Energy Industry: A Complex Industry with Its Own Set of Challenges
In the energy industry, you are under constant pressure to respond to new developments and drive innovation forward – be it due to environmental or economic change processes, government regulations or technological advancements. This is the only way to remain successful in a dynamic market.
Besides new developments and innovations, you also have to deal with an extraordinarily large amount of data. Whether it is weather forecasts and precipitation levels or power plant output and metre readings – you need to connect your data intelligently to be able to draw meaningful conclusions and find efficient solutions.
For this reason, it is vital to have effective digitalisation strategies. Find out in our comprehensive white paper how the right strategy can help you overcome the challenges faced in the energy industry.
Challenges and Solutions in the Energy Industry
How Can You Digitalise and Automate Sales and Service Processes?
In the energy industry, service and interaction with customers are of particular importance. They form the basis for lasting customer loyalty and are key to acquiring new customers. Outstanding service is fundamental to ensuring a company's success.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems are crucial in this regard. A CRM solution allows you to automate sales, service and internal processes, which greatly increases efficiency between sales, marketing and customer service. You can, for example, use this tool to manage customer relationships efficiently and automatically or provide innovative self-service options such as tariff configurators, proactive maintenance options and AI-powered chatbots. Impress your customers with personalised content as well as automated offers and services. A CRM system helps you boost customer satisfaction and thus strengthen your competitiveness.
Find out in our »enviaM« success story how the energy service provider developed an effective CRM strategy for the energy industry.
How Can You Present Products and Services Transparently?
As the energy industry becomes increasingly digitalised, customers expect products and services to be presented clearly and transparently. To achieve this, you need to effectively distribute high-quality content across various channels. A powerful content management system (CMS) can be of great help here.
It enables you to set up highly functional online portals that optimise the presentation of your services and tariffs. Furthermore, the right online presence provides the perfect basis for professional search engine optimisation (SEO). A modern CMS allows you to organise your team's content creation and management workflows even more efficiently. Besides an improved customer experience, it also offers your team a better author experience. This increases satisfaction and productivity.
In our »Stadtwerke Jena« success story, we explain in detail how to successfully implement a CMS.
How Can You Intelligently Connect Energy Generation and Devices?
Decentralised energy generation is a central component of the energy transition. It requires you to effectively connect different types of devices (e.g. measuring, input or monitoring devices) with energy sources such as wind and solar. This is the only way to ensure efficient, balanced and reliable energy generation.
Work with our team to develop a comprehensive system integration roadmap based on a data strategy tailored to your workflows. You will benefit from increased process efficiency, data-based decision-making and reduced maintenance costs, making it significantly easier to maintain systems that are difficult to access.
Learn more about our integration services (iPaaS) and the data-driven business approach.
How Can You Ensure the Security of Your IT Systems?
As part of the critical infrastructure, the energy industry must meet the highest standards of security, compliance (data protection) and reliability. Especially since the stricter EU regulations (NIS 2), companies have been faced with the task of developing advanced cyber security strategies. This includes the integration of various solutions and the set-up of efficient early warning systems.
There are different strategies for maximising website and data security. Cloud solutions enable the encrypted and secure storage of data in the cloud. In addition to first-class protection, you can access your data from anywhere and at any time. On-premises systems, by contrast, allow you to process and store data in-house, which minimises the risk of failure. Hybrid strategies combine these strengths, thereby making it possible to create tailored solutions.
Benefit from professional consulting (including a web security check / penetration testing) and work with our team to identify the right security strategy for your company. Not only will this ensure compliance (e.g. with the NIS 2 Directive), but it will also help build trust with your target audience and stakeholders.
How Can You Deliver Consistent and Engaging Experiences?
In the energy industry, you are faced with the task of meeting the constantly changing expectations of your target audience. The biggest challenge here is to ensure excellent performance and a high level of usability while remaining accessible to customers at all times.
A website alone is no longer sufficient to fulfil these requirements. What it takes is a high-performance platform that integrates various communication channels and online tools to enable seamless customer experiences. This is exactly what a digital experience platform (DXP) provides.
By using a DXP, you can bring together applications, systems and different types of data. With the implementation of such a platform, you can efficiently combine content relating to your offers with tools such as tariff calculators and live chats. You can also strengthen your brand recognition with a responsive, user-friendly design. The key benefit is that you can deliver consistent and positive user experiences across all channels. This simplifies interaction with customers, which ultimately leads to increased efficiency and greater satisfaction among your target audience.
Our »EEX« success story shows how to successfully implement a CMS.
How Can You Make Sure Your Brand Is Easily Recognised?
A distinctive and carefully curated brand image is also essential in the energy industry to communicate effectively with your target audience. To set yourself apart from the competition in this complex market, you need to communicate and highlight your unique selling point as part of your brand image (e.g. sustainably generated green electricity).
The solution is a sophisticated brand experience design that provides you with an appealing corporate identity. Benefit from an in-depth target audience and customer journey analysis, personalised advertising materials, increased brand awareness, conversion rate optimisation and more.
Find out in our »TEAG« success story how an outstanding brand experience can help you boost your business success.
Energy Industry: Data-Driven, Interconnected and (Artificially) Intelligent
The energy industry is driven by data: generated electricity and gas volumes are measured precisely, energy prices are negotiated and customers can check their electricity and gas consumption to several decimal places.
In addition, government regulations and directives have accelerated digital transformation tremendously and increased the pressure on the energy industry to innovate.
This means that you need to have a suitable digitalisation strategy in place if you want to stand out with your business model: it is about optimising and automating processes and addressing your target audience appropriately – in both B2B and B2C commerce.
The right data-driven business strategy supports you in this. AI is also an effective tool for automating processes, thereby increasing your efficiency. It forms the basis for self-service options such as tariff configurators, online portals, chatbots and more.
You will only gain a competitive advantage if you meet the growing needs of your customers.
Besides modern sales channels, smart demand calculations, efficient forecasting, intelligent maintenance and the networking of various systems and devices are also important.
As part of a data-driven industry, you need to act with an eye to the future at all times. IT security and compliance must be taken into account as well. Our experienced team will be happy to assist you.
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FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions About Digitalisation of the Energy Industry
What does digitalisation of the energy industry refer to?
Digitalisation is a central component of the energy transition. The focus is on the use of new, digital technologies to increase efficiency and optimise data management. Renewable energies and decentralised energy generation make it extremely important to have access to relevant data. As the energy industry becomes increasingly digitalised, innovative business models and new ways of interacting with customers are emerging.
What is the energy industry all about?
The energy industry encompasses all sectors of the economy that are involved in the generation, conversion, distribution and sale or provision of energy and energy-related services. This includes all types of energy sources – from fossil fuels such as oil and gas to renewable energies such as wind and solar. Customers in the energy industry can come from both the industrial and private sectors.
How can digitalisation help you make your processes more efficient?
Thanks to innovative digitalisation technologies used in the energy industry, you can benefit from optimised data analytics, intelligent management and maintenance of systems, their networking and more. With a suitable digitalisation strategy, you can also automate numerous sales and service processes. We will be happy to evaluate which strategy is right for your business.
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