SAP NEWSBYTE — August. 7, 2024 —SAP today announced Queensland government-owned transmission network service provider, Powerlink Queensland, has selected RISE with SAP on Microsoft Azure to drive further improvements in data management, asset management and visualisation, and efficiencies through SAP Business AI.
Powerlink is a leading Australian provider of electricity transmission network services, with a network extending 1,700 kilometres (km) from Cairns to the New South Wales border and comprising 15,449 circuit km of transmission lines and 152 substations.
The organisation has selected RISE with SAP as it enters the next phase of its transformation, driving further improvements in its operations and delivering faster time to value by leveraging the full breadth of SAP Business AI. This includes SAP’s AI copilot, Joule, which has the ability to enable its people to quickly extract critical information on company services as well asset and financial information using natural language capabilities.
This follows Powerlink’s implementation of SAP S/4HANA and SAP Analytics Cloud in 2022 and SAP Sustainability Control Tower in 2023, which has given the organisation’s teams enhanced analytics, efficiencies in budget planning and improved financial reporting capability.
Powerlink Chief Executive Paul Simshauser said the latest implementation had also strengthened the organisation’s sustainability reporting through the consolidation of auditable climate-related metrics aligned to Australian and International standards
“Powerlink has a long-standing relationship with SAP, reaching a 25-year milestone this year, that has delivered significant value to our organisation with recent uplifts in data management, automation and self-service,” Mr Simshauser said.
“We opted to accelerate our move to RISE with SAP as it is a natural progression of our digital transformation and AI advances. With many of our mission critical processes already running on SAP, having the ability to leverage SAP Business AI capabilities will deliver tremendous value to our people.”
Powerlink’s General Manager Business IT and Digital Delivery, Mark Pozdena, said the move to RISE with SAP also offers Powerlink a range of new capabilities. This includes increased platform security and functionality such as new visualisation tools for the administration of critical asset information used organisation-wide in the management of a vast and growing transmission network.
“We plan to move to RISE with SAP by the end of the calendar year to take advantage of new innovations within the platform and offer new capabilities to our people,” Mr Pozdena said. “Importantly, RISE with SAP offers increased security and availability, which is critical to us in this day and age.”
Speaking at SAP Now ANZ in Sydney this week, Angela Colantuono, President and Managing Director, SAP Australia and New Zealand said, “Every organisation today requires cloud-enabled systems and processes to unlock untapped productivity gains.
“For Powerlink Queensland, turning to RISE with SAP and leveraging the full breadth of SAP Business AI will help achieve faster time to value for many of its organisational processes, empowering its staff through data-driven analytics so they can focus on delivering improved experiences for its customers.
“Furthermore, new innovations in SAP Sustainability Control Tower will enable Powerlink to automatically report on its environmental, social and governance data, significantly reducing the amount of time and effort required for reporting and driving further productivity gains.”