The New Shift in Utility Transformation: What's Next?

Utility leaders now face extreme weather, cyber threats, aging infrastructure, rising demand from data centers and electrification, and affordability pressure all at once.

Sustainability remains a critical goal, but it no longer drives investment strategy on its own. Survey respondents rank grid reliability and resilience as their top operational challenge. 

Capital is moving toward the existing asset portfolio, energy storage, microgrids and cybersecurity. This is a rebalancing, not a retreat from the energy transition. Each investment now has to show how it supports supply security, resilience and affordability together.

Utilities run critical operations across SCADA, EAM, ERP, CIS, ADMS, GIS and field systems. When those systems don’t share data, it takes longer to turn an operational signal into a coordinated decision. 

The survey finds 71% of utilities struggling with operational silos, and only 29% have fully integrated operational data platforms. That gap also limits predictive capability and makes Industrial AI harder to scale. The research shows a strong relationship between integration and advanced decision-making.

The survey identifies asset lifecycle management (ALM) as the battleground for utility modernization. Most utilities have systems in place, but silos still limit predictive capability. That maturity gap makes it harder for leaders to connect long-range investment choices with day-to-day asset performance. Complex legacy integration, data quality issues and skills gaps are the main barriers holding back modern ALM adoption.

Utility leaders see clear value in Industrial AI, but most are still at the pilot stage, and 97% face significant barriers to moving AI into production. Uncertain payback and legacy systems are among the most common. Far fewer utilities run AI across multiple operational functions, and that gap separates utilities moving ahead from those falling behind.