcripts to provide short summaries for a customer record, identify changes in customer sentiment over time, produce post-call follow-up recommendations, and perform detailed root cause analysis to identify the reasons customers call.

98% of Utilities executives agree that leveraging AI agent ecosystems will be a significant opportunity for their organization in the next 3 years.

Initially, there will be more compelling use cases for Gen AI in retail than elsewhere in the value chain. There are already several that will transform operations, but Accenture expects this number to grow rapidly. In time, the benefits in operations could exceed those in retail. From work routing and asset management through to predictive models, Gen AI promises a new frontier in optimization.

Today’s leaders may have deployed simple RPA bots or analytic models. They can now move to more sophisticated AI. And organizations that have so far done little to automate processes can leapfrog their competitors by implementing the most advanced AI straight away.

While Gen AI shifts automation from assistive to action-led, it is important to remember the need for human guidance. In the early days of RPA, enterprises were keen to use the technology to reduce headcount. That then shifted when organizations realized RPA’s true value was only delivered when it assisted and augmented humans, not replaced them.

Gen AI is similar. While it offers much, robust governance, guidance and oversight is critical if it is to deliver all it promises.

The space we need

The Space We Need is all about creating value in new realities. Utilities will create new value from spatial computing in two ways.

First, utilities will gain from all other industries’ adoption of spatial computing. The infrastructure that runs spatial models is compute-heavy and will draw a lot of power. The increased power demand from data centers running spatial computing and complementary AI functionality will be a new source of revenue for the industry. As quantum computing moves out of the lab and into the mainstream, this energy requirement will only increase further.

Second, many use cases for spatial computing are emerging in the utilities space. Spatial computing builds on all the existing work utilities have done developing digital twins. What is new is that spatial computing helps fuse together the digital with the physical. The net result is a more human, enriching experience than previous efforts.

96% of Utilities executives agree that spatial computing will be used to build enriching experiences that have a sense of space and feel lived in, providing a realistic alternative or enhancement to in person experiences.

Spatial computing offers utilities many benefits, from asset planning to training. As networks become more complex, spatial computing can provide more realistic and accurate simulations of future networks, helping operators accurately plan for the grid’s future needs.

The same tools can also be used as an advanced customer engagement tool. For example, many renewables integration projects have been beset by planning delays. A realistic spatial model provides a more human approach to community and regulatory engagement,and can be used in the early stages of planning and permitting to demonstrate what new assets will look like in 3D.

94% of Utilities executives agree their organization plans to create a competitive advantage leveraging spatial computing.

Our bodies electronic

The next wave of human interface technologies can help utilities better understand their employees. These emerging technologies can read, understand, and adapt to humans instead of humans adapting to technology. If properly designed, utilities can design more natural interactions with human interface technologies, which has particular resonance in an industry where health and safety are paramount.

97% of Utilities executives agree human interface technologies will let us better understand behaviors and intentions, transforming human-machine interaction.

Across the value chain, from nuclear power stations and offshore assets, and across the grid, utilities manage high-risk assets in hazardous locations. Wearables will help maintain the industry’s safety-first approach.

Our Bodies Electronic is the next frontier for utility safety, helping reduce accidents and save lives. The list of use cases is huge. It includes connecting human interface technologies with drones while performing visual asset inspections, vegetation management, identifying and assessing hazards.

While this is not net-new technology, it is rapidly advancing. So much more can be done in real time. It has become much easier to spin up projects, much faster, and at a much lower cost.

Conclusion

Technology and the utilities industry are both experiencing important inflection points. As utilities pivot their operations to the new realities of decarbonization, they will increasingly rely on new tools to manage significant new complexity. The winners in this new world will be those who reinvented their organizations to focus on customer needs, and become more Human by Design.