90% of Utilities are Using Old Analytics Tools but Expecting New Results

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Sept. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- BRIDGE Energy Group, the leading Utility consulting and systems integration company, today announced the results from their 2013 Utility Industry Survey on Business Intelligence (BI) & Analytics.

This year's survey results indicated that most utilities are still hampered by managing data through basic reporting and dashboards (55%) and that they are not able to analyze data beyond description, classification and clustering. 

Further, the results show that only 10% of respondents are leveraging new trends and tools in analytics, including applications that run on sophisticated analytical frameworks such as Hadoop. Industry experts believe the low adoption rate for insightful business and technical analytics is a lost opportunity that provides the utility industry enormous opportunity.  Gartner analysts Kristian Steenstrup and Randy Rhodes' report, Top 10 Technology Trends Impacting the Energy and Utility Industry in 2013, further concludes, "By understanding likely future circumstances, organizations are better able to allocate investments to maximize returns."

Respondents indicated that most of their utilities have limited experience in determining ROI for the types of analytics that would allow them to engage in predictive asset and reliability based maintenance.  While 61% can demonstrate ROI for basic and dashboard reporting, only 13% have the ability to determine ROI for predictive analytics. A clear sign that help is needed with upfront strategy and business planning.

"The big business win for utilities is with predictive analytics, but because utilities don't have experience in determining ROI for advanced analytics, they haven't invested in more modern analytics specific tools," said Doug Scheller, Vice President of Business Intelligence at BRIDGE Energy Group. "The benefits of predictive analytics are far reaching - including reliability based maintenance, load curtailment, better demand curve projections and more.  The sooner utilities find ways to progress their analytics reach, the sooner they will reap the escalating financial and operational benefits." 

Of the 14,000 Utility employees surveyed, respondents also identified key challenges related to investing in these new tools. Topping the list was the supply and availability of staff with the right skills (46%) and the integration of related systems and data stores (32%). 

BRIDGE will be sharing additional insights from this survey at the Utility Analytics Week conference in Atlanta, GA from September 23-25^th while exhibiting at booth #101.  Attendees of the conference will have the opportunity to sign up to receive the results of the survey while at the event. 

Alternatively, a complete analysis of the results of the 2013 Utility Industry Survey can also be obtained by contacting BRIDGE at [email protected] and referencing "2013 Utility BI survey."

About BRIDGE Energy Group

BRIDGE Energy Group is the leading consulting and systems integration solutions company, focused exclusively on grid reliability for the Utility industry. Our clients leverage BRIDGE's business, IT and OT domain expertise to achieve their operational, revenue and customer service goals.  BRIDGE solutions and expert services enable engagement at any stage in the lifecycle, from strategy & regulatory to implementation & operation. Founded in 2004, BRIDGE is headquartered in Marlborough, MA. For more information on BRIDGE, please contact 888-351-8999 or visit www.BridgeEnergyGroup.com.

SOURCE BRIDGE Energy Group