Energy companies are told every day they need to catch up with an evolving IT landscape. At nearly every industry conference in 2016, we were reminded of the magnitude and inevitability of digital transformation in the energy sector. From Bloomberg’s Future of Energy Summits, to European Utility Week, we were reminded again and again that the energy transition is in full effect and that businesses need to leverage new technology to survive in a competitive market.
The transformation from centralized conventional sources of power generation to more distributed and renewable sources is driving major business challenges to maintaining business visibility, managing change and achieving profitable growth. The Mercatus Investment Lifecycle Management (ILM) solution aims to alleviate these pain points and help businesses scale efficiently and profitably.
Here are five points to consider when evaluating ILM for your business:
1. Determine if ILM Can Work for Your Business Needs
First and foremost, ILM is purpose-built for energy. It is a collaborative, cloud-based technology that integrates the information and processes needed to manage the complete energy investment lifecycle.
Mercatus currently provides the only purpose-built solution for energy ILM. You can see this manifested in the solution workflow, reporting templates, and financial modeling capabilities as well as the quality and expertise of the engagement management, consulting, deployment and training personnel. ILM creates a foundation for success for energy- and technology-first businesses.
2. Look for a Collaborative, Cross-Functional Solution
Visibility across departments and business functions is critical to making informed decisions with up-to-date data. ILM’s seamless integration with other systems allows for end-to-end lifecycle visibility. With your data centralized in one place, ILM serves as your business’ single source of truth so different roles can easily access the information they need and all departments are on the same page.
3. Find a Nimble Solution That Can Scale With Your Business
When evaluating solutions like Mercatus ILM for your IT system, it’s important to consider how you got here in the first place. Technology is rapidly changing, and you need a system that is going to evolve not only with industry standards, but with your business’ growth. Antiquated systems like Oracle or HPPM can be clunky and aren’t built specifically for the energy industry. Look for reliable data storage as well as a cloud-based solution to ensure you get free, fast, and automatic updates and so resources expand dynamically with usage.
4. Evaluate for the Entire Energy Lifecycle
Currently, Mercatus ILM is the only end-to-end solution that integrates the entire energy lifecycle, from origination to development, engineering and construction, asset management, financial/risk management, and compliance. With visibility across each stage, an organization gains the ability to execute and time-to-market advantage in progressing a project through the lifecycle because of the improved collaboration, efficiency, and productivity this affords. Since ILM encompasses each step in a single solution, ILM deployments are significantly shorter than implementation times of other tools that require add-ons or integrations of legacy products.
5. Address Security Infrastructure
While many companies are still nervous to move their data to cloud-based technology, some researchers argue that cloud-based deployment is actually more secure than on-premise because network providers spend much more time to put security measures in place than organizations can do themselves.
With Mercatus ILM, you can view this transformation as an opportunity to establish and sustain leadership rather than an existential threat. This requires shifting to a digital transformation strategy and supporting IT platform that addresses tightening margins by lowering corporate overhead, increasing investment visibility, speed, and insight, and ultimately, providing the ability to scale with the same or fewer resources.
The time is now for your company to digitally transform itself. You can become even more entrenched in your current process and systems or accelerate profits, productivity, and time-to-market, and establish yourselves as a leader in the new emerging era of distributed energy and power generation.
