Analyst Insight: Top Trends Across Energy IT

As renewables and the resulting DERs continue to enter the energy marketplace, and generation deregulation patterns continue globally, energy providers are facing fiercer competition. With these changes to generation and increased expectations for higher service across industries, customer information has grown in importance. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the need for utilities to communicate with customers—often without face-to-face interactions. This in turn has positively influenced growth in the energy IT market.

Over the next few years, the global energy IT market should expect replacements and upgrades of customer information systems (CIS) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems to increase responsiveness to customers. CIS currently boasts the largest investment of energy IT segments measured. This large investment is consistent across regions, and while its CAGR is lower than many counterparts—along with CRM and GIS, it is at a more established point in the market—it is predicted to continue leading energy IT investment over the next decade.

Additionally, high growth is expected in meter data management systems (MDMS) and asset management system (AMS)/asset performance management (APM) markets. This high growth correlates with smart grid deployment and growing customer demands. MDMS can be used with smart meters to detect outages and theft—both essential for serving customers efficiently. APM breaks down silos in operations, creating greater efficiency.