Utility firms power up IT spending

Utilities in western Europe appear to have a positive outlook for the near future and expect to increase or maintain their IT budget, according to data from Energy Insights.

"Fewer than 14 per cent of utility firms intend to decrease their budget, and 43 per cent plan to increase their external IT spending," said Roberta Bigliani, EMEA research director at Energy Insights.

"In terms of budget allocation, Energy Insights expects cost-cutting initiatives to continue mainly around routine infrastructure upgrades.

"This proves that, despite interest in newer technologies, utilities are still focused on their backbone systems."

The Energy Insights report confirmed that routine infrastructure upgrades currently take the largest share of utilities' IT operating budgets.

Over 65 per cent of utility firms surveyed indicated that they rely heavily on external consultants for support.

Overall, the study found that the utilities industry appears to have positive expectations for the near future.

Significant differences are evident on a country basis, but stability is sweeping across western European organisations which expect to increase or to keep their IS budgets unchanged.

System integrators and consultants were the likely primary sources of IT over the next 12 months. System integrators are even expecting to see significant increments in their share of a source's budget in the near future.

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