The Ledger

Rethinking the Utilities Industry With Digital Technologies

“The utilities industry touches every person, household, and business. It provides generation, transmission, distribution, and metering of all forms of energy and water, as well as waste disposal and recycling. It is considered the foundation for modern life.”

It is also considered by many as an industry at risk, as the way consumers perceive and consume resources is changing. It is also an industry that stands much to gain from current and emerging digital technologies. There are three macro forces shaping the industry today: decentralization, deregulation, and decarbonization. With these forces come challenges that utility providers are facing. The answers to these challenges can be found through the right application of digital technologies, a willingness to rethink business operations and revenue models, and the appropriate tools necessary to capture, analyze, and act on the massive amount of data that is available to utilities firms today.

Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >

Is Your Data Valuable?

A digital revolution is upon us and companies are asking the question, “What have we got that is going to allow us to survive this transition?” The answer to that is data. Data has become the oil that fuels the prediction machine in any organization. There is a tendency these days to see all data as potentially valuable for artificial intelligence, but that isn’t really the case. Yes, data, like oil, is used day-to-day to operate your prediction machine. But the data you are sitting on now is likely not that data. Instead, the data you have now, which your company accumulated over time, is the type of data used to build the prediction machine instead of operating it.

Read More at The Harvard Business Review >

Achieving a Flexible and Relevant Budget For Your Organization

Everyone talks about their budgets and the issues that go along with it, but rarely take any action. A new AFP member survey of finance professionals, Is Your Budget Relevant? , found that the majority (55%) of respondents said their company had a rigid or ironclad budget process. This keeps them from being agile in an increasingly flexible world. On the other hand, 30% of respondents said their budgeting was “loose”. An answer to solving this is adopting and budgeting for a rolling forecast. You can’t tell in advance where your customers will be, but it is important to budget for them.

Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >

Creating Synergy for Manufacturers Will Lead to Higher Profitability

The amount of data that management teams have access to can be overwhelming. Despite the advanced technology available today, there are still three key issues that adversely affect manufacturers of all types and sizes- data management, inventory, and gross margin. Although each has its own silo, they are also interrelated. Examining and scrutinizing data management, inventory, and gross margin results in a more reasoned picture about how the use of controls can generate greater productivity and profitability. Creating synergy among these departments will ultimately lead to a positive impact on profitability.

Read More at Industry Week >