Today’s fast-paced utility industry is experiencing significant disruption due to the digital era. The industry is being transformed by the integration of digital technologies into all aspects of the energy value chain, from production and distribution to consumption and customer service.
The rise of renewable energy sources, energy storage technologies, and the Internet of Things (IoT) and enterprise mobility has made it possible to optimize energy use and reduce waste, leading to greater efficiency and cost savings.
Digital transformation is giving rise to new marketplaces for agile utility businesses. For example, new technologies like renewable energy, energy storage, and smart grids are disrupting the traditional utility business model that involves –- Electric Power
- Natural Gas
- Steam Supply
- Water Supply
- Sewage removal
To help the utility industry meet challenges head on, SAP has brought together their intelligent, robust and secure industry-leading SAP S/4HANA ERP Software & VC ERP utilizes the best practices for industry implementation captured through decades of experience working together.
This article outlines four trends utility companies should address in future and shows how SAP S/4HANA implemented by VC ERP Consulting can help organizations become high-performing digital companies of the future.
Four Key Trends to Watch: Transforming the Energy and Utility Landscape
To address the challenges posed by disruptive forces in their industry, energy and utility companies must establish strategic priorities in below mentioned four key areas –
Enable Resilient Revenue Streams
The energy industry is undergoing a rapid transformation driven by the increasing deployment and cost competitiveness of renewable energy technologies. These disruptive technologies are changing the way electricity is generated, distributed, and consumed, and are leading to the emergence of new business models and revenue streams.By adapting to this changing energy landscape and implementing SAP S/4HANA you can develop new partnerships and offerings, embrace new business models and remain competitive and thrive in the evolving energy market.
Enhance Customer Experience
Utility businesses are keeping up with the changing relationships with and expectations of their customers to remain competitive in today’s market. Digitalization offers numerous opportunities for energy and utility companies to engage with their customers and meet their needs more effectively.SAP S/4HANA helps you to gain valuable insights into customer behaviors, preferences, and needs. These insights can be used to develop targeted marketing and sales strategies, improve customer service, and enhance overall customer experience.
Maximize B2B Value Propositions
Emergence of intelligent technologies is transforming the energy and utility industry, enabling both utility companies and their customers to monitor and manage energy usage more effectively. These technologies are giving business customers the ability to monitor and control their energy usage beyond the meter, with greater granularity and precision than ever before.This granular data can help businesses identify opportunities to reduce energy waste and optimize their energy usage, leading to cost savings and a reduced carbon footprint.
Utility businesses can leverage SAP S/4HANA to provide value-added services to their business customers. For example, they can offer real-time energy usage monitoring and reporting, demand response programs, and customized energy usage recommendations. These services can help businesses reduce their energy consumption, improve their sustainability, and save money on their energy bills.
Cutting-edge Cost Management Approaches
The utility industry is going through changes due to various factors such as increasing demand for clean energy, the emergence of new technologies, and changing customer expectations. Despite these changes, utilities must continue to provide safe, reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable service to their customers.To achieve this, utilities need to implement SAP S/4HANA to transform their processes and reduce costs in their core business areas. With SAP S/4HANA, your utility business can meet the changing needs of their customers, reduce their operational costs, and contribute to a more sustainable energy future.
In order to remain competitive and take advantage of these changes, the utility industry needs to address the challenges posed by the above -mentioned four trends shaping their future. Now we talk about SAP S/4HANA that helps utility businesses take advantage of these trends.Accelerate Business Agility with SAP S/4HANA for Utilities
SAP S/4HANA is an intelligent ERP, enabling utility companies to deliver the ultimate customer experience, through the power of the intelligent enterprise. An intelligent ERP makes it possible for companies to adapt & scale with the agility needed to stay at the forefront of ever-shifting markets.
This intelligent ERP is built on the SAP HANA® platform and offers a personalized user experience (UX) based on the design principles of the SAP Fiori® UX.
SAP S/4HANA Digital core helps utility businesses to learn, grow, adapt, and churn through massive amounts of structured and unstructured data to keep pace with the digital economy.
This intelligent scalable ERP delivers massive simplification and innovation. Available in the cloud, on premise, or in a hybrid model, it offers organizations deployment choices for reducing total cost of ownership and flexibly executing business and IT strategies.
