Accelerating AI Adoption
Lorraine Akiba is President/CEO of LHA Ventures and former Hawaii Public Utilities Commissioner.
PUF's Steve Mitnick: With a rapidly evolving energy landscape, how can utilities best continue to engage customers?
Lorraine Akiba: As utility customers grow more accustomed to producing, storing, and optimizing energy at home, they will expect utilities to function more like tech companies, offering a range of products and services to address specific needs.
Big brands like Amazon, SoftBank, and Fast Retailing support customer service with artificial intelligence (AI), and they are recognizing opportunities to capture retail customers in a wide range of industries, including energy.
AI requires customer data. Utilities have the data, lots of it. Now is the time for utilities to build AI capabilities and use them to enhance customer service. Technology is revolutionizing the utility business, not only with energy storage and smart thermostats but also with a vast improvement in customer experience. If utilities don't deliver solutions, someone else will.
PUF: What are indications that companies outside of energy are soon poised to compete with utilities in electricity service?