Re-imagining energy services: Empirical analysis of demand-side as-a-service business models and use cases in energy sector

Purpose: Study on emerging and market-proven services (as-a-Service) business models for delivering digital services in the energy and building sector. Design/Methodology/Approach: Online survey and semi-structured interviews combined with desk research.
Findings:The most important benefit from XaaS according to the empirical results is transparency and better engagement with end customers. Additionally, the interviews indicate that returns to investment do not materialize faster, but rather the quality of these returns increases with XaaS. The shifting of the initial investment risk from the customer to the company is noted as a downside of XaaS. The two top challenges are (a) technical and informational interoperability of services and (b) availability and access of data to design a new XaaS service offering. Regulatory risk is the top-ranked risk category, followed by market and financial risk. This risk perception includes also barriers from bureaucracy, red tape and lack of standardization.
Originality/Value: Empirical evidence on practitioners’ views of XaaS, the status quo of implementation regarding energy-related service offerings and an outlook on XaaS development.