There was a premiere to celebrate at this year's SAP for Energy and Utilities Conference in Toulouse: the awarding of the Energy and Utilities Innovation Award. In the categories AI, Innovation, Transformation, Customer Experience and Best Team, companies whose projects particularly stood out were honored.

AI as a key element

In the AI ​​category, the Austrian energy company OMV won with an SAP Business AI transformation. Building on an existing SAP S/4HANA landscape, the transformation aims at intelligent automation, advanced analytics and AI-supported decisions in core business processes. A step-by-step approach was crucial to success: Instead of a hasty implementation, OMV first laid a solid foundation and specifically introduced AI into the user experience and business processes. The focus was on regulation, security and continuous evaluation. The clear principle was to first standardize, integrate and create a stable database before broad scaling takes place. Early in the process, OMV relied on SAP Joule in SAP SuccessFactors and SAP S/4HANA. The next step is to further advance the transformation in order to utilize the potential of AI even more comprehensively.

Smart water supply

The Belgian water supply company Farys impressed the jury in the Innovation category with a data-driven platform for monitoring the water network. With the help of SAP technology and AI, resources can be used more efficiently and processes can be optimized in a targeted manner. Water leaks are detected early before major damage occurs, water quality problems can be predicted and energy consumption can be reduced. The result: less downtime, cheaper repair costs and noticeably better service quality. A uniform solution also promotes cross-departmental collaboration by breaking down existing data silos. In the future, risk assessments for pipes and systems will be integrated and data-driven decisions will be supported as to where repairs make the most sense. With this strategy, Farys is making its infrastructure fit for the demands of climate change.

Reach the goal with teamwork

E.ON UK impressed in the Best Team category with an SAP S/4HANA transformation. As part of a group-wide project that runs from 2021 to 2027, the company aims to standardize processes and build a sustainable, scalable IT landscape. The key challenge was to bring together various legacy systems in a highly regulated market. What particularly distinguishes the project is the close collaboration between the company, IT and external partners. Through workshops, roadshows and a targeted key user network, a strong focus on team culture and cohesion was placed right from the start. The result is not just a successful technical transformation, but above all a lived team culture and therefore the decisive success factor of the project.

A new data foundation

Electrica Furnizare won in the Transformation category. The starting point was a fragmented system in which data was scattered and a comprehensive overview was missing. The existing infrastructure was neither scalable nor able to respond flexibly to increasing regulatory and customer requirements. With the introduction of SAP S/4HANA in combination with SAP BTP, SAP CX and SAP Business AI, Electrica Furnizare realized one of the largest transformations in the utility industry. The result: a single, reliable data source for all departments, consistently optimized processes and a solid foundation that paves the way for future innovations and the full use of AI functions.

Better customer service thanks to extensive modernization

The US water utility company Loudoun Water won the Customer Experience category. As part of a comprehensive modernization, the company optimized its processes with SAP S/4HANA, SAP Service Cloud 2.0 and SAP SuccessFactors. With the introduction of SAP Service Cloud 2.0, Loudoun Water is the first utility company in the world to take this step. The effort is worth it: customer service has been made faster and more modern, work orders are better organized, billing and payments are managed more efficiently and time recording for employees is simplified. The transition occurred in a single, coordinated step, creating a sustainable, scalable foundation upon which Loudoun Water can further expand its position as a technology leader in the industry.

Innovations as a driver of the energy transition

The winners of the first Energy and Utilities Innovation Awards show how diverse the possibilities are with which companies in the energy and utilities sector are actively shaping digital change. Whether AI-supported decision-making processes, intelligent infrastructure monitoring or a consistent realignment of the IT landscape, all projects have one thing in common: they rely on solid foundations, step-by-step implementation and close cooperation between all those involved.

Melanie Fiolka, Go-to-Market & Community Engagement Lead for Utilities, sums it up like this: “The energy and utilities industry is facing profound change. The winners of the first Energy and Utilities Innovation Awards show how vision turns into concrete value creation – with clear strategies, solid data foundations and the use of AI.” The award makes it clear that innovation in the industry is no longer an exception but has become a strategic necessity.