The future for energy providers will not be about a single product or service. It will be shaped through digital industry platforms and ecosystems that fuel real-time business models, emerging energy solutions and customer powered innovation.
The so-called ‘platform economy’ is one of five major trends identified in Accenture’s 2016 Technology Vision. Digital platforms enable developers to build applications that facilitate collaboration, workflow and value across industries and geographies more seamlessly and more quickly than ever before.
Platform-based business models will create the foundations for the next wave of digital disruption: interconnected ecosystems that straddle markets and blur industry boundaries. 81 percent of our 2016 Technology Vision survey respondents expect such models to become part of their organization’s core growth strategy within three years.
Accenture believes that the utilities industry is poised on the brink of its own digital energy platform (r)evolution. According to Wytse Kaastra, Accenture Managing Director – Energy Consumer Services, the platform economy opens up new competitive arenas for utilities companies in which partnering with a variety of players within the digital energy ecosystem can create value both for consumers and for the utility company. Utilities companies must dare to attack their own business models and develop new businesses … or risk being disrupted themselves. To do this means partnering with a variety of players within the digital energy ecosystem to create value both for consumers and for the utility company.
However, the implications of a platform solution on a business can fundamentally affect its strategy, business model, operating model and capabilities for the future. For utilities companies envisioning future value propositions and interactions with new energy consumers in the context of the shifting industry landscape it will require a nimble, learning mindset and a culture of continuous innovation.
And it’s already happening. For example, Eneco is partnering with Tesla to offer consumers a charging service for electric vehicles. With the consumer’s specified timeline and battery preferences, the service automatically charges the car battery when the price is low. Eneco plans to extend the platform to other car manufacturers.
Discover the 7 platform types emerging in energy consumer services and their common characteristics.
Read more about Seizing the digital energy platform (r)evolution and download the full report on the New Energy Consumer in a digital world.
This article has been co-written with Charles-Henri Gernay.
