Australian utilities sector spent $1.7bn on IT in 2014

The Australian utilities sector spent $1.7 billion on ICT in 2014, and this spending is expected to grow to $1.9 billion by 2018, according to IDC Energy Insights.

Utilities companies are focusing IT investments on delivering cost savings and efficiency gains, but spending is starting to shift towards improving the customer experience, the analyst firm said.

IT services represents the largest spending category, accounting for $800 million of total 2014 spending.

It is also the category with the highest growth potential - overall IT spending is expected to grow at a 2% CAGR between 2014 and 2018, while IT service spending is set to increase by 3.5%.

“Although overall IT priorities amongst utilities organisations in Australia are conservative, we are seeing investment in third-platform technologies continue as companies seek to drive efficiency across all parts of the business,” said Emilie Ditton, the head of Asia-Pacific Energy Insights.

Utility companies made security, risk management and governance their top IT spending priority in 2014, followed by cloud computing. Mobility, big data and collaboration/customer engagement technologies were also priorities.

Ditton said this underscores the role data will play in the operations of utilities companies as their network management, fulfilment and customer experience requirements evolve.

“Being a services sector, utilities organisations will increasingly strive to deliver to the expectations of their customers - to provide accurate and timely information and quality services,” Ditton said.

“For most utilities this is less trivial than it sounds, and data will be the foundation that these capabilities are based on.”

Image courtesy of Tom Taker under CC