Product Description

The Utilities Business Capabilities Model is a pre-built and in-depth matrix of business capabilities that captures the essence of what a utility company does. It will help companies gain a holistic perspective of their business at a foundational level and provide a business blueprint for many valuable purposes.

The Utilities Provider business capabilities model comprises about 295 capabilities across three levels, and companies can modify and tailor it to their unique needs.

(Note: As the Utilities business capabilities map is a digital deliverable, we do not accept returns or issue refunds. So, please read the product description and the terms carefully before purchasing.)

Watch a Product Video

The  Utilities business capabilities model is a set of multilevel and granular business capabilities primarily focusing on the core industry-specific value chain but also decomposes the horizontal shared services.

A capabilities model is a must-have tool for business architects, enterprise architects, business and technology leaders, and project teams to fathom the nuances of the industry’s core, context, and commodity capabilities.

Utilities Industry Transformation:

The utilities industry is experiencing rapid transformation due to a multitude of drivers, including:

1. Technological advancements: The development of smart grid technology, energy storage systems, renewable energy sources, and digital solutions is revolutionizing how utilities are generated, transmitted, and consumed.
2. Regulatory changes: Governments are introducing regulations to reduce carbon emissions, promote renewable energy generation, and implement energy efficiency measures, forcing utilities to adapt their operations and business models.
3. Decentralization and distributed generation: The rise of small-scale renewable energy sources and microgrids has shifted the focus from centralized power generation to distributed generation, enabling consumers to become prosumers who consume and produce electricity.
4. Climate change: The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events necessitate a more resilient and flexible energy infrastructure to ensure reliable service and minimize disruptions.
5. Customer expectations: Modern customers demand more transparency, control, and choice over energy consumption, driving utilities to offer tailored products, services, and communication channels.
6. Cybersecurity threats: The increasing digitalization of the utility sector exposes it to greater cyber risks, necessitating robust security measures to protect critical infrastructure and customer data.
7. Market competition: The emergence of new market players, such as independent power producers and energy service companies, is disrupting traditional utility business models and increasing competitive pressures.

These drivers push the utility industry to innovate and transform to stay competitive, meet regulatory requirements, and address evolving customer demands.

Business Capabilities are a Cornerstone for Transformation

For a Utilities company to transform successfully, it is essential to establish a structurally strong foundation to support change and innovation over time. This is where business architecture and business capabilities come into play. Business architecture is creating a structured model, including an abstraction of its operations, functions, systems, and resources. This model can help enterprises understand how their business operates, identify inefficiencies, and develop a plan to optimize and streamline operations. In addition, by creating a clear picture of their business architecture, companies can better understand how different business units and functions interact and how changes in one business area can impact other areas.

Business capabilities encapsulate and abstract the functions, skills, and resources a company needs to execute its business strategy successfully. By defining and organizing their business capabilities, companies can identify gaps and redundancies and develop a roadmap to address them. This helps ensure the firm has the necessary resources to execute its strategy and drive innovation over time.

Business architecture and capabilities provide firms with a framework to assess and optimize their operations, reduce costs, and drive innovation. By taking a structured approach to transformation, enterprises can build a foundation capable of supporting ongoing change and adaptation and position themselves for success in a rapidly evolving industry.

(NOTE: The current product provides a comprehensive business capability model. It does not include other business architecture artifacts.)

Utilities Business Capabilities Model Deliverables:

The Utilities business capabilities model comprises ~295 capabilities across three levels and includes the following editable artifacts:

• An Excel spreadsheet with the grouping of capabilities.
• A PowerPoint format with the top three levels presented in a nested visualization.
• A Word document with capabilities in a multilevel list format.
• High Tech Capability Definitions (at Level 3)
• Capability KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) (at Level 2)

How to Use the Utilities Business Capabilities Model?

A business capabilities map is a fundamental and foundational deliverable in the business architecture continuum. For example, the Utilities capabilities model encapsulates end-to-end aspects of the business with a detailed, multilevel capabilities list.

There are several benefits from business capabilities, including, among others:

• Foster alignment between business and IT using capabilities as an everyday language.
• Capabilities are a structurally sound and internally coherent abstraction of business functions.
• A capability-based roadmap eliminates redundancy and replication and focuses on capability evolution.on
• Juxtaposing capabilities and systems/applications provide a footprint analysis and can lead to better application portfolio rationalization decisions.

The Utilities capabilities map decomposes components up to three levels. Created by business architects and industry domain experts, the capabilities list is detailed, in-depth, and conforms to the construct of MECE (mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive).

Who should use the Utilities Map?

The Utilities business capabilities matrix is a generic model; hence, it is a starting point, not the final product. (Please note that a generic map covering multiple areas will not be specific to your specific company or business model; that is where our Utilities can help customize and detail the capability model. Or you can modify and tailor it to your needs internally.) The primary users encompass:

• Business architects and enterprise architects.
• Leaders focused on business transformation.
• Product and program managers enabling capabilities.

, the core capabilities in the Utilities company business capability matrix can be customized to the following subsectors:

1. Electricity generation: This subsector includes companies that produce electricity from various sources such as fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil), nuclear power, and renewable energy sources (hydro, solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass).
2. Electricity transmission and distribution: Companies in this subsector transport electricity from power plants to end-users, maintaining transmission lines, transformers, substations, and distribution networks.
3. Natural gas distribution: This subsector involves transporting and distributing natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers through pipelines and storage facilities.
4. Water supply and treatment: Companies in this subsector are responsible for the collection, treatment, and distribution of potable water, as well as the management of wastewater and sewage treatment facilities.
5. Waste management: This subsector includes companies that collect, transport, treat, and dispose of solid waste, hazardous waste, and recyclable materials.
6. Renewable energy: Companies in this subsector focus on the development, production, and distribution of energy from renewable sources, such as solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and geothermal power.

Why Purchase a Business Capabilities Model?

Defining business capabilities from a blank slate takes time and effort and delays time to value. Instead, a pre-built and customizable business capability map helps provide 60-80% of capabilities allowing internal teams to focus on what is missing or unique to their companies.

And the cost is less than an inexpensive team dinner or the loaded cost of 4-5 team members brainstorming for an hour.

And far less than the deliverables consulting firms produce at over $100,000 or more, and compared to that number, the cost of our capabilities models is a fraction (a rounding error.)

Even if you already have a capability map, you could use our version to compare, validate, and potentially include missing capabilities.

A Note About the Artifacts:

• Business Capabilities Matrix: A functional area occupies one box in many business capability maps. Some may wonder why we decomposed the capabilities into 100X or more capabilities. We humbly submit that one box or entry in a one-page diagram is Wall Art, not an implementation tool. Decomposing capabilities into a nested list of granular items will help understand a capability’s depth, breadth, scope, and importance. It is also possible that some capabilities in our matrix may not be relevant to you. Similarly, we may have captured and documented some relevant and essential capabilities of your firm.
• Capability Definitions: We include capability definitions at Level 3. Please feel free to modify it to your company’s needs.
• Capability KPIs (Key Performance Indicators): We added a few KPIs for capabilities (mostly at Level 2) to get you started. You may not measure these KPIs in your company and have an entirely different set of metrics. Again, use them as a springboard, and not debate the applicability to your firm.

Fine Print: