MET Group’s Digital Transformation strategy focuses on people, process and data

Source: Intelligent CIO Magazine

MET Group has announced an in-depth look at its Digital Transformation strategy. In an interview with Intelligent CIO Magazine, MET Group’s Chief Digital Transformation Officer Thomas Bodé explains how the organisation is reshaping operations by prioritising people, process and data before introducing technology.

Your approach to Digital Transformation is described as being centered on process and data before technology. Could you elaborate on how this philosophy is applied at MET Group and what kind of measurable value it has delivered?

Too many transformations fail because they start with technology. At MET, we always start with people. Then we design the process, define the data and only after that do we bring in the technology. While people are the foundation – requiring governance, alignment and shared goals -the core of transformation lies in clearly designing and improving processes. Most transformations adapt existing, often undocumented, workflows into more transparent and efficient ones.

Processes must be clearly structured to connect old ways of working with new ones, enabling real change. Data then fuels these processes, not only by enabling functionality but also by establishing shared definitions, in other words, a common language across teams. Without well-defined data, collaboration and effective decision-making are compromised.

Only after aligning people, refining processes and structuring data should technology be introduced – as an optimiser, not the driver. Technology enhances productivity but must be built on clarity about who does what, how and with which data.

The core value of the project was defined by the Group CEO’s desire for real-time visibility into the organisation – access to key information without relying on calls or intermediaries. As MET has grown in complexity, the transformation also supports better alignment and dependency management between teams, ensuring decisions are not only correct but also understood, justified and scalable across functions.

MET Group has significantly increased its traded volume of natural gas and power. How have your Digital Transformation initiatives, particularly in real-time data usage and trading efficiency, directly supported this rapid growth?

MET Group’s rapid growth in traded natural gas and power volumes created a need for real-time optimisation and scalable processes. As transaction volumes surged, traditional methods could no longer keep pace. Digital Transformation initiatives – focusing on process redesign, data management and technology – were essential in enabling this growth.

A critical use case is the daily revaluation of trading positions, crucial for understanding performance and managing risk. Given the scale and speed required, this demands high-quality, timely data. To meet these needs, MET built a robust cloud-based data lakehouse as a core enabler, integrating millions of data points from trades, sales and market price feeds.

This system allows for accurate tracking of positions, risk exposures and margin generation within a 24-hour cycle. The data engineering backbone, combined with clearly defined processes and capable teams, ensures that all transactions are aggregated, transformed and made available for decision-making every day.

With a focus on risk management, what specific data-driven strategies have you implemented to help MET Group navigate the dynamic and often volatile European energy market?

MET Group’s risk management relies heavily on transparency and timely access to accurate information. In-house quantitative analysts develop advanced data science models to assess market risk and guide hedging decisions. A major focus has been restructuring data collection and harmonisation processes across all sales subsidiaries to provide a unified, comparable view of complex sales contracts, which carry inherent market risks.

By building a comprehensive data model and centralised data lakehouse, MET ensures relevant risk and performance data is available to analysts and leadership via standardised reports. This supports informed decision-making from subsidiary sales teams up to the Group CEO. The transformation also emphasises automating data collection processes to handle large volumes efficiently, reducing manual workload and enhancing scalability.

You used to work at Swarovski, a company with a very different business model. How did your experience with predictive intelligence in a global retail environment shape your people-centered approach to Digital Transformation in the energy sector?

My experience at Swarovski, a highly customer-centric retail company, at least partially shaped my approach to Digital Transformation at MET by highlighting the importance of personalised, data-driven customer engagement. At Swarovski, we used data to predict which necklace someone might buy. At MET, we use it to manage million-euro energy risks. Very different – but the principle is the same: know your customer.

How does your digital strategy, particularly in data governance, address challenges such as regulatory complexity to ensure MET Group’s operations remain compliant?

MET Group’s digital strategy prioritises data governance to secure data quality which supports smooth and safe operation as well as reliable information. But it is also a key enabler to ensure transparency and compliance with complex regulations such as GDPR and the upcoming EU AI Act.

By mapping the entire IT landscape and tagging sensitive data, MET demonstrates control and readiness for regulatory scrutiny. This governance framework helps manage risks related to data misuse and algorithmic bias.

Beyond the technology itself, what have been the most significant challenges in fostering a culture of digital change within a traditional energy company and what strategies have you found most effective?

The biggest challenge is cultural, shifting from decisions based on relationships and habits to fact-based, data-driven decision-making. This requires not only making data accessible but also changing deep-rooted habits, which demands stronger change management than just bringing a new software.

Communication and training are key enablers informing teams about process changes and providing training to build skills in process definition, project management and data use. Collaborating closely with HR or Internal Communications are essential to decentralise knowledge and embed these practices.

Looking ahead, what do you see as the next major digital frontier for the energy industry and what is MET Group doing today to prepare for it?

The next major digital frontier in the energy industry is with integrating advanced AI, especially Generative and Agentic AI, to transform processes. While MET Group currently uses AI in limited ways, there’s significant potential to expand by leveraging enhanced data transparency and applying sophisticated machine learning models.

However, leveraging Gen / Agentic AI will require fundamentally redesigning processes and ways of working to enable partial automation alongside human input. Preparing for this shift involves continuing to build strong data foundations, ensuring process transparency and fostering rational decision-making to fully embrace AI’s capabilities. To get there, we are strengthening our data and process foundations today.