Advancements in digital technology continue to play a strategic role in realising change for global energy systems, as the likelihood of a low-carbon energy future increases. They have also allowed for unprecendented innovations and developments in decarbonisation and decentralisation.
To this end, DNV GL’s Digitalization and the future of energy report has uncovered new insights and analyses based on extensive surveys with over 2,000 professionals across the global value chain. The report’s findings can be broken down into three core areas of focus: (1) Technology and Data, (2) People and Digital Skills, and (3) Strategy and Business Case.
In its most recent edition, the report identified several trends and developments that will have a great impact on how stakeholders create value by harnessing digital technology, people and business strategies. Some highlights include:
- Only one-fifth of organisations feel they are leading the industry in digital maturity: While the study has uncovered that two-fifths of respondents surveyed have digitalisation as part of their public-facing business strategy, only 42 per cent of organisations feel they are on par with the industry standard.
- Cloud computing — once described as emerging — has become mainstream: That said, newer technologies such as blockchain, augmented reality and virtual reality are still considered to be in their infancy with little and no significant impact within respondents’ organisations.
- Longstanding barriers to digitalisation such as lack of digital skills and mindset still remain: Demand for digital skills training remains high with 91 per cent of participants regarding it as fundamental area of investment for their organisation.
- Nearly half of the respondents rank improving efficiencies as the top reasons for their digitalisation efforts: Reducing costs comes in second, higher than creating new products or services and enhancing customer connection in selection of seven reasons.
As various digital technologies mature, new disruptions to traditional ways of working will emerge from across the energy landscape. As such changes take shape, calls for stakeholders to maintain their investments in digital electricity infrastructure and software remain.
DNV GL’s report also highlights the need for companies to take greater efforts to overcome internal hurdles to more effectively put digitalisation at the core of their business. This will likely entail efforts to hire or instil the right attitude, skills and mindset among employees.
Furthermore, success in the new energy era is not determined via who implements new technologies first. Rather, DNV GL’s report says a robust and dynamic strategy along with a ready mindset will allow stakeholders to truly unlock and create value in a new energy future.
Get an in-depth look at these and other predictions by reading the full report, at: DNV GL: Digitalization and the future of energy.