India Power Corporation understands the significance of Digitization
 

Redefined CIO role

In today’s age, digital ways are defining the way to do business. Hence, the way business was conducted in the past is unlikely the way it would be done in future. For example, a taxi company had to own taxis before using them in business. Today, the biggest cab company – Uber does not own a single cab. That’s the new way to run a cab service. Such technology disruption is taking place and defining the future of every business. If the way is going digital, so is the skill requirement to drive the businesses of present and future. Hence, CIO role is changing to CDO, CMO and even CEO. Technology driven businesses will be driven by technology savvy professionals. The change has already started. 

Innovations & ROI

India Power is a 100 year old end to end utilities company from generation to distribution to even renewable energy. Digitization is a key focus area of the company, as it prepares for future. It was among the first few in the country to introduce smart meters for its consumers. Also, it was one of the early movers to adopt SCADA and IoT devices in managing its network. It also adopted business intelligence and analytics to manage the data generated for betterment of business. Hence, the success mantra of the organization is to be innovative and after successful implementation, offer the same services to other utility companies in the country so that they too can benefit from our experience. This has opened additional revenue earning verticals for us which are based on demand of the future.

Key Priorities

I believe that digital strategy will define the competitive strategy of most businesses. Hence, new age CIO needs to be essentially digital strategy specialist and can be the main driver of this competitive strategy. Every business process is undergoing a change to being more efficient and shorter cycle time. For example, procurement process has moved to e-procurement, with little manual intervention. Manual negotiations have moved to online negotiations (online reverse auctions). Such changes are driving the cost significantly down. Similarly, innovation processes are driving revenue up.

Hence, some of the key priorities for 2019 would be to generate data from more data points in business and have strategy in place to use these data optimally for greater business benefits. This will not only keep costs down but also drive revenues up.

“Business in future would not run the way they were working in the past. India Power recognizes this more than most others. Hence, it has focused on building digital team and adopting newer technologies to manage its business. India Power has not just implemented new technologies; it has focussed on higher adoption through effective trainings and guidance. It is also exploring energy storage options for India’s EV needs through innovation. The company is completing its 100 years this year and these changes ensure that it is ready for the next 100 years as well.”