Enabling Successful Digital Transformations in the Energy Sector

Whether it is the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, or the United Nations, organizations all agree that mitigating the impact of climate change requires digitalization in the energy sector. Yet, research continues to report digital transformation efforts in business models are failing at a rate of 68% to 73%. Respondents cited failure in leadership and employee resistance as their primary challenges, impacting their return on investment (ROI) for renewable energy.

Removing Inertia from the Energy Sector

The primary obstacle to successful digitization is the extraordinary inertia that plagues the energy sector. Energy companies have unique constraints that feed into the culture of inertia, such as:

• Risk. Investing in new energy sources or processes comes with risk. Miscalculations can be expensive, so many companies hesitate before moving into unchartered territories.
• Physics. Energy management companies typically avoid violating the law of physics, because the process is always costly and rarely successful. They’ve grown to accept constraint.
• Engineer driven approaches. Engineers are great at incorporating automation and data by finding the best solution within a set of parameters of machine learning. Unfortunately, many are focused on the perfect solution, which may not fit with business objectives. 
• Long tenures. Company executives often come from the ranks of the energy industry. They understand the physical constraints, the high risks, and the engineers’ thought processes. They are comfortable with how the sector operates.

These four characteristics create a culture that carefully weighs financial risks, loves Gantt charts, and favors a slow and meticulous implementation of sustainability.

Digital Transformation in the Energy Sector

Digital transformations require technology, but they shouldn’t be the focus. Whether artificial intelligence or data collection, the objective should focus on business outcomes. With a clear business objective, the project value can be assessed.

Take, for example, an energy company that has a documented process for transformer maintenance. The process involves a series of paper-based checklists detailing what actions should be taken on a daily, monthly, bi-annual and annual basis.

With GoCanvas, the process can be digitized to reduce downtime and optimize labor costs, improve efficiencies, and save money. All checklists would be converted to online forms that could be accessed from a smartphone or a desktop. Because the digital form would include what maintenance was performed when the field crew would know exactly what tools or service items to bring with them.

Each form or checklist would include:

• Transformer number
• Transformer location
• Date of last service
• Type of service

The transformer location could include a link to Google maps to help crews plan their day. When the crew finishes servicing a transformer, they complete the checklist, indicating the transformer number, location, and the date and type of service. They save the checklist and upload it for access by other programs or people.

Measuring Predictive Maintenance Outcomes for Your New Business Model

Digitizing the process eliminates the labor required to copy and distribute checklists, freeing administrative staff to perform more valuable tasks. Maintenance crews have access to their work order list and individual checklists no matter where the transformer is located. With access to Google maps and new technologies from within the form, maintenance personnel can map out their work schedule. Less travel time is needed because the crew can set their route to avoid retracing steps. 

Digitalization allows employees to complete the form while traveling to the next location, meaning less time doing paperwork and more time servicing transformers. If signoffs are required, the checklist can be forwarded for e-signing. When finished, the forms are uploaded for integration into back-office systems. No one needs to return to an office to file paperwork. Selecting a self-enclosed workflow such as transformer maintenance keeps the project small. Outcomes are measured by the number of transformers serviced in a day, month, or week. The time spent copying and distributing hard copies can be quantified, and the cost of copy supplies can be estimated. With outcomes clearly defined, it’s much easier to see the ROI in a digitized solution. With GoCanvas, such projects can be designed, tested, and delivered in minutes.

Building Success by Implementing Digital Forms in the Energy Sector

No matter how small the digital project may be, its success should serve as a stepping stone to the next. As more people experience the positive outcomes of implementing digital forms, the number of projects will increase within the energy market.

With a growing number of successful digital projects, energy companies can disrupt their inertia and start to build a strong foundation for digital transformation. According to McKinsey, energy companies with digital success improved production and yield from 2% to 10% and reduced costs by 10% to 30%. Incremental improvement that scale could be what ensures a company’s survival. 

Optimizing the Energy Sector with Digital Solutions

As the energy sector moves toward a more sustainable future, it must embrace digital transformation as part of the process. Integrating digital tools with data and other systems will help the energy sector and gas industry. They’ll improve operating efficiency, energy efficiency workforce effectiveness, energy production, worker safety, service delivery, and scale of transformation in end-to-end procurement and supply chain. For example, creating a decentralized energy framework means developing efficiencies by placing delivery mechanisms closer to the energy source.

However, capturing the data from remote locations needs digital forms so real-time, big data-driven decisions can be made. See how GoCanvas helped a petroleum transport company realize data collection efficiencies across the enterprise.

Transforming the Energy Sector with Digital Technologies

GoCanvas products were designed to help energy providers realize an immediate ROI through the implementation of digital forms and associated workflows. Suddenly the labor-intensive and time-consuming tasks can be handled smoothly. The collected data can be used by other programs to generate valuable insights. 

Using GoCanvas enables the energy sector to demonstrate digital successes that can fuel a digital transformation. Whether it is oil, gas, wind, or solar, GoCanvas’s solution provides customizable templates that can collect data from distributed locations. Real-time data can be integrated to deliver insights through data analytics. 

The process is simple.

1. Build the form.
2. Collect the data.
3. Share the data.

No programming skills are required. Contact GoCanvas to request a demo to see how to move your digital transformation forward.