By Renee John Inyanga
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 23 – As the world transitions into a digitally run era, all industries are evolving to meet the demands of fast-paced and instant gratification.
The energy sector is one of the areas that is continuously evolving as technology advances and society’s needs and concerns shift. In recent years, there has been a growing focus on renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, and hydropower, as well as energy storage and management solutions.
The energy sector is vital to the world economy and employs millions. With growing demands, efficiency has become essential in ensuring the smooth functioning of various industries, businesses, and households worldwide.
Energy efficiency has always been an issue of the modern world, a vital partner in progress for various fields. As the number of machines and vehicles is increasing, the demand for fuel is also on the rise.
Across the world, lowering record-high consumer bills and securing reliable access to supply is a central political and economic imperative for almost all governments. While there are many ways for countries to address the energy crisis, focusing on energy efficiency action is the unambiguous first and best response to meet affordability, supply security and climate goals simultaneously.
Digitization of energy is billed as a panacea to enhancing efficiency and accessibility, bringing down the cost, and ensuring the sector’s sustainability.
Enhancing energy system efficiency is one of the main advantages of digitization. Smart meters and other digital technologies can help control energy consumption more effectively and reduce energy waste. This can help lower consumer energy bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Digitisation also offers the opportunity to increase the use of renewable energy sources. By using digital technologies to manage the production and distribution of energy from renewable sources such as solar and wind, it is possible to increase the amount of renewable energy generated and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
In the retail distribution of energy, specifically in fuel distribution, digitization enables retailers to automate their processes and streamline their operations, resulting in improved efficiency and enhanced customer experience.
Running a fuel station involves overseeing a lot of moving parts. This means there are often many opportunities for processes and systems to become inefficient or unprofitable and, worse yet, present a risk of irking your customers.
Interestingly, over the years, the fuel service stations have been through a step change in site formats, product and service offerings and forecourt operations.
Across East Africa, the traditional fuel retail industry has been changing fast. Today fuel stations or petrol stations host service centres, car wash services, lubricants and convenience stores. Some big retail brands like Vivo or Ola even attract fast food joints and coffee houses.
In essence, fuel stations have become an integration point for a range of services. This necessitates the need for more personalized engagements, delightful fueling and shopping experiences for customers on the one hand. And on the other hand, it enables automation of the entire forecourt operations – from inventory management to payments, and supports station owners in delivering the ultimate enhanced customer experience by improving throughput and reducing their operational costs.
As these stations expand their services, consumers have also become increasingly sophisticated and, more than ever, demand quick service when they visit any of these outlets; opening the door for end-to-end automation of the forecourt services to keep up with hectic processes and multiple services offered to customers.
With solutions like Pesapal Forecourt management solutions, retailers can leverage technology to make energy systems more connected, intelligent, efficient, reliable and sustainable over the coming decades.
Forecourt management solutions enable fuel station owners to remotely monitor and exercise control over LPG and fuel dispensers, tank gauging systems, price boards and managing the payment system. It also provides a seamless back-end reporting interface and allows service station owners to link Point of Sale (POS) and ERP to all forecourt operations.
Automated fuel stations present an opportunity to do more and monetize better.
The changes in fuel stations are already in motion; with increased operations automation, the sector will bring about much-needed efficiency and reliability.
As automation continues, it will streamline operations, enabling forecourt operators to spend less time on routine tasks and more on providing customers with the human touch.
Inyanga is a Forecourt Engineer at Pesapal
