Accelerating the Future
Tom Fanning is the CEO of Southern Company. Kevin C. Fitzgerald is Chief Utility Officer of Energy Impact Partners. Tom Flaherty is a Senior Advisor to companies in the global power and utilities industry for PwC Strategy&.
The utility sector is engaging in a multi-year market and technology-driven evolution intended to fundamentally reshape its future role and positioning. This shift enables companies to actively participate in emerging markets as they develop, requiring utility executives to establish targeted strategies on where and how to intelligently play in these markets. This evolution will extend for several years as uncertainty exists over its ultimate direction.
With the future marketplace rapidly developing, a range of asset and services growth opportunities becomes available to utilities with a challenge to determine which make sense to prioritize for pursuit. Part of that decision making depends on the internal innovation capabilities utilities possess to take advantage of these opportunities.
Innovation prowess is fundamental to enabling companies to engage and prosper in this future market environment and can be the bridge to shorten the distance between today and tomorrow. To successfully position companies for their potential futures, innovation momentum needs to be sustained and investment levels and deployment aligned with market opportunities and strategies.