After taking on board the learnings from the consultation on our 2020 digital strategy, we are proud to publish our updated 2021 Digitalisation Strategy & Action Plan.
It outlines our determination to be at the forefront of digital capabilities, techniques and approaches and defines the specific, and measureable, outputs we will deliver in 2021.
We are committed to publishing regular, annual updates to our strategy and action plan to help our customers and stakeholders, both within and outside of our industry, understand our direction of travel. It will also help them plan for their own successes based on our forward plans.
As always, we know there is more to be learnt in this space so let us know what you think. Please read our strategy and action plan and listen to the accompanying podcasts from leaders within our business and let us know your thoughts.
Our 2021 digitalisation strategy and action plan is customer and stakeholder focused and is designed to deliver on the needs of the communities, sectors and potential future collaborators we serve. It focuses on 4 user groups:
Customers: we are improving our customers’ experience by creating new online services that make it easier to connect and interact with us
Employees: our employees, who are all vital in delivering and improving our performance for customers, will be able to work anytime, anywhere and from any device in a coordinated, efficient way
Assets & Operations: we are embedding digital practices into the ways we capture, baseline and utilise our data to inform decision making. This means we’ll be able to innovate faster and be more collaborative to improve our performance
Smart Networks: new digital technologies and software are helping us to evolve into a Distribution System Operator (DSO), developing a future-ready network for a Net Zero carbon emissions world. Learn more about how we're building a smart grid on our Smart Grid site
There are three main terms in this area, but each mean a slightly different thing:
Digital technologies, such as a new customer-facing apps or new software that helps us run our network more efficiently, have huge benefits for customers. They are making it easier for our customers to connect with us and helping us improve our operational performance. They can also help save time and money.
The digital strategy will also help us improve on our core responsibilities as a Distribution Network Operator, focusing on reliability, safety, efficiency and customer service.
In short, yes. Major digital projects are already underway in our business, such as our software system for managing network resources which is helping us connect more low carbon renewable energy and chargers for electric vehicles. In this way, the digitalisation strategy and action plan will have a ‘multiplier effect’ as we develop a smarter network system that can achieve Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Yes. Data is really important, because as an organisation we produce extremely large quantities of technical data on electricity power flows and asset performance. This data can be used to glean powerful insights that we can use to become more efficient and pass the benefits on to customers. As part of the new digitalisation strategy and action plan 2021 we’re making sure our data is stored safely, securely, engineered to the highest industry standard and used to its maximum potential for customers. Learn more on our Open Data page.
