One in Every Two Western European Energy Retailers Will Invest in New Customer Care Solutions, According to IDC Energy Insights Study

A new IDC Energy Insights study shows that over the next 12 months one in every two Western European energy retailers will invest in a new customer care solution. The study also revealed that one in every four utility customer operations teams expects to invest in enhancing and/or upgrading their existing billing solution. Additionally, 27.4% of survey respondents for utilities' customer operations indicated that they plan to invest in CRM solutions in the public cloud.

Key findings from the study include:

• Among enterprise IT solutions, ERP, security, and unified communication are the top 3 solutions in terms of ability to attract investments by Western European utilities over the next 12 months.
• Western European utilities' propensity for adoption in the public cloud space is mostly for content management solutions.
• Drilling down on security solutions, Western European utilities identified identity and access management, endpoint security, and network security as their main investment areas for the next 12 months.
• Regarding utilities' asset operations, asset management, plant maintenance, and network automation and control are the line-of-business (LOB) IT solutions expected to attract the most investment attention for new solutions and enhancements/upgrades over the next 12 months by Western European utilities.
• Regarding utilities' customer operations, customer care is the LOB IT solution expected to attract the most investment attention for new solutions and enhancements/upgrades over the next 12 months by Western European utilities.

"In attempts to differentiate from competitors and improve their image, numerous Western European Energy retailers are investing in their customer care solutions and taking a step toward omni-channel management," said Gaia Gallotti, research manager, IDC Energy Insights. "This is especially important when customer care is provided across a myriad of channels, from call centers, to online, to mobile apps, to social media, when it is imperative that Western European energy retailers have a holistic view of a client, irrespective of the latter's channel selection."

More insights are revealed in the IDC Energy Insights study Utilities' IT Investment Priorities for Solutions - Results from the Western European Utilities 2014 Survey(IDC Energy Insights #EIOS10W, January 2015). The study analyzes the results of the annual IDC Energy Insights survey covering France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K. The aim is to understand plans to invest in IT solutions (both enterprise management and line-of-business solutions). This is the third study in a series covering the survey carried out on utilities. The first study describes the survey methodology, while the second analyzes ICT budget spending distribution and patterns in evolution, and satisfaction with primary IT suppliers among utility enterprises in Western Europe. IDC Energy Insights will publish additional studies examining Western European utilities' adoption and investment plans for the four pillars (Big Data/analytics, mobility, cloud, and social), as well as a study specifically extrapolating and addressing data regarding utility retailers.

For more information or to arrange a one-on-one briefing with an IDC Energy Insights analyst, please contact Kanupriya at kanupriya@idc.com.