Harnessing Innovation with SAP HCP to Manage the Digital Enterprise Transformation of Utility Companies

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Now that I have managed to include all current buzzwords in the title of this post, let’s do the real thing.

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION – a phrase so charged with meaning that nobody can really grasp its full implication. Is it really innovation that we see on the horizon, or just old wine in new bottles? After all, utilities started using information technologies for operating their businesses decades ago. So what’s all the hype about?

Without going too deep into the chicken-or-egg causality dilemma, fact is – today as in the past – utilities are faced with complex change processes being driven by or encouraging digital infrastructures, digital technologies, and the convergence of digital business models. It starts with customer interaction; it has an impact on operational business processes and also on company organizations. Basically, digital transformation influences, and at the same time is influenced by, modern markets, living and working environments. However, as complex as the change processes are that utilities are facing today, they pale in comparison to the wave of data they will have to manage to capitalize on the transformation and generate new revenue streams. So what’s the point in gathering millions or billions of data without drawing any conclusions or even deriving better measures from it?

Some key questions certainly are:

• How do utilities expand their existing and proven core systems to keep up with ever-shorter innovation cycles without being subject to the Innovator’s dilemma?


• How can digital exploitation potentials be used and new processes introduced as quickly as possible?


• How do traditional enterprises, which were not founded in Generation 2.0 or even 3.0, achieve a real added value from this digitization?


• And finally – and we wouldn’t be a valuable SAP partner if we didn’t ask ourselves –

How can we help our customers figure out digital business transformation based on SAP technology?

In the interest of the end customer, it is crucial to describe the change and its challenges in a comprehensible way. This thinking about how to make a vision clear also helps us in getting new insights and inspiration.

In this sense, our Design Thinking Team tested the SAP HANA Cloud Platform (HCP) as a potential innovation engine for the digitization of business processes and as an accelerated way to provide new functionalities within these processes. In addition to a short development cycle, the least possible impact of the innovations on the core systems of our customers was the focus of our developments.

Starting from the question as to how we can extend an existing SAP Energy Data Management System using SAP FIORI as User Experience (UX) and SAP HCP as a running platform underneath, PROLOGA built various monitoring functionalities within the last six months. These applications can be classified as applications to digitize processes in the field of data validation and process optimization for various market roles within both the gas and electricity divisions.

By using our solutions within SAP HCP, the user can reduce the process time dramatically. The applications can also be used mobile from anywhere without running an isolated BI system, which is another crucial key benefit.

Utilities should be freer to do what utilities do best: manage the grid and the customer relationship and not getting headaches over how to keep up with the newest trends in information technology. Leave this thought to dedicated technology companies. Do you want to learn more on digitization, SAP HCP and our solutions?

Visit us at the International SAP Conference for Utilities March 28-30, 2017 in Lisbon (Portugal).

http://uk.tacook.com/events/conferences/details/international-sap-conference-for-utilities.html