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  • compilation of city scape and digital lanscapee

    New research analyzes correlation between digitalization and the energy transition

    What is the relationship between the energy transition and digital transformation? What are the key drivers and inhibitors of these critical efforts? To answer these questions and more, Eaton contracted 451 Research, a subsidiary of S&P Global Market intelligence to conduct an international research effort, focused on four key, power-critical market segments: utilities, data centers, industrials, and buildings.
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Brightlayer Digital Innovation

The intersection of digital transformation and the energy transition

by 451 Research/S&P Global Market Intelligence, 11/07/2022

Key takeaways:

ENERGY, POWER AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

A lot of talk, but not as much action – Only 50% of respondents consider themselves in the ‘execution’ phase of digital transformation today, compared to 47% in consideration and 3% with no digital strategy at all.

Talent/upskilling remains a significant challenge – The majority of enterprises (74%) say that they are in the process of building a digitally skilled staff but have room for improvement. Just 22% describe their in-house digital capabilities today as ‘strong’.

Many companies are still just testing the waters – Similarly, 74% of companies say that they have adopted ‘some’ digital technologies while just 22% claim that ‘broad’ adoption (and 5% no adoption at all).

For enquiries regarding the use of data, charts or information contained in this report, email research@eaton.com
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As digital transformation advances across the corporate landscape, enterprises are increasingly adjusting their focus on operational transformation with new approaches to managing and optimising energy consumption and power usage – driven by the same digital technologies and insights.

451 Research, a technology research group within S&P Global Market Intelligence
Eaton-Infographic-digital-transformation-and-the-energy-transition-us-en.png

The merging of operational optimisation and energy transition efforts to inform digital transformation is a clear best practice to help enable asset-intensive and power-critical firms to fully transform how they do business. 

Focusing only on process- or people-centric change without considering the major transitions occurring in energy and power is both risky and sub-optimal, leaving significant cost savings and business transformation gains on the table. Energy and power transition is also a critical requirement in its own right, contributing to the business and societal goals of sustainability and enhanced Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting and investing.

Digital transformation – enabled by the analytics-driven intersection of traditional operational technology (OT) and modern information technology (IT) – is critical for all industries and key to competitive, financial and operational excellence. While digital change has become a priority in corporate board rooms, it is an evolution still in its infancy requiring c-level buy-in, up-skilling of digital capabilities and the adoption of enabling digital technologies.
View the infographic

Key segment insights

Pressing issues like supply chain and labour shortages are driving demand for digitalisation

Just 24% of industrial respondents chose energy and power concerns as a top digital transformation driver. Those that prioritise it cited renewables adoption as their most critical energy goal. Early adopters that embrace energy and power intelligence could gain significant competitive advantage.

Utilities are torn between digitalisation and updating their existing infrastructure

The utility sector is at a critical transition point – it is challenged to keep current grid and service levels in place among increasing demands and ageing legacy infrastructure while facing the need to change service models and the opportunity to apply data insights to optimise operations. Digitalisation can either be seen as a key to their success or in competition with more pressing challenges.

Energy measurement/monitoring technologies are a must to for building operators to meet sustainability goals

Being sustainable is the top goal for the sector, prioritised by 46% of respondents over resiliency and inhabitant comfort. ‘Smart building’ efforts targeting sustainability are already under way – 76% of building respondents said they are deploying environmental monitoring digital use cases today, a first step towards broader energy management.

Data centres are looking to next-generation revenue and operational models.

The sector is looking to leverage its inherent digital savvy to leverage energy transition trends to enhance the bottom line and increase shareholder value. Increasing use of renewables (cited by 50% of data centre owners), improving energy storage (47%) and making money selling generated power back to the grid (34%) – steps further leveraging energy transition as a key sector change.

  • Brightlayer: Bringing the future into focus

    No matter how you want to drive digital enablement, Brightlayer lets you access data, insights and digital solutions to best meet your business needs. It all starts with your assets and the data they can provide you. We're focused on helping you capitalise on the data and insights from those assets to drive operational value.
Eaton is an intelligent power management company dedicated to improving the quality of life and protecting the environment for people everywhere. We are guided by our commitment to do business right, to operate sustainably and to help our customers manage power ─ today and well into the future. By capitalizing on the global growth trends of electrification and digitalization, we’re accelerating the planet’s transition to renewable energy and helping to solve the world’s most urgent power management challenges.
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