Innovation is essential to the success of any industry. This is especially true in the case of energy utilities. As indispensable components of the economy, energy companies must constantly innovate to meet the ever-evolving needs of their customers.
The critical importance of innovation was on clear display during the pandemic, when energy users around the world were forced to adapt to sudden changes in how they lived and worked. To keep the economy moving, utilities sought out and implemented innovative solutions designed to ensure that businesses and employees had the resources they needed to continue to operate — regardless of how and where they performed their work activities.
It is important to note that innovations are more than simply creating something new. It means being flexible, agile and adaptable. Innovation draws a part of its power from being inclusive and ensuring diverse internal and external stakeholders have a voice in shaping new and better approaches and solutions.
Companies seeking to transform their organizations are well advised to consider several key drivers that contribute to successful change — and to incorporate them into their innovation strategies.
Ideation
Innovation cannot be accomplished in isolation so the first step in being innovative is to focus on how you will bring partners and stakeholders into your efforts. You must also clearly identify the objectives that you wish to accomplish by working with those partners. Once those matters are settled, you can proceed to ideation.
Ideation is the process of brainstorming and identifying concepts and theories that you can use to design a blueprint for success. The more input you get from partners and other stakeholders, the better that plan will be. Once your blueprint is completed, you can then draw on it to put your ideas into action — to create something new or improved.
For energy companies, like NiSource, ideation is critical to planning for the future of energy. Because the future of energy affects everyone, NiSource believes it is more important than ever to encourage active engagement with all stakeholders in order to develop a balanced transition model that creates an affordable, safe, reliable, sustainable supply of energy that will best serve our communities — both now and in the future.
At NiSource, we have engaged with stakeholders across the spectrum — from those who harvest and produce our energy resources, to those who use it in their daily lives. By ensuring that all stakeholders have a voice at the table, we use the collective ideas to create solutions that ensure that the communities we serve have access to safe, reliable and sustainable sources of energy.
Value Creation
True innovation should create value by turning labor and resources into something that meets the needs of others. That is why it is critical to listen to your customers and provide them with the tools they need to effectively engage with your organization.
Innovation isn’t just about listening. It is also about educating people about how changes positively impact them. That is why companies should emphasize the value that innovation brings to their users; for example, to lower out-of-pocket expenses or new offerings that allow end users to perform more efficiently.
It is important to note that innovations are more than simply creating something new. It means being flexible, agile and adaptable.
When creating value, it is important for companies to communicate the ways in which new improvements make their customers’ lives easier and [their businesses] more profitable. For example, within the energy space, as our nation shifts to a more diverse mix of energy sources, it is critical that the path forward addresses the diverse needs and concerns of all stakeholders, creating value for businesses, communities and individual consumers of all income levels.
That is why we created Your Energy, Your Future — a customer-centric approach that will enable us to carefully consider the varying needs and viewpoints of our customers and their communities, and then use the information we collect to design a fair, sensible and effective energy strategy that will best balance all of the diverse requirements of our shared energy future in the century ahead.
Collaboration
More than ever before, companies today need to be agile. And one way to become more agile is to collaborate with key stakeholders.
Collaboration — a key pillar of innovation — is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to achieve a goal.
And the truth is that the greatest innovations are the product of collaborative effort. It is a fact that companies achieve the greatest success by building on the best ideas produced by a diverse pool of talent and working with others to pursue a common goal.
Collaboration can include partnering with government entities, working with private businesses on a specific project or simply being a resource for other organizations. Businesses should continually look for ways to broaden their reach and engage with new stakeholders. By examining potential partnerships and looking for new long-term business relationships, businesses can broaden their economic growth opportunities.
As part of NiSource’s Your Energy, Your Future approach, each of our state-operating companies have been hosting discussions throughout 2022 and into 2023 with a diverse mix of local stakeholder groups and customer representatives to solicit input that we then can use to inform our future investments and long-term path forward.
During the stakeholder sessions, a number of ideas to advance clean energy and decarbonization efforts have been discussed. Overall, there has been a recognition that a long-term decarbonization plan should prioritize a reliable and resilient energy supply followed by affordability and environmental sustainability.
It is important to take your business partnership into consideration. Who are you already partnering with that you should be leveraging more and what organizations should be on your radar to build relationships with? Also, are you ensuring all voices are being heard?
Sustainable
Protecting the environment and sustainability must be a key focus of any innovation strategy. With more and more companies dedicated to achieving net zero in the next few decades, organizations must look for innovative ways to achieve their business goals, while minimizing the impact their businesses have on the environment [and surrounding communities].
When pursuing innovation today, you must consider the sustainability of your plan, the sustainability of your business activities and the sustainability of all elements on which your business depends. Innovation works only if it is replicable, sustainable and adaptable to changing needs.
At NiSource, we realize the importance of the sustainability of an innovation strategy, as well as environmental sustainability. By engaging with our stakeholders to showing value to our customers to ensuring everyone has a seat at the table, we consider the energy needs of today and those of the future.
So, ask yourself: What part does sustainability play in the various aspects of your organization’s innovation strategy?
As you plan your innovation strategy for your organization, how is sustainability a part of it?
