Enabling agility through cloud transformation

The growing demand for sustainable energy and changing consumer preferences has driven an ever-increasing need to unlock the value of new technologies, such as Cloud. Implementing an effective Cloud strategy can enable organisations to harness real-time data and analytics to quickly adapt to changing market conditions. Knowing where to start, how to align technology and business needs, and how to address the key challenges, however, is crucial.

This is what KPMG’s Women in Energy forum came together to discuss recently. 

Photo caption: panel comprising from L>R: Runita Virdee, Cloud Director, KPMG in the UK; Ashley Warren, CIO for infrastructure and platforms, SSE; Anne-Marie Lamb, Manufacturing & Industry Director, Google Cloud and Lucy Thornton, Cloud Partner, KPMG in the UK.

These industry leaders explored the opportunities and issues around Cloud transformation, and shared their insights on how businesses can leverage Cloud to drive business value and achieve their strategic objectives.

Fully leveraging the potential of Cloud to drive business outcomes not only requires a robust strategy that is clearly aligned with business needs and delivers demonstrable value, it also means investing in the skills and capabilities to achieve these objectives.

With these foundations in place, Cloud can be truly transformational, putting in place the infrastructure and information to support key strategic objectives, such as faster, more responsive service delivery, enhancing CRM, building better prototypes through AI and automation, or entering new markets.

“When you look at high performing organisations, Cloud tends to be a very large part of the systems that enable them to achieve that innovation culture” says Lucy Thornton Cloud Partner at KPMG in the UK.

The rise of ESG and sustainability has forced organisations to rethink how they do business. There is more pressure to innovate and think differently, not only in terms of technology, such as leveraging the huge potential of data, but also in terms of cultural change.

Anne-Marie Lamb, Manufacturing & Industry Director at Google Cloud emphasises the need to show how the tech can solve people’s problems. Cloud can be a big part of that. It can also help to achieve ESG targets, for example, moving from a physical data centre to a Cloud solution, with clear metrics to aid ESG performance monitoring and reporting.

Google aims to reach net zero by 2030 by sourcing carbon-free energy (rather than offsetting). This means the technologies it supplies to its partners and customer will be truly sustainable and help contribute to their own net zero journeys. It is also partnering with energy companies to enable them to move their businesses to more sustainable models, such as using satellite imagery to locate hidden pipelines.

When it comes to securing stakeholder buy-in, it’s vital to demonstrate value, advises Ashley Warren, CIO for infrastructure and platforms at SSE. It’s not simply a question of investing in tech to boost your ESG metrics. There needs to be a very clear link between technology investment and business value.

One of SSE’s main technology focuses is on moving large elements of its systems to the Cloud to strengthen efficiency, availability, reliability and productivity. It is also working with specialist partners to build an agile technology ecosystem that delivers maximum value for the business.

“If stakeholders can see how the technology will help to unlock your net zero plans and drive a direct path to business value, they will be more than happy to get on board,” she says.

The true value of Cloud is that it provides an opportunity to do things better, rather than simply moving existing processes to the digital sphere. The panel agreed that the key foundation for unlocking value is to:

• Establish your business objectives and match the solutions to the problems you are trying to solve.
  
• Keep sustainability front of mind by identifying sustainable technology and what sources that should come from.
• Build a culture of innovation to ensure the right expertise.
• Use data to not only help secure stakeholder buy but also to drive insights to help productivity and efficiencies.

Another area that was pertinent for the panel was raising the profile of technology in the boardrooms and the representation across workforces. In light of International Women’s Day, they reflected on the recent FTSE Women Leaders Review, advocating for 40% female leadership by 2025. As a result, our panel explored organisational diversity, spotlighting women's representation in tech.

Anne-Marie, who is a champion for women in IT and technology within Google, stressed the need to actively ensure diverse perspectives are encouraged, supported and promoted within organisations, so diverse voices see themselves represented and feel comfortable getting involved. This starts before the workplace, with education and opportunities for people to start their careers at different levels, not just graduate schemes.

“If you don’t see anybody you can relate to or connect with in a business, it can be difficult to envisage yourself working in a particular role or in a certain organisation,” she says.

“One of the reasons we have International Women’s Day is to show people you can do it. It might be hard, and sometimes you have to push down barriers, but it’s so important to keep lifting up everybody around you to achieve their potential.”

Ashley is also very active in sponsoring and promoting gender diversity within organisations. She believes it is important to start talking to people early in their development – even primary school age – so they are aware of the full range of opportunities available to them.

“We’ve got to get in early, we’ve got to continue to mentor talented females, and show up and keep spreading the word,” says Ashley.

This is exactly why KPMG established the Women in Energy forum, to connect women operating successfully at all levels within the industry, to encourage more female engagement in the sector, and to show the industry itself the value that diverse perspectives can bring. Join us at our next Women in Energy event to help us continue on this journey.

To find out more, and to watch the full conversation on-demand, please visit our Women in Energy hub.