Rising customer expectations, evolving regulations, and proliferating distributed energy resources (DERs) are driving utilities to improve their customer engagement (CE) and experience (CX) programs. Recognizing Oracle’s holistic solutions that are helping utilities deliver on these and other customer satisfaction (CSAT) goals, Guidehouse Insights named Oracle Energy and Water the top provider in its Digital Customer Engagement and Experience Analytics report.¹ Oracle held the top position in all 10 criteria reviewed by the market intelligence and advisory firm. Read the full report here.

“While energy usage intelligence remains the foundation of CE and CX analytics, stakeholder strategies are expanding to incorporate smart home optimization, EV management, complex rate analytics, and other customer-centric utility services,” said Michael Kelly, senior research analyst, Guidehouse Insights. “Oracle continues to distinguish itself atop this category in notable ways, from the breadth and performance of its integrated customer technologies and cloud services to its investments in solutions for equity and affordability.”

Powerful, holistic advantages

Oracle’s Opower platform brings AI and behavioral science into the utility customer experience to help utilities influence a wide variety of customer actions—including self-serving, getting financial assistance, upgrading homes, buildings, and cars, and reducing and shifting use when infrastructure is constrained. As these actions make utility customers more diverse and complex, Opower helps utilities serve everyone efficiently. The Oracle Energy and Water suite of SaaS applications for utility customer service, key account management, and marketing embed Opower customer features and insights to help utilities provide personal service at scale.

Recognizing Oracle offers “the widest breadth of solutions among its profiled competitors,” the report cites Oracle’s portfolio of systems across billing, customer, and operations that offer “a differentiated cross-selling advantage given the modularity of its solutions, cost-effective integrations, and extensive IT/OT customer base.” The report also notes that the Opower platform “powers dozens of products and services used to influence customer action and facilitate improved CE, CX, and CSAT.”

”Utilities operate in a challenging landscape marked by evolving customer demands and stringent regulatory obligations, and they must ensure the resilience of their infrastructure while keeping costs manageable for households,” said Creighton Oyler, senior vice president and general manager of Oracle Energy and Water. “This balance can only be achieved when utility infrastructure and customer operations are harmonized. Guidehouse Insights’ report recognizes Oracle’s ability to enable our customers to excel in these areas and deliver measurable outcomes that outshine industry peers. Placing at the top of the evaluation reflects the trust our global client base places in our team and products, and we are honored to be recognized as a leader over the past decade.”

Leading across customer-centric grid operations

Utility operations are converging on the customer, and the technologies utilities need for grid and customer operations are evolving along with them. The report notes, “Oracle offers full service from customer to network, identifying DER opportunities, inspecting installations, registering devices, enrolling in programs, and verifying performance.” Together with Oracle’s Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) and Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS), these solutions offer comprehensive technologies for utilities to unify data and processes from both customer and grid operations. As more DERs are connected to the grid, such as electric vehicles, Oracle’s solutions empower utilities to engage customers to get the most value out of their assets while also maintaining grid reliability and boosting customer service.

Oracle Energy and Water continues to focus on helping utilities operate efficiently within an increasingly complex, distributed grid landscape. In addition to this current evaluation, Oracle’s efforts have led to #1 vendor rankings in Guidehouse Insights’ AI Vendors for DER Integration, Home Energy Management Providers, and Smart Meter Analytics reports.^2,3,4

This latest Guidehouse Insights report reviewed 14 vendors that provide energy usage insights as a baseline requirement. The analysis also gives weight to analytics software that facilitates greater customer engagement, customer experience, and customer satisfaction scores. Vendors were scored on their strategy and execution based on 10 criteria, including vision, go-to-market strategy, partners, technology, product performance, product portfolio and integrations. Download and read the full report here.

¹ Guidehouse Insights, “Guidehouse Insights Leaderboard: Digital Customer Engagement and Experience Analytics,” Michael Kelly and Roberto Rodriguez Labastida, Q3 2023
² Guidehouse Insights, “Guidehouse Insights Leaderboard: AