Utility companies are continuously facing change – whether internal or external. With this change comes several challenges that have the potential to disrupt the industry at large if firms don’t evolve. These concerns are constantly on the minds of our utility engineers who work with some of the biggest providers of electricity, natural gas and power companies. We posed the question to several of our staff serving our utilities clients and asked their thoughts on the key issues and opportunities facing their clients today. Here are some of their responses and strategies needed for the continued future success of utility operations.

What is the #1 challenge facing Utilities clients today?

“I think the number one challenge facing Utilities clients today is getting themselves updated to today’s technology. A lot of companies have a hard time ditching antiquated software because they’ve invested time and money into what they have. Also, people don’t like change. It makes it even more challenging when you’re a large company with 1,000+ employees who likely also don’t like change. This is also true for construction materials, specifications, and procedures. It is difficult to adopt new technology when you know old tried-and-true methods that still work – even if they aren’t the most efficient or cost effective. This compounded with the exponential rate of growth of technology makes it harder than ever to stay up-to-date.”	Joseph DiVito Civil Engineer
“Utility growth is a challenge. The utility industry and companies are a non-stop growing machine. The open space available for existing utilities, and upgrades to those systems, is becoming tougher as we run out of space in most metropolitan areas. Internationally, we see that many countries have not found a good way to deal with this problem yet. This also brings up a problem for new competing companies in the utility fields as they find it more and more difficult to add their utility in parkways. To keep the utility fields competitive there will be a need for joint work between the competitors using the same space, such as communications companies share space with underground systems.”	Joshua Catanzaro Electrical Designer
“Keeping aging systems up-to-date with new technology. I don’t just mean the equipment in the field. Many utilities have old legacy drawings that can be over 50 years old. There is CAD software that can help make the legacy drawings smart and link the drawings together, but many utilities don’t have the funding to implement this kind of technology across their entire company. It is a massive undertaking that requires new software, training and possibly new computers. If the utility is willing to make the investment in their own drawings, there is an opportunity to save thousands of dollars.”	Laura Wand Support Services Lead
“Knowledge continuity within key positions is a significant challenge for utilities. There is a huge opportunity in tacit knowledge (common knowledge) being shared.”	Melissa Helphingstine PMO Reporting Expert
“The biggest challenge facing Utilities today is natural disasters and a changing climate. Weather is an uncontrollable factor that causes widespread damage at a faster pace than man power and the economy can fix.”	Shannon Hackett Project Manager Consultant