The Future of Utilities Trends Report
An industry strategic foresight trends report
- Organizations are overwhelmed by the number of unprecedented changes and disruptions.
- Leadership teams often lack insights to identify relevant and critical trends.
- There are uncertainties about transforming the digital business to adopt rapidly changing technologies.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
When facing disruptions, utilities need to focus on strengthening core business capabilities and embracing technology advancements to bolster business resilience.
Impact and Result
Info-Tech’s trends report on the future of utilities investigates strategic foresights and highlights the relevant trends for business and IT leaders in utilities. Our goal is to guide you through the energy transition journey to the future we reimagine together.
This report aims to:
- Perform a broader scan to highlight the proven and relevant trends to utilities.
- Help organizations identify the trends to follow depending on their maturity.
- Highlight the impact of the trends to business and IT leaders.
- Guide organizations for required changes driven by the regulators and desired by customers.
The Future of Utilities Trends Report
AN INDUSTRY STRATEGIC FORESIGHT TRENDS REPORT
Analyst Perspective
Utilities organizations are going through unprecedented disruptions and challenges, such as:
- A growing call to decarbonize.
- The transition to electrification.
- An increase in adoptions of renewables.
- Unpredictable weather patterns.
- Elevated customer expectations.
- Global supply chain interruptions.
- The record-high energy wholesale market price.
- The post-pandemic mindset shift of the workforce.
Utilities must understand what core business capabilities and technology enablement are required to contribute to the sustainable future. It is the role of IT/operational technology (OT) to provide thought leadership to guide organizations to build business resilience in the face of disruptions.
Info-Tech’s trends report on the future of utilities investigates strategic foresights and highlights the relevant trends for business and IT leaders in utilities. Our goal is to guide you through the energy transition journey to the future we reimagine together.
Jing Wu
Principal Research Director, Utilities Research
Info-Tech Research Group
Executive Summary
Your Challenge
- Organizations are overwhelmed by the number of unprecedented changes and disruptions.
- Leadership teams often lack insights to identify relevant and critical trends.
- There are uncertainties about transforming the digital business to adopt rapidly changing technologies.
Common Obstacles
- Business leaders often think IT does not have an important role in defining and achieving digital business goals.
- Risk-averse utilities do not see the value of trends and how they link to the digital business plan.
- IT leaders might not think that industry trends have a significant impact on the IT organization.
Info-Tech’s Approach
- Perform a broader scan to highlight the demonstrated and relevant trends to utilities.
- Help organizations identify the trends to follow depending on their maturity.
- Highlight the impact of the trends on business and IT leaders.
- Guide organizations on required changes driven by regulators and desired by customers.
Info-Tech Insight
When facing disruptions, Utilities need to focus on strengthening their core business capabilities and embracing technology advancements to bolster business resilience.
Utilities are facing unprecedented challenges
Plan for external disruptions and internal challenges, and then act on changes required to adapt to the utilities of the future.
Trifecta of Change
COMMITMENT TO DECARBONIZATION
Make aggressive commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve a carbon-neutral future. In the next decade, utilities will be among the sectors most called upon to make changes.
Strengthen infrastructure resilience to manage widely-adopted renewables and fast-evolving electrification penetrations.
EXPECTATION OF REGULATORS AND CUSTOMERS
Build a customer-centric culture. Utilities are struggling to provide delightful, reliable, and, at the same time, affordable services to customers with growing expectations in the digital age.
Regulators need to provide incentives. Utilities are not motivated by regulators to make changes. Lengthy timelines to gain approvals from regulators can obstruct changes.
RISK OF RELIABLE INFRASTRUCTURE
Upgrade aging infrastructure and build a preventative maintenance plan to provide utilities with the capability to maintain a sustainable ecosystem.
Prepare for unpredictable weather patterns that often cause major damage to utility infrastructures and introduce significant outages to essential services.
Utilities are in transition for a clean future
Utilities are undergoing an unprecedented rate of change and disruption. Electricity and natural gas are among the most high-profile and high-impact sectors to lead the way to net-zero targets. Digitally transforming the utility business to strengthen its business capabilities is key to building its resilience. Those who seize the opportunities through the industry-in-transition period will set the stage for the clean future.
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OLD-SCHOOL WAY OF THE PAST |
INDUSTRY-IN-TRANSITION DIGITAL AGE |
UTILITIES OF THE FUTURE |
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Current state – steady pace of reliable service provision and enjoyment of a somewhat monopolized status:
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Mid-state – set the pace of technology advancement and develop a resiliency plan to manage disruptions:
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Ideal state – embrace the race to net-zero emissions while level-setting the impactful plans:
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The Utilities-of-the-Future Perspective: What trends open the door to the ideal state?
Utilities of the future are adaptable
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TRANSFORMATION IN INNOVATION |
LEADERSHIP IN SUSTAINABILITY |
COMMUNITY PARTNER IN TRUST |
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The future of utilities: Foundational IT elements
THE BUSINESS REQUIRES LEADERSHIP FROM IT FOR THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION TO SUCCEED
WORK AND ASSET GIS SYSTEMS
Effective use of the GIS-powered work and asset management system is the cornerstone of operating a reliable and resilient infrastructure in the utilities business.
CUSTOMER INTERACTION
Elevated customer expectations require utilities to provide an intuitive, unified omnichannel platform to interact with customers for all services provided.
DIGITAL FRONTLINES
Deployment of mobile devices and applications to assist frontline workers with near-real-time data to support their daily operational tasks is essential to realize the benefits of the digital transformation of utilities.
HYBRID INTEGRATION
A hybrid integration framework to support various integration patterns such as on-premises to on-premises, on-premises to cloud, and cloud to cloud is key to enable IT capabilities.
CYBERSECURITY
A robust cybersecurity program covering both the IT and OT landscapes is critical to ensure organizational information and assets are protected against the onslaught of various forms of attack.
ADVANCED DATA ANALYTICS
The enablement of an advanced data analytics platform to support data-driven digital utilities is the foundational step necessary to support any core business transformation initiatives.
The future of utilities: Four IT/OT transformational trends
NET-ZERO PATHWAYS FOR UTILITIES
Finding your pathway in the race to net zero
Utilities have a high impact in contributing to the net-zero target. An achievable sustainability plan is becoming a top priority for utilities.
SUSTAINABLE GRID/NETWORK TRANSFORMATION TRANSFORMATION
Building a resilient physical and digital infrastructure
Disruptions such as extreme weather patterns and EV penetrations require utilities to optimize the investment in maintaining the aging physical infrastructure and building up its digital twin to provide further insights.
CONNECTING WITH THE EDGE
Expand digital intelligence
Evolving from the pervasiveness of Internet of Things devices, edge devices allow decentralized computing to complement conventionally centralized decision making.
DARE TO INNOVATE
Networks of collaboration to challenge the status quo
Challenges utilities face are complex in nature and require collaborations across nations and borders. Rethinking innovation in utilities is much needed during the industry-in-transition period.
“The energy sector is the source of around three-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions today and holds the key to averting the worst effects of climate change, perhaps the greatest challenge humankind has faced.”
(Source: IEA, 2021)
Download the 2022 Tech Trends Report
Next step
Leverage this trends report to develop your digital business strategy
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THE FUTURE OF UTILITIES |
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BUSINESS CONTEXT & IT STRATEGY |
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TRENDS REPORT |
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Leverage this trends report for priorities that drive measurable, top-line organizational outcomes and to unlock direct value. |
The future will bring more trends and technologies, making it pivotal that your utility continues to establish itself as the disrupter, not the disrupted. You must establish a structured approach to innovation management that considers external trends as well as internal processes. Info-Tech’s Define Your Digital Business Strategyblueprint and Build a Business-Aligned IT Strategy blueprint give you the tools you need to effectively process signals in your environment, build an understanding of relevant trends, and turn this understanding into action. |
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Unlock Sample ResearchContributors
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- James Blair, Head of Digital/CISO, Todd Energy Limited
- Qing Liu, CIO, Oregon Public Utility Commission