Dive Brief:
- Utility Chief Information Officers (CIO) believe social media will play a significant role in the customer experience, according to a new study by PricewaterhouseCoopers that compared CIO’s attitudes to digital technology across several industries.
- The study found utility CIOs believe the way that a utility company handles social media will be a factor in whether customers stay with their utility or switch to an alternative energy provider.
- Unsurprisingly, cybersecurity was found to be of higher than average concern for utility CIOs compared to other industries.
- Interestingly, utility CIOs reported that the strength of relationship between the CIO and CMO, and the CIO and CEO were above average, perhaps reflecting a rising awareness of how digital technology can affect brand development.
Dive Insight:
Utility CIOs gave their own companies a lower-than-average digital IQ. While utilities seem to have good awareness of the importance of social media and cybersecurity, those same companies are not acting on those concerns to the extent they need to be.
When compared to other industries, utility CIOs were less likely to view digital technology as essential to business growth, and were less likely to make investments in new IT platforms, like smart phones and tablets.
However, it appears utility CIOs recognize this as a problem: They were more likely than other industries to feel worried about being able to keep up with future technology, and they were more likely to be concerned at the speed technology changes.