Global Energy Automation Market

In the terminology of Western analytical agencies, the term utilities is most often used to define the industry. It is common to all utilities providing public services, including electricity and water. Enterprises of the electric power complex are often also included in the category of utilities, sometimes the term energy companies is used separately for energy companies. In Russian terminology, the term utilities is as close as possible to the definition of "energy and housing and communal services."

It is also worth paying attention to the fact that utilities can also be understood as gas companies, but not gas producing, but supplying gas to end customers.

Industry IT Spending

World data

According to forecasts of IDC^[1]the global costs of industry enterprises power engineering specialists HOUSING AND PUBLIC UTILITIES and IT will reach $59.3 billion in 2014. The company's experts believe that industry enterprises will more than actively use flexible and innovative technologies in their operations and business models. Microgrids will have a major impact on existing business models, and IT directors will focus a relatively large amount of effort on working with business units to expand cyber security and expand their scope.

The role of IT directors in energy and housing enterprises will change due to the convergence of IT and operational technologies. Reducing enterprise revenues while increasing transaction costs will encourage the development of strategies through analytical tools. In general, enterprises will seek new adaptive capabilities due to the rapidly changing ecosystem. Also in the energy sector, a revision of approaches to data management will be relevant so that the implementation of smart grid is even more active.

Another important task will be customer relationship management, and multi-channel, which will require special platforms. Gamification will be adopted by many energy companies to establish contacts with customers, gain their loyalty and trust

According to Ovum^[2] at the beginning^[2] 2013, in 2012, the growth of IT budgets of global energy and housing enterprises will remain at the same level. The largest enterprises took part in the Ovum survey, the revenue of almost half of respondents is $500 million or more per year. Among all respondents, 58% spend more than $5 million a year on IT.

Europe

According to forecasts of IDC^[3]released in August 2013, at the end of 2013, IT spending by enterprises power engineering specialists HOUSING AND PUBLIC UTILITIES and Western Europe was supposed to reach $10.4 billion, with the lion's share of this amount (62.9%) accounted for IT services.

According to IDC, the costs of enterprises in the region for software (software) in the period 2012-2017 will grow by about 7.4% per year and at the end of 2017 will amount to $3.2 billion. Separately, the segment of IT services for the Western European industry of energy and housing and communal services will grow by 4.9% during this period, and the segment of computer equipment - by only 0.7% annually. In 2013, in the structure of IT expenditures of the energy sector and housing and communal services of Western Europe, software and equipment accounted for 23% and 14.1%, respectively.

In general, the region's industry continues to be influenced by the protracted economic collapse of the European Union, so now, more than ever before, enterprises are closely monitoring that every dollar allocated to IT is not wasted. The incentive for IT investment remains the need to improve efficiency and compliance.

According to IDC, among industry companies, the maximum IT costs are accounted for by electric power enterprises: in 2013, this is $7 billion or 67% of the total IT sector spending. The gas segment and water complex enterprises account for 15.8% and 13.1% of IT costs of the sector, respectively.

Data on the volume of IT spending in Eastern and Central Europe are not separately given, however, IDC notes^[4], that energy and housing enterprises will also continue to invest in the development of information technology under the influence of changes in the regulatory framework and the introduction of green technologies. Separately, IDC notes the role of projects in Russia to introduce dynamic billing, load and capacity sharing technologies and the development of smart grid. So, on average, energy and housing and communal services spending in the region will increase by 7% annually until 2017.

Main trends

According to IDC^[5] for January 2014, 6.6% of surveyed energy and housing enterprises in Europe as a whole plan to increase IT spending in the near future. The trend is to ensure integrated and secure access to data and applications, the development of information security and data management tools.

Gartner analysts believe^[6]that in 2013, a dozen key trends will have an impact on the energy automation and housing and communal services market, the relevance of which will continue in subsequent years. We are talking about the development of social technologies, big data management technologies, mobile and geo services, cloud solutions (including SaaS), the widespread introduction of sensors, im-memory computing, and the development of a communication environment.

Gartner Vice President Kristian Steenstrup points out that all these technologies will be required by companies to optimize existing business models in order to meet the expectations of shareholders, users, as well as changing regulations.

According to Steenstrap, energy companies and housing and communal services need to take away their inherent caution and carefully look at innovations in IT, only this will allow them to build really effective IT development strategies.

Social Media a Web 2.0

Energy and housing companies can use social media to fight for customers and attract attention to their services, as well as to involve users in energy efficiency programs, as well as crowdsourcing projects. Also, social media plays a large role in quickly informing users about the temporary shutdown of services, interruptions in the operation of public networks. There are also options for using social technologies to support the internal business processes of industry enterprises.

Big Data

The development of Smart Grid will lead to avalanche-like growth in the amount of data generated by enterprise systems, including intelligent applications, microsets, monitoring systems, asset management systems and network self-healing systems. The management of all these data arrays will pose new IT challenges to energy and housing enterprises, both structured and non-structured, transactional, streaming and other types of data processing.

Mobile Technology

Mobile and wireless technologies are increasingly becoming everyday tools for energy and housing enterprises. Mobile and related geo positioning technologies cover a wide base of hardware, from laptops to smartphones, as well as other communication devices, such as navigators, routers. For their work, navigation systems such as GPS and services based on high-speed terrestrial data networks, Wi-Fi and satellite communications are used.

According to a September 2014 IDC study, ^[7], 40% of energy and housing enterprises in EMEA plan to develop mobile access technologies in the next 12-18 months. At the same time, more than 48% of the enterprises surveyed already have mobile tools for working with office applications, files and employee collaboration.

Cloud Computing и SaaS

Although the use of cloud technologies in this sector of the economy is very limited due to security and reliability reasons, in one way or another cloud computing gradually penetrates this market, primarily in the field of intelligent measurements, big data analytics, as well as geoservices (GIS). Many companies are launching short-term smart grid projects to assess cloud benefits and potential risks.

Touch Technology

Sensors and sensors are most widely used throughout the supply, transmission and distribution chain of utilities. The main trend here is to overlay the sensor network of the digital signal processing systems and related software, so that sensor control and control is improved. All this allows you to solve important tasks, such as network protection, electromagnetic shielding, ensuring operability at extreme temperatures, cybersecurity and remote access.

In-Memory Computing

Gartner experts predict the increasing use of computing in RAM to ensure the operation of various types of programs and equipment, especially by mainstream enterprises. The ability of in-memory technologies to support large-scale processes with high data throughput makes it possible for enterprises to implement innovative IT scenarios, in particular, maintaining smart grid operation and processing smart sensors in real time.

Convergence of IT and Operating Technologies

New technology products will require a combination of information and operational processes in terms of investment and planning, for example, advanced distribution management systems (ADMS) can become the sphere of such convergence.

Advanced Metering Infrastructure

Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) or advanced measurement infrastructure is the cornerstone for smart grid, providing a communication environment for data transfer without delay or loss.

Communication technologies

The distributed nature of energy assets, coupled with the need for their effective management, as well as labor management, will make mobile and communication technologies a priority for IT investments by energy and housing companies around the world. Their role is indispensable in the development of M2M technologies, monitoring systems, SCADA and other technologies critical to enterprises.

Predicative Analytics

The predicative analytics (predictive, expected, predictive) Predictive analytics will be used by the companies of power and housing and public utilities for forecasting of equipment failures or increase in loading in certain timepoints from certain groups of clients or regions.

Notes