Improve Your Field Digital Solution Performance
Empower, engage, and enlighten the utility field workforce.
Utilities organizations must be able to:
- Measure the effectiveness of field digital solutions beyond anecdotes from end users.
- Ensure a smooth project rollout experience for all stakeholders.
- Establish a joint ownership of their digital solution and seek ways to engage and empower field users for continuous improvements.
This report aims to encourage utilities to identify leading field digital opportunities that drive value for their organizations. By defining what success looks like and incorporating best practices, utilities can improve the overall performance of their field digital solutions.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
Utilities should provide their field workers with intuitive, reliable, and efficient digital solutions to assist in making intelligent decisions. By following Info-Tech’s approach, utilities can ensure a smooth field deployment experience and fully realize the benefits of digitalization.
Impact and Result
Info-Tech’s research provides practical guidance to help utilities improve the effectiveness of their field digital transformation efforts:
- Identify the leading field digital opportunities for your organization.
- Define measures to determine the performance of your field digital solutions and identify gaps to be addressed.
- Provide a holistic framework to improve the successful rate of field deployment.
- Leverage best practices based on lessons learned from practitioners.
Improve Your Field Digital Solution Performance
Empower, engage, and enlighten utility field workforce.
Analyst Perspective
Digitally transform utility field operations through best practices.
Field operation plays a critical role in digital transformation for utilities. Digital solutions are merely just a means to an end. Continuously challenging the status quo and seeking improvements is vital to driving value through digital technologies.
Don't neglect field operations. Understanding your field operation culture and appreciation for field workers' challenges is the first and foremost step before introduction of any digital solutions.
Don't solve the problem piecemeal. Without a holistic approach, it may become impossible to manage the many siloed and disjointed solutions.
Don't tackle challenges alone. To ensure successful deployment, both IT and field workforce must collaborate and develop solutions that truly work.
This report aims to encourage utilities to identify leading field digital opportunities that drive value for their organizations. By defining what success looks like and incorporating best practices, utilities can improve the overall performance of their field digital solutions.
Jing Wu
Principal Research Director, Utilities Practice
Info-Tech Research Group
Executive Summary
| Your Challenge | Common Obstacles | Info-Tech's Approach |
Having difficulty in measuring the effectiveness of digital solutions in use for field workers beyond the anecdotes from end users. Experiencing difficulty in ensuring a smooth project rollout experience for all stakeholders involved. Facing challenges in establishing a joint ownership of the solution and seeking ways to engage and empower field users for continuous improvements. |
Resistance to change from frontline workers and managers to adopt digital solutions.
Lack of funding and resource support from stakeholders for change management and training. Limited knowledge about developing a single pane of glass digital solution resulting in frustrations to end users. Lack of an agile operating model to meet the needs of field workers. |
Utilities can improve the effectiveness of their field digital transformation efforts:
|
Info-Tech Insight
Utilities should provide their field workers with intuitive, reliable, and efficient digital solutions to assist in making intelligent decisions. By following Info-Tech's approach, utilities can ensure a smooth field deployment experience and fully realize the benefits of digitalization.
Field operations are critical
Asset management heavily relies on field operations.
The utilities industry is asset-centric, where the management of assets (vertical and horizontal) is central to its operations. Extensive field work is required for the life cycle management of assets, including construction, operating, and maintenance. In 2019, utilities in the US spent about $40 billion on transmission systems and $57.4 billion on distribution systems.
Sources: "Major utilities' spending," EIA, 2021; "Utilities continue," EIA, 2021.
11.3% Growth of CAGR in utilities asset management market size from 2022 to 2031 globally.
Source: Business Wire, 2023.
Over two-thirds of employees in utilities are hired for field operations.
Utilities that operate the electricity grid, natural gas distribution infrastructure, and waterworks have a large portion of employees working in the field. Skilled occupations include construction, extraction, installation, maintenance, repair, transportation, and material moving.
37.2% of utilities occupational employment is related to field operations in the US.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022.
Field workforce faces challenges
Demand is growing.
Globally, nations are investing heavily in building critical infrastructure due to aging infrastructure and promotion of sustainable energy. In the US, the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal allocated $65 billion to upgrade the power infrastructure and $55 billion to improve drinking water infrastructure.
Source: The White House, 2021.
The workforce is getting younger.
There is a shift from the previous challenge of an aging workforce to a more diverse demographic with varying skill levels. With the retirement of older workers, there is a shortage of experienced young workers to take up field jobs. Utilities need to adopt training and upskilling to support increasingly complex and physically demanding field operations.
Non-retirement attrition is increasing.
Utilities need to prioritize retention strategies across all demographics to keep the existing skilled workers. Traditional field jobs in utilities may no longer be as appealing to younger generations. This has resulted in a higher rate of turnover within the first few years of employment.
43% of renewable technicians are under the age of 32 compared to 15% of power plant operators that are younger than 32 in the US energy sector.
60% of field workers who quit are among the youngest age group of 23 to 37 in the US energy sector.
Source: CEWD, 2022.
Digitalization can help fill the gap
Intelligent automation (IA) can help remove boring and repeatable workflows. Leverage technologies such as business process management (BPM) and robotic process automation (RPA) along with AI and ML to support both back-office workflows as well as field operations.
Digital technologies help close the skill, knowledge, and experience gaps. The adoption of IoT/edge devices, AI, digital twins, and AR can help field workers make informed decisions. For example, prescriptive instructions powered by data and AI can suggest the next best course of action to field workers making repairs.
Data-driven forecasting on field workforce planning and scheduling promotes efficiency and a better utilization of the workforce. According to a recent McKinsey & Company report, one US electric and gas utility has used an AI-driven schedule optimizer, resulting in 20% to 30% field productivity gain.
Source: McKinsey & Company, 2023.
Digitalization powers the future of the utility field workforce
The future of utilities demands a fresh perspective on the field workforce. Digitalization is changing the way future field workforces interact with customers, machines, assets, robots, data, and artificial intelligence.
Utility Field Workforce
Digitally native
- Immersed in digital technologies
- Proficient in physical, digital, and virtual workspace
- Adept in data-driven decision-making
Augment human-machine interactions
- Two-way interactions with smart assets
- Cooperate with AI-powered robots
- Assistance from virtual intelligent agents
Connected anywhere securely
- Connected field workers with centralized operators
- Situational awareness of the entire ecosystem
- Remote assistance to autonomous operations
Engaged community
- Socially responsible workforce
- Trusted partner the community can count on
- Promote information transparency via omnichannel
Field digital opportunities drive value
| Sources of value | ||||||||
| Leading digital opportunities Order does not reflect importance. |
Technology | Operational Excellence | Customer Experience | People & Culture | Business Growth | Risk & Resiliency | HSE & ESG | Stakeholder & Regulator |
| 1 Smart Scheduling - Reduce field crew downtime and improve productivity through optimized scheduling of labor, vehicle, equipment, and material. | ML/Advanced Data Analytics | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| 2 Prescriptive Asset Operation - AI-powered data-driven asset maintenance plan along with prescriptive instructions on suggested operation tasks. | AI, Data Analytics, Smart Sensors, Digital Twin | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| 3 Real-time Activity Monitoring - Leverage tracking technology to log various activities including field workflows, vehicle driving behaviors, etc. | GPS, 5G, IoT/Edge | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| 4 Autonomous Operation - Smart assets allow fully automatic operations via centralized monitoring or virtual assistance to help field workers in remote sites. | Extended Reality Smart Asset Robotics, Apps | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| 5 Communication Network - Develop mature and reliable wireless communication network to meet various needs of field operations. | 5G, 6G, Private Network | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| 6 Vegetation Management -Real-time tracking and data-driven planning of tree trimming operations aided by various advanced technologies to improve service reliability. | Satellite, Drones, LiDAR, AR, GIS, Apps | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
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