The SAP S/4HANA Utilities solution is designed to enable energy and utility companies to- Drive instant value across lines of business
- Master end-to-end process complexity
- Create opportunities to reinvent business models
- Drive new revenue streams
- Simplify the technology landscape
- Reduce data footprint and work with larger data sets in one system
- Leverage a simple, role-based user experience rooted in modern design principles
- Minimize training while increasing productivity and adoption
Let us now have a look at SAP S/4HANA modules for Utilities.
SAP S/4HANA Modules for Utilities
SAP S/4HANA modules are individual components of a S/4HANA implementation. Each offers functionality for a specific business purpose like General Ledger, Logistics, Materials Management and more. They essentially break the relatively monolithic SAP suite into simpler and more manageable components.
Finance
- Intelligent account reconciliation
- Compliance with financial reporting standards
- Currency rate monitoring
- Centralized accounting transactions
- Financial risk management
Sourcing & Procurement
- Smart buying
- Centralized purchasing
- Integration with SAP Ariba solutions
- Catalog-based reporting
- Automated invoice document recognition
- Cash discount optimization
Sales & Marketing
- Sales order creation
- Approval workflow
- Billing & invoicing integration
- Order & contract management
- Logistics & order fulfillment optimization
Enterprise Portfolio & Project Management
- Intelligent project cost forecasting
- Efficient project monitoring
- Better project timeline reporting
Production
- Quality management
- Intelligent inventory management
- Advanced variant configuration
- Integration with warehouse management
- Demand-based supply chain management
Manufacturing
- Product Master Optimization
- Production Planning and Detailed
- Scheduling
- Materials Requirements Planning
- Production Operations & Engineering
- Complex, Discrete & Component
- Assembly Manufacturing
- Process Manufacturing
- Supply Chain Analytics
Supply Chain
- Data Model Simplification
- Inventory Valuation & Advanced
- Available to Promise
- Extended Warehouse Management
- Transportation Management
- Catch Weight Management
- Quality Management
- Commodity Management
Service
- Optimized Service & Service Master Data Management
- Service Parts & Service Agreement Management
Asset Management
- Allocate & Optimize Resources
- Management of Environment, Health & Safety Data
- Proactive Task Identification, Management & Execution
R & D / Engineering
- Improve Product Development & Project Control
- Manage Enterprise Projects in an Effective Manner
- Streamline Entire Product Lifecycle Management
- Hasten Product Engineering
- Processes with Industry Standard
Human Resources
- Core HR & time recording
It provides a better understanding of what is happening and what is likely to happen. Moreover, simulation and predictive tools can help every employee gain new insights to make better informed decisions, improving productivity and increasing profitability.
Why choose VC ERP Consulting for your SAP S/4HANA Implementation?
SAP S/4HANA Cloud is essentially a SaaS offering which can also include Platform as a Service alternative, provided, you aim to opt for SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud offering. For the SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud solution, it is important to note that it is now covered under SAP’s Grow with SAP offering.
SAP S/4HANA experts at VC ERP Consulting work with you to charter your unique SAP S/4HANA roadmap depending on what’s best for your unique needs – RISE with SAP or Grow with SAP and support you in defining the right implementation strategy.
Our specialists then draft customized target architecture and clarify the necessary system requirements. Our consultants use our proven approach and select tools to lay out an ideal migration plan for you and integrate the individual measures into your IT roadmap.
VC ERP Consulting SAP S/4HANA Capabilities –- Digital Transformation Services
- Business Transformation As a Service
- Value & Impact Assessment
- Process Audit & Improvisation
- System Administration & Maintenance
- SAP S/4HANA Implementation
- Rollouts – Patch Upgrades
- Localization
- Technical Migration
- Data Migration
- SAP Application Management Services
Are you ready to deliver tangible value to enable intelligent business transformation? Get in touch with award-winning SAP Gold Partner, Certified Expert SAP S/4HANA Consultants, and Advisors at VC ERP Consulting for a free consultation.
Call +91 7948998911 (India), Whatsapp +254 111229970 (Kenya), Call +1 469 9156026 (North America), +974 31239246 (MENA), or drop an E-mail at sayhello@vc-erp.com
