Artificial intelligence(AI) is rapidly reshaping the power and utilities sector in North America. As utilities face mounting pressure to decarbonize grids, maintain reliability, and deliver more personalized customer experiences, AI-driven technologies are emerging as a critical enabler of large-scale transformation. According to the 2025 ISG Provider Lens® Power and Utilities Industry — Services and Solutions report for North America, utilities are moving decisively from reactive operations to predictive and proactive models powered by data and advanced analytics.
AI and Data at the Core of Grid Modernization
North American utilities are navigating an increasingly complex operating environment. The rapid growth of distributed energy resources (DERs), electric vehicles, and digital-first customer expectations is forcing enterprises to rethink how they manage grids and assets. At the same time, utilities must comply with evolving regulations, mitigate cybersecurity risks, and operate within long-term capital constraints.
The ISG report finds that AI, generative AI, and machine learning are now embedded at the core of utility operations. These technologies are being used for outage prediction, storm forecasting, predictive maintenance, and field workforce optimization—helping utilities reduce manual effort, control operating costs, and improve system reliability.
As Korey Barnard, Partner at ISG Energy & Utility, notes, utilities are balancing ambitious decarbonization goals with the need to keep energy affordable and dependable. AI-enabled digital platforms are becoming essential to executing these complex initiatives at scale.
Extending Asset Life and Improving Grid Resilience
Digital innovation is also transforming how utilities manage aging infrastructure. Advanced analytics enable earlier detection of equipment failures, allowing utilities to extend asset life while improving restoration times and service-level agreement compliance. These capabilities are especially critical as extreme weather events place additional strain on power networks.
A key priority highlighted in the report is grid-edge intelligence. Utilities are increasingly deploying DER management systems (DERMS), advanced distribution management platforms, and virtual power plants to manage bidirectional energy flows. These solutions help defer costly capital upgrades while increasing grid resilience and capacity using existing infrastructure. They also support the integration of rooftop solar, battery storage, and flexible demand programs—central pillars of utility decarbonization strategies.
Modernizing Customer Experience With AI
Customer engagement modernization is accelerating across the region as utilities respond to rising expectations for transparency and personalization. Many enterprises are upgrading customer information systems to enable time-based pricing, flexible payment options, and tailored energy insights.
AI-powered contact centers and conversational self-service tools are improving first-contact resolution and reducing service costs. Automated quality management and analytics-driven insights are also helping utilities deliver more empathetic customer interactions during billing disputes, outages, and severe weather events—strengthening trust at a time when reliability and affordability are under close scrutiny.
An Integrated Approach to Utility Transformation
The ISG report emphasizes that utilities achieving the fastest operational improvements are those aligning asset management, grid modernization, and customer experience initiatives around shared data platforms. According to Swadhin Pradhan, Principal Analyst at ISG Provider Lens Research, this integrated approach enables utilities to address reliability, affordability, and customer trust simultaneously rather than in isolation.
Beyond AI and analytics, the report also highlights growing investment in cybersecurity and compliance technologies, as well as the increasing use of digital twins and IoT data for long-term infrastructure planning.
Industry Leaders Driving Change
The 2025 ISG Provider Lens® report evaluates 35 providers across four quadrants, including Enterprise Asset Management and Grid Modernization. Accenture, Capgemini, Cognizant, Deloitte, HCLTech, IBM, Infosys, TCS, and Wipro are recognized as Leaders in all four quadrants, reflecting the depth of expertise supporting utility modernization across North America.
About ISG Provider Lens® Research
The ISG Provider Lens® Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG’s global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG’s enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe, as well as in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the U.K., France, Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, the Nordics, Australia and Singapore/Malaysia, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this webpage.
About ISG
ISG (Nasdaq: III) is a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm. A trusted partner to more than 900 clients, including 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is a long-time leader in technology and business services that is now at the forefront of leveraging AI to help organizations achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm, founded in 2006, is known for its proprietary market data, in-depth knowledge of provider ecosystems, and the expertise of its 1,600 professionals worldwide working together to help clients maximize the value of their technology investments.
