CIO, CTO, IT Manager: An Assessment Tool for the Utilities Preparing for the Digital Workplace

The digital workplace is an environment that enables teams, remotely, to collaborate, manage projects, communicate, and maintain productivity. Many companies, utilities included, have some type of virtual or digitally remote office capability. With the workforce pushed to a remote model due to the pandemic, now is the time that every CIO, CTO, and IT manager should evaluate their digital workplace.

At the Utilities, the Show Must Go On

Our nations utilities are undergoing significant grid modernization. Now is the time that utilities invest in modernizing its workforce. Covid-19 presents unique challenges for the utilities as described in a current article published by Kaumil Dalal, Director of Technology for West Monroe. Mr. Dalal presents five questions that every CIO, CTO, and IT manager must consider in this new normal at the electric, gas, and water utilities.

Additionally, commission mandates and state goals are putting increased pressure on utilities. Investment plans were painstakingly established with ambitious goals. Investments in grid vulnerabilities cannot wait neither can GHG reduction requirements and various NWA initiatives that society depends to keep the lights on, the water running, and the gas lines open. Utilities are increasingly challenged to maintain momentum as it is and only worsened by the pandemic. The expectations put on our nation's utilities are only increasing.

The Utility of the Future

The utilities have always had difficulty attracting and retaining talent. Newly minted graduates trained in virtual work environments flock after graduation to fast moving and forward-looking technology companies. An investment in the digital workplace is not meant only to address current needs under a pandemic but to stay competitive for tomorrow's talent.

For many utilities pieces of a digital workplace probably exist. What is missing is an organized, strategic, and comprehensive approach. Likely, governance is established, but not reinforced. Assets are in place, but not properly managed. Budgets exist but likely ad hoc and not coordinated, or strategic. The utility of the future will be those with an end-to-end strategy designed to maintain productivity and operational efficiency.

Productivity is Key

Staying in close contact and supporting teams is mission critical. Management expectations were already high to maintain project momentum in a pre-Covid-19 world, now in a distributed environment these challenges are only more necessary.

Every utility manager must ask the following key questions:

1.    How are we maintaining productivity?

2.    Are we providing the right tools to allow employees do their job? 

3.    What resources and technologies comprise the virtual office?

4.    How are employees staying engaged with the virtual office?

5.    What are the best practices in conducting meetings and communicating with peers?

6.    Which collaborative tools make the most sense to maximize workforce efficiency?

7.    What lessons are we learning and what lessons can be shared to demonstrate the maximum value of a digital workplace? 

8.    What can the utility workforce employ to support its staff?

9.    What resources can be put in place to support the team?

10. What rules and governance should be established to allow staff to work independently and collaboratively without risking vulnerabilities and breakdowns? 

11. How can such productivity practices continue regardless of when COVID-19 end?

As mentioned, many corporation, large and small, already operate in a distributed work environment. If you work for a utility and serve in a managerial role, then here is an assessment tool to evaluate your current and future digital workplace needs. 

Conclusion

Utilities that invest in grid modernization and technology transformation must include the digital transformation of its workforce and workplace. Under current conditions where offices are closed and the workforce is remote, a new distributed workplace is the name of the game and may be the new normal.

Utilities must provide not just the technologies but the instructions, protections and best practices to support a distributed workforce. Permission-based work processes, file sharing capabilities, and communication tools are keeping teams in touch and productive in this new distributed work environment. For more information and discuss your score, contact Jason Price, [email protected] and (917)513-3924.