More than 50% of utility staff work in the field, often manually maintaining and managing assets.1 Their work—and the accurate and timely data they collect and analyze—is critical to successful operations and business continuity.
As demand for electricity grows, however, the utility industry must accomplish more with fewer fieldworkers—an issue exacerbated by the potential retirement of half the workforce in the next decade.2 This situation is changing the field service operations landscape. In response, utilities are increasingly integrating modern digital tools into fieldwork to streamline tasks and provide vital information to the back office. However, these tools require broad and reliable network coverage.
One major challenge: Utility territories span rural or remote areas with spotty coverage and complex urban environments that put workers deep inside high-rise buildings or underground in basements. In these locations, device connectivity may be difficult to maintain reliably.
The high-speed, broad-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity that 5G can deliver could be the key to meeting the current and future needs of digital transformation in power and utilities.