How can we build an energy-secure future and prevent blackouts?

As Australia transitions to a cleaner energy mix, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has undertaken a significant digital transformation to enhance grid stability and operational efficiency in a bid to foster consistent, dependable energy supply.

For AEMO, strengthening service resilience was a core driver behind its digital transformation. As the organization responsible for keeping Australia’s energy systems secure and reliable, AEMO needed clearer visibility into operational risk and faster response to service issues that could impact critical market operations.

Partnering with Fujitsu, AEMO reconfigured its legacy systems into a modern, integrated enterprise platform using ServiceNow. Before the transformation, AEMO was hamstrung by outdated IT service management tools, manual processes and fragmented risk management, making it difficult to track service activity, manage compliance and make fast, informed decisions. Its operational visibility was limited, and the organization relied on spreadsheets for critical processes such as onboarding, offboarding and risk management.
Fujitsu worked closely with AEMO to overhaul its digital infrastructure. The solution focused on automation, scalability and integrated risk management. One of the key objectives was to move away from fragmented and manual processes to a system that supported predictive decision‑making across departments. More than 100 workflows were automated, and services from IT to procurement to facilities management were brought into a unified interface. The implementation of ServiceNow IT Service Management—integrated with AEMO’s identity management solutions and Microsoft Active Directory—meant that service requests and approvals became faster and more consistent. The team also built a centralized configuration management database, laying the foundation for robust risk assessments and service dependencies across the organization.

A key breakthrough came with the introduction of ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, which provided a single pane of glass for risk visibility. Teams were no longer working across disparate spreadsheets and instead had a clear, actionable overview of compliance and risk exposure. “Integrated risk management has really helped AEMO with compliance and has got us out of spreadsheets with a single source of truth for risk,” said Janet Holling, Group Manager of Customer and Digital Services at AEMO. Customer feedback further affirmed the transformation’s success: “We are getting feedback from our customer base that everything is just easier to use, particularly the front‑end portal. There’s no technical jargon, and it’s in their language,” Holling added.

The operational impact has been significant. AEMO saw up to a 50% improvement in average time to deliver customer services, a 20% increase in self‑service usage and a 30% reduction in time to issue resolution. These are not just efficiency gains but improvements to resiliency. Faster problem resolution, better user interaction and unified risk visibility all contribute to a more agile and robust organization—one capable of supporting Australia’s transition to renewables without compromising reliability. “Our responsibility is to keep the lights on and the water hot,” noted Gordon Dunsford, AEMO’s Executive General Manager Digital. “Everything we do, every dollar we spend on change, it’s important we do that efficiently because if we don’t get that right, ultimately our way of life will fall away.” In short, a stronger digital core is a practical lever for grid resilience.

The blackouts in Spain, Portugal and the UK offer valuable lessons. In the Iberian case, the rapid loss of generation capacity and subsequent frequency drop highlight the need for systems that can adapt swiftly to changing conditions. Implementing automated load‑shedding protocols and enhancing interconnections with neighbouring grids can provide additional buffers against such events. These systems must be underpinned by real‑time analytics that can initiate fail‑safes before system‑wide failure becomes inevitable. Heathrow’s outage underscores the importance of redundancy in critical infrastructure. Diversifying power sources and establishing robust back‑up systems can prevent single points of failure from causing widespread disruption. Ensuring clear communication between grid operators and dependent services is vital to minimizing disruption. The incidents also emphasize the need for proactive risk management. Regular assessments of infrastructure vulnerabilities, coupled with investments in modernization, fortify energy systems against anticipated and unforeseen challenges. Governments and regulators must play their part too, by mandating transparency, preparedness and system‑wide coordination among energy‑market participants.