Why optimising your workforce is becoming the biggest opportunity in utilities

Every utility organisation is being asked to do more with the resources it already has.

Customer expectations continue to rise, regulators demand higher reliability, ageing infrastructure requires more maintenance, and investment is being directed towards modernising networks for a lower-carbon future. At the same time, experienced engineers are retiring, specialist skills remain difficult to recruit and operational budgets are under constant pressure.

These are not new challenges, but they are becoming harder to manage.

For many organisations, the immediate response is to recruit more people, increase overtime or rely more heavily on contractors. While these approaches can help in the short term, they rarely solve the underlying problem. In many cases, they simply add cost without addressing existing operational inefficiencies.

Utilities are therefore looking beyond workforce capacity and considering how they can make better use of the people, assets, technology and information they already have.

 

Where productive capacity is being lost

 

When field performance starts to decline, workforce shortages are often seen as the main cause. However, productive time can be lost long before an engineer begins work on site.

A typical day might involve travelling between appointments, waiting for information, discovering that required parts are unavailable or returning because another engineer with different skills is needed. Individually, these delays may seem relatively small. Across hundreds of engineers and thousands of work orders, however, they can represent a significant loss of productive capacity.

These issues rarely exist because people are not working hard. More often, they result from disconnected systems, manual processes and planning methods that struggle to cope with the demands of modern utility operations.

Removing these obstacles allows engineers to spend more time completing valuable work and less time dealing with avoidable delays.

 

Energy, Utilities and Resources

 

Energy, utilities and resources organisations operate complex networks of assets, people and field operations. Improving workforce performance therefore requires more than simply changing how engineers are scheduled.

A connected approach can help organisations bring together information about assets, work orders, workforce availability, maintenance requirements and operational priorities.

This provides greater visibility across operations and gives teams a clearer understanding of what work needs to be completed, what resources are available and where attention should be focused.

For utilities, the practical advantages can include improved asset reliability, more efficient maintenance, better workforce utilisation and greater operational resilience.

Platned’s Energy, Utilities and Resources solutions support organisations looking to modernise operations using IFS technology while making better use of their existing resources.

 

IFS Field Service Management

 

IFS Field Service Management helps organisations coordinate field activity by connecting the information and processes involved in delivering work.

Instead of planners, dispatchers and engineers relying on separate systems or manual updates, field service information can be made available across the operation.

Practical use cases

Improving first-time completion

Providing engineers with relevant information before they arrive on site can help reduce avoidable return visits. This can include asset history, job requirements and other information needed to complete the work.

Coordinating field teams

Greater visibility of jobs, engineers and operational priorities helps dispatchers understand what is happening across the field workforce and respond more effectively when circumstances change.

Managing work orders

Connecting work orders with field operations provides a clearer view of jobs from initial request through to completion.

Supporting mobile workers

Field engineers can access and update information while working remotely, reducing reliance on manual paperwork and improving the flow of information between the field and office.

These capabilities can help organisations reduce delays, improve coordination and make better use of available workforce capacity.

 

Planning and Scheduling Optimisation

 

Planning field work today is very different from a decade ago.

Planners must balance emergency call-outs, preventative maintenance, customer appointments, regulatory commitments, workforce availability, specialist skills and changing priorities, often within the same day.

A single emergency can affect dozens of scheduled jobs, while severe weather or unexpected faults can require resources to be redeployed quickly. Managing this complexity manually becomes increasingly difficult as operations grow.

Planning and Scheduling Optimisation can continuously evaluate workloads, available resources and operational priorities, helping organisations adapt schedules as conditions change.

Practical use cases

Dynamic scheduling

Schedules can be adjusted as new jobs, emergencies, cancellations or operational changes occur, helping organisations respond without continually rebuilding plans manually.

Skills-based allocation

Work can be matched with engineers based on factors such as skills, availability and job requirements, helping organisations send the right resource to the right job.

Travel optimisation

Planning can take location and travel requirements into account, helping reduce unnecessary journeys and increase the amount of time engineers spend completing productive work.

Exception management

Planners can spend more time dealing with unusual or high-priority situations rather than manually managing routine scheduling decisions.

The result is not simply a more efficient schedule. Better planning can contribute to improved workforce utilisation, reduced travel, faster response times and higher first-time completion rates.

 

Workforce forecasting

 

Workforce optimisation is not only about today’s schedule. Utilities also need to understand whether they will have the capacity and skills required to meet future demand.

Workforce forecasting can help organisations identify patterns in workload, capacity and skills requirements. This can support decisions about recruitment, training, contractor use and resource allocation.

For example, an organisation may identify that a particular region is likely to experience a skills shortage or that seasonal demand will exceed available capacity. Recognising these issues earlier gives leaders more time to respond.

This moves workforce planning away from reacting to shortages and towards preparing for future operational requirements.

 

Data for decision-making

 

Technology alone does not improve field performance. The real value comes from connecting and using the information that already exists across the organisation.

When planners, dispatchers, engineers and managers have access to consistent operational information, decisions can become faster and better informed.

Engineers can review asset history before arriving on site. Planners can consider resource availability when assigning work. Managers can monitor workload, workforce utilisation and operational performance to identify areas requiring attention.

IFS Cloud can bring together field service, asset management, scheduling and operational information within a connected environment, helping organisations reduce their reliance on disconnected systems and manual reporting.

For leaders, this can provide a clearer picture of how field operations are performing and where improvements could deliver the greatest value.

 

Opportunities in data integration

 

Many utilities already hold much of the information required to improve workforce performance. The problem is that it often sits across different systems.

Asset information may exist in one platform, workforce data in another, while scheduling, inventory, finance and customer information are managed elsewhere.

Connecting these sources creates opportunities to improve how decisions are made across field operations.

For example, combining asset history with work order information can give engineers greater context before attending a job. Connecting inventory information with scheduling can help planners understand whether the required parts are available before work is assigned.

Data integration can therefore help organisations reduce information gaps without expecting employees to manually bring information together.

 

How AI can support workforce decisions

 

Artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly important part of utility operations, particularly where teams need to process large amounts of operational information quickly.

Planning field work involves balancing factors including skills, travel time, customer commitments, job priority and resource availability. AI can help analyse these variables and support planners in identifying effective ways to allocate work.

This does not remove the role of experienced planners. Instead, it can reduce the time spent on routine analysis, allowing teams to focus on exceptions and situations where human judgement matters most.

Other practical opportunities include identifying patterns in operational data, supporting workforce forecasting and helping organisations understand where resources may be under pressure.

Used effectively, AI becomes another tool for making better use of existing information and workforce expertise.

 

Start by understanding where you are today

 

One of the biggest mistakes organisations can make is assuming that improving field operations starts with buying new software.

Successful improvement programmes usually begin by understanding how work currently flows through the organisation.

Consider:

Answering these questions creates a stronger foundation for future investment decisions and helps organisations focus on solving the right problems first.

Our interactive workbook, How optimised is your utility workforce?, provides a practical framework for assessing current operations and identifying opportunities for improvement.

 

Practical resources for utility leaders

 

If you are reviewing your field operations or planning future investment, we have created three resources to support different stages of the process.

How optimised is your utility workforce?

A practical self-assessment workbook that helps you evaluate your current field operations, identify opportunities for improvement and prioritise your next steps.

The hidden cost of inefficient field operations

An executive briefing exploring how inefficient field operations can affect productivity, operational costs and customer service, helping senior leaders understand the business case for change.

The Utility Leader’s Playbook for Building a Smarter Workforce

A practical guide bringing the different elements together and exploring how utilities can modernise field operations, improve workforce performance and prepare for future demand.

 

How Platned can help

 

Every utility organisation faces different operational challenges. Some need to improve scheduling and dispatch, while others want better visibility across field operations, fewer repeat visits or a clearer roadmap for modernisation.

As an IFS Specialized Partner, Platned works with energy, utilities and resources organisations to understand where improvements could have the greatest operational impact before helping them implement practical solutions using IFS Cloud.

This can include IFS Field Service Management, Planning and Scheduling Optimisation and the wider integration of asset, workforce and operational information.

Whether you are reviewing existing field operations or planning a wider transformation, the objective is to help you make better use of the workforce, assets and information you already have.