Utilities Digital Services: Reinventing Utilities for an Intelligently Connected, Renewable World

The utilities industry is entering a new phase of transformation driven by electrification, AI-enabled demand growth, renewable energy expansion, evolving cybersecurity requirements, and rising customer expectations. Utilities are modernizing grid infrastructure, strengthening digital planning capabilities, and deploying DERMS, energy storage, automation, AI, and advanced analytics across operations, workforce management, customer engagement, and asset management to improve reliability, resilience, and service quality. These investments are helping utilities address infrastructure constraints, integrate distributed energy resources, strengthen cybersecurity, and build more adaptive, efficient, and customer-centric operations.

Both demand- and supply-side trends are covered in Avasant’s Utilities Digital Services 2026 Market Insights™ and Utilities Digital Services 2026 RadarView™, respectively. These reports present a comprehensive study of digital service providers in the utilities industry, including top trends, analysis, and recommendations. The reports also closely examine the leaders, innovators, disruptors, challengers, and tech pioneers in this market.

Avasant evaluated 30 providers using two dimensions: practice maturity and future-proofing. Of the 30 providers, we recognized 23 that brought the most value to the market during the past 12 months.

The report recognizes service providers in five categories:

• • Leaders: Accenture, Capgemini, Cognizant, HCLTech, Infosys, TCS, and Wipro
  • Innovators: DXC Technology, Hitachi Digital Services, IBM, LTIMindtree, and Tech Mahindra
  • Disruptors: CGI, Firstsource, and Genpact
  • Challengers: Atos, Birlasoft, and Fujitsu
  • Tech pioneers: GE Vernova, Landis+Gyr, Oracle, SAP, and Siemens

Figure 1 below from the full report illustrates these categories:

“Utilities are moving beyond isolated digital programs toward connected, intelligence-led operations that unify planning, grid management, workforce enablement, and customer engagement,” said Henry Guapo, Avasant managing partner. “This evolution is helping organizations improve resilience, efficiency, and long-term adaptability.”

The full report provides a number of findings, including the following:

1. 1. As electricity demand rises from AI-enabled data centers, industrial electrification, and manufacturing expansion, utilities are adopting AI-enabled forecasting, grid-enhancing technologies, and digital planning capabilities to assess future capacity requirements, accelerate grid upgrades, and improve long-term system reliability.
   2. As renewable energy capacity continues to expand and variable generation becomes a larger share of the energy mix, utilities are deploying DERMS, virtual power plants, battery storage, and energy management systems to improve grid flexibility, maintain reliability, and support affordable power delivery.
   3. To address the rising customer expectations, affordability pressures, and growing service demands, utilities are embedding AI-powered billing assistants, virtual support tools, and personalized engagement capabilities to improve responsiveness, enhance customer experiences, and scale service operations efficiently.
   4. As workforce retirements, talent shortages, and evolving skill requirements increase operational complexity, utilities are adopting AI-assisted analysis, digital field workflows, and remote inspection technologies to improve productivity, preserve institutional knowledge, and strengthen workforce capabilities.
   5. Increasing connectivity across utility operations is elevating cybersecurity requirements, leading organizations to enhance asset visibility, secure remote access, network monitoring, and AI-enabled threat detection to reduce disruption risks and ensure service continuity.

The Utilities Digital Services 2026 RadarView™ also features detailed profiles of 23 service providers, along with their solutions, offerings, and experience in assisting utility companies in digital transformation.

This Research Byte is a brief overview of Avasant’s Utilities Digital Services 2026 Market Insights™ and Utilities Digital Services 2026 RadarView™. (Click for pricing.)