South African companies need to move beyond traditional energy approaches
Johannesburg, South Africa, 11 October 2022: Technodyn International, the exclusive strategic partner for global cloud enterprise software company IFS in Sub-Saharan Africa, says new research commissioned by IFS has found that more than a third of oil, gas, and utility companies globally cite tighter integration and collaboration across functions as major drivers behind the adoption of enterprise software systems.
Given the current challenges in South Africa’s energy sector, a software-driven approach could provide much-needed assistance in alleviating some of the complexities in helping manage the country’s ailing electricity infrastructure.
“With 44% of the companies surveyed who already have sustainability goals in place indicating they want to invest in more energy-efficient assets and infrastructure to meet those objectives, local organisations need to follow suit. The threat of rolling blackouts is ever-present today, and businesses that do not become more energy-efficient and embrace alternative energy sources will be unable to survive if they are solely reliant on the volatile energy grid,” says Heman Kassan, Chief Commercial Officer at Technodyn.
Overcoming limitations
Unfortunately, there remain significant barriers to technology adoption both locally and abroad. This is especially the case when it comes to the inability to define and measure the return of investment of enterprise software systems like enterprise asset management (EAM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP).
The IFS survey shows that 29% of energy sector companies say the main barrier to adoption is the inability to measure value from investment during the digital transformation journey accurately. Furthermore, a fifth say that this is the biggest barrier to digital transformation overall.
“Events of the past two years have seen a surge in local digital transformation efforts. When it comes to the continued lack of maintenance of coal-based power stations across the country that date back to 2008, local business leaders are turning to a combination of technology and sustainability approaches to mitigate against the disruption the resultant blackouts are causing industry,” adds Kassan.
There are other challenges when implementing enterprise software systems across the energy sector. More than a quarter (26%) of respondents said that a lack of clarity about the needed resources and skills limits software-driven rollouts. From a digital transformation perspective, 38% see sustainable energy as having the biggest impact on their company, followed by new business models and asset management strategies.
Turning to emerging technology
To overcome some of the challenges that are stifling new software implementations, many businesses in the global energy sector are turning to emerging technologies. The most important of these are data analytics (72%), reference virtual assistants (70%), and the Internet of Things (69%).
“All three technologies reflect the broader need to improve the customer experience. After all, without customers, there can be no business. Turning the spotlight back to South Africa, customer-centricity is something that companies, even beyond energy, are focusing on. Once alternative power generating service providers are up and running, the expectation is that more corporates will embrace them as the means to cut the proverbial curb with the incumbent,” says Kassan.
Global research has revealed how energy and utility organisations are held back from moving forward with digital transformation by the inability to define and measure how they will obtain a return on investment from enterprise software. Composable platforms can overcome these challenges, which address companies’ biggest pain points incrementally and build a measurable return on investment over time.
About Technodyn International
Technodyn International is the exclusive strategic Sub-Saharan African partner of IFS global, delivering on-premises and cloud-based enterprise applications for businesses that build, sell, distribute, and maintain goods and services. Our portfolio extends service management, enterprise resource planning and enterprise asset management solutions, delivered as modules or as a single suite and hosted in your data centre or cloud or our cloud. We ensure the effective delivery of solutions, products, services, and training to our partner-led channel ecosystem. A subsidiary of Technodyn Holdings, a Level 1 Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) company with its headquarters in South Africa, we deliver quality global solutions to a local market.