Unlock digital technology to increase human potential

As energy and natural resources companies (ENRC) adopt the use of digital tools and technologies, we see a seismic impact on the types of jobs available in the industry. Positions may continue to become automated and new roles are emerging to manage these tools. Strategic workforce planning will be crucial to ensure companies are ready for these changes.

KPMG's 2023 Global ENRC CEO survey found that the three key areas of focus for CEOs are: talent, growth, and innovation. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of CEOs (stated that investing in AI is a top priority. Approximately half (48 percent) expect to see a return on their generative AI (GenAI) investment within three to five years. And 52 percent are focusing on upskilling their people to prepare for the transition to both AI and clean energy (up 7 percent from 2022).

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In 2022, a KPMG CEO Pulse Survey found that 70 percent of CEOs consider digitalization a top priority. Since that time, advancement of generative automated intelligence (GenAI) has certainly increased the imperative. Industry leaders say they need to be quicker to shift investment to digital opportunities and divest in areas where they face digital obsolescence.

Advancing digitization continues to be a top operational priority. A quarter of energy executives in the survey agreed that they could best achieve their growth objectives in the next three years by digitizing.

As digital tools and technologies increase in use, we will see a change in the way people work in the ENRC space. Administrative tasks in finance or payroll are going to be increasingly automated. Rather than eliminating jobs, forward-looking companies are upskilling employees to add value to automated processes.

At KPMG, an administrative assistant grew to become the firm’s most prolific user of GenAI technology. In fact, she led a GenAI training session developed, naturally, with the help of GenAI to write the first draft of a script.

Each sector within ENRC shares similarities, yet they all have distinct differences. Cybersecurity expertise, for example, is common across sectors as the threat of cybercrime knows no industry bounds. Automated intelligence and machine learning skills are also in demand as organizations transform for efficiency. And an analytics background—especially in people strategy—will be particularly valuable.

An aging workforce coupled with a decline in available talent and skills is a major risk across the industry. Increasing diversity to attract young, tech-savvy talent, is at least part of the solution.

In KPMG’s experience, most digital applications fail at the first pass, making digitalization even more difficult. Energy and natural resources companies have a distinct set of hurdles:

• Physicality of operations – Energy companies are one of the most capital-intensive industries, leading to hesitance around digitalization. Digital tools need to prove worthy while offering relatively seamless integration.
  
• Lack of agility – The need to navigate myriad laws and guidelines makes energy companies risk averse. Regulatory scrutiny and bureaucratic red tape often impede digital transformations. Employees are often encouraged to follow traditional routes and exercise caution. Hence, the culture has a low appetite for risk and high resistance to change.
  
• Third-party dependencies – The supply chains of energy companies are usually fragmented. To tie operations together, organizations rely heavily on third-party vendors and suppliers. This makes digitalization even more complex with collaboration needed between disparate operational partners.