In a digital world, remaining a dinosaur will be costly, according to a new report.

The electricity industry has been a world of rapid change over the last two decades, most notably with the introduction and mass integration of renewables, and a focus on renewables in the future. Yet, other massive changes have taken place as well: microgrids are becoming mainstream, distributed energy resources are becoming more valuable assets in the electricity world, and the threat of cyberattacks has become a front and center issue.  And to boot, new transmission lines, new power generators, undulating power supply and demand. 

Let's not forget the digital transformation in the background of all of this. It's clear that, for utilities, digital expertise will become essential to be able to efficiently monitor, manage and maintain the growing and changing assets. Yet, a new report from Deloitte shows that "most electricity providers are only dabbling in digital transformation." The report emphasizes that a handle on new digital tools could be a game-changer for utility managers. 

A perfect great example of this is in the transmission and distribution sector. If a transition toward digital assets could help defer or avoid even 3% of the industry's costs, it would save "a staggering $33 billion" annually, according to the report.  But what does a digital transformation look like in the T&D world? Monitoring is the main things. Transmission and distribution is seeing a massive expansion,  in some cases growing faster than manageable for electricity providers. Especially during wildfire season, remote automated monitoring that could detect whether objects are touching transmission lines could help prevent wildfires. Instead, inspections usually entail on-foot visual inspections that require workers to head out to infrastructure. 

Communication is also an issue as transmission and distribution expands into rural areas, where wi-fi and high-speed internet are not always available. This slows the transmission of information where a cloud-based system could provide real-time insights and reports on rural infrastructure. 

Jim Thomson, the author of the new Deloitte report, says developing a roadmap to a digital transformation should be the first step in making some of these long-term digital shifts. As companies move toward growing and focusing on digital asset management, cybersecurity needs to remain top of mind. Gathering and transmitting data and information across an unsecured network could be more damaging to a utility than remaining a dinosaur in an ever-changing digital world.