The Global EnergyTech Awards 2021 will not only celebrate the energy industry by rewarding startups and innovators in the space, but will facilitate introductions between winners and leading organizations and hopefully spark some powerful partnerships. But what led the consultancy to create this initiative?

Awards that empower the future of energy for everyone

In June, Publicis Sapient launched this unique awards program — The Global EnergyTech Awards. The focus is on the transformation and development of technology within the energy sector with entries open to startups, small businesses, developers and engineers across the world. The timing is spot on — the industry is going through significant change and the transition to a carbon zero future is underway, so there’s a lot of focus and demand in this area. Energy companies will increasingly have to partner with innovators in order to scale-up the skills and technology required to reach both their own and global net zero goals.

As a recognized leader of new technologies, Publicis Sapient want to bring the best ideas and talent together, leading the charge in this shift to a cleaner, greener world.

Joe Tabita, Energy Leader for EMEA and APAC at Publicis Sapient says, “These are exciting times in EnergyTech. The energy transition is driving new customer behaviors and expectations. Competition has jumped across business and geographical boundaries. There’s a huge opportunity for digital to be a core ingredient as the industry transforms how it produces, stores, trades and delivers energy.”

The Global EnergyTech Awards aim to embrace this opportunity and encourage the sharing and implementation of new ideas and technologies that will indeed transform the industry in years to come. Entries are open until the end of September, when judges from both Publicis Sapient and leading energy companies will select a short list of potential winners to present their ideas live to the panel. Winners will be announced and awards presented during a dual London/Houston ceremony in November.

Years in the making

The company at the helm is a well-respected powerhouse. For 30 years Publicis Sapient has been leading the way in digital business transformation within many industries, including energy. The consultancy is growing fast despite the economic downturn of 2020, with 53 offices across the globe from Calgary to London to Dubai. They’ve helped, and continue to help, some of the biggest names in the energy sector to make step changes towards a digital-first model as they move resources across the supply chain — all the way from generation, production and distribution to trading, supply and retail.

Publicis Sapient were originally known for energy and commodities trading. This is where the consultancy started out, disrupting a traditional industry with digital transformation and bringing it into the digital age by offering more choice when it comes to E/CTRM. This expertise is recognized in the Awards with a category dedicated to ‘Best Solution in Energy Trading’, which will hopefully shine light on new ways of working.

Now — and increasingly as we emerge from this crisis — identifying the most effective ways to reduce costs, improve operations and move faster to capture new opportunities will decide the future of energy trading organizations. Energy and commodities trading groups will therefore want to address customers and opportunities that have gained in strategic value as a result of these crises, and to leave markets that have been undermined by it. If they are to succeed, they have no choice but to transform themselves. Perhaps using the technology from winners of the Global EnergyTech Awards. The relatively slow progress of digital business transformation in this sector means that a major opportunity remains in play: removing low-value processes, which frees up the organization’s money and talent to focus on areas with the greatest potential for value creation. This allows more of the organization’s intellectual firepower to be used for activities where it can achieve a competitive edge. Too much of the upside of digitalization remains untapped. There is too little automation, too many data silos, too many in-house data centers and too many off-the-shelf IT packages with overlapping functionalities, and not enough consistency of process and technology across participants in the market.

Shaping the future of utilities

Another focus for Publicis Sapient’s energy team is digital utilities where the disruption of the energy market is in full swing. Today’s energy customer demands choice, affordability and trust. They expect providers to understand what they need. As some of the more established providers lag behind, more agile, digitally-driven players are emerging to turn up the heat and hopefully some will be entering the Global EnergyTech Awards to showcase their innovations.

The work of Publicis Sapient ensures that new or existing services are modernized in ways that enrich the life of the business or the end consumer, whether that’s more efficient business processes or smarter interfaces to warm the home.

Publicis Sapient are big enough to lead, but small enough to empathize, which is proved by the creation of the Global EnergyTech Awards — an exciting initiative that will bridge the gap between major energy organizations and the startups that will shape the industry of tomorrow. When the results are announced in November, there will be a curated list of the very best new minds in energy and we can’t wait to see it.

Learn how Publicis Sapient can help you add genuine business value and enhance your customer journey with digital transformation at www.publicissapient.com/energy-commodities.