Optimism Reigns as the New Normal Takes Shape

The pandemic wrought unprecedented change to utility corporate planning. In the span of a few days, energy company executives had to rewrite business plans and prepare for a new world with social distancing. As the pandemic wanes, most managers (60%) expect an economic boom rather than further stagnation and continued adoption of digital technology has the potential to smooth out any friction utilities encounter as they retool their operations, according to Gartner Inc.

Uncertainty reigned once the pandemic took hold. The past year was a struggle for many markets, including energy, whose 7% revenue drop was the largest since yearly statistics were first collected in 1949.  Now, many executives (35%) expect the business to return to or exceed 2019 revenue.

Utilities Invest in Digital Technology

Executives understand the challenges in making another dramatic transition and are trying to be proactive. New technology is expected to play a significant role in the recovery. Deploying digital capabilities ranked second on CEOs’ top five priority list for the next two years. Digital capabilities was also the only category where CEOs intended to increase their investments in 2021.

The pandemic presented management with unprecedented challenges. Executives learned from the upheaval and are poised to invest significantly in technology as the New Normal takes shape.