AI technology is usually championed for self-driving cars and other high-tech innovations, but it’s important to talk about how it can transform everyday lives, particularly in one sector – utilities. AI is promising in utilities services, and a report by the accounting firm PwC estimates that incorporating AI and other digital innovations into the energy sector can boost global GDP by up to £3.82 trillion. The same report conducted by PwC also revealed that the incorporation of AI in utilities can also minimise global carbon emissions by 4%, while improving system efficiency and boosting service innovation.
If your business is planning to invest in AI technologies, here’s a look at how it can reshape your utilities offerings:
Smart Maintenance
Regular maintenance is critical in utilities services, since any damage can disrupt essential services in homes and offices. Take a look at water utilities – since about three billion litres of water are lost to leaks across England and Wales every day, United Utilities are investing in AI systems that can detect leaky pipes through recordings.
Through this technology, the system can identify leaks with more than 90% accuracy and even categorise the damages from low to high probability. This makes repair processes easier and more efficient.
Improved Workforce Mobilisation
McKinsey Global Institute estimates that nearly half of all work activities can be automated by AI. Due to this shift in the business landscape, talent solutions like LHH are helping professionals adapt by supporting their skills development and career mobility. As global experts in talent acquisition and recruitment, LHH highlights that agile employees can still survive the shift and enjoy lifelong employability in their chosen industry, especially if they invest in a continuous learning mindset. This is because recent tech advancements are revealing organisational talent gaps, which opens opportunities for employers to foster agility in their workers and upskill them for these roles.
AI can even enhance the workforce itself. Take our SmartVideo data capture and AI-powered insights as an example, which can address failures in the workplace. Through these productivity insights, businesses are able to conduct remote supervision across their teams, develop a digital workflow, and create immediate cost savings.
Increased Workplace Safety
Apart from optimising the mobilisation of your workforce, AI can also help you find room for improvement within your workplace. This is especially crucial within the utilities sector, since workplace hazards can endanger workers’ safety and affect the quality of services as well.
While workplaces often have safety processes in place, our article on ‘Creating a Proactive Safety and Learning Culture’ emphasises that supervisors often don’t have the right tools to take appropriate action on last-minute risks, safety walk reports, and hazards. To create a proactive safety culture within the workplace, businesses can make use of rich multimodal data capture and an AI-enabled supervisory interface to monitor risks and control the loop in near real-time.
Optimised Customer Services
With the cost of living increasing in the UK, Utility Week encourages utility organisations to become more innovative with their customer service solutions so that they can better assist their customers and maintain customer loyalty. In fact, businesses are already finding new AI models that can provide insights on the pain points of customers and support strategies to solve these issues.
AI can easily manage comments from customers and identify possible solutions for their concerns. To illustrate, Vyntelligence’s SmartVideo AI solution makes it easier for customers to report issues and make service requests for their gas, electricity, and other connections. The AI then provides early visibility on these pain points, making it more convenient for customer operations teams to prepare the team, tools, and insights needed to quickly solve these issues.
AI technologies can be leveraged in various use cases, making them a necessary tool for businesses who want to thrive. In a crowded market, innovations are crucial for your business to gain useful insights and increase the quality of your services.
Exclusively written for vyntelligence.com by Riona Jalia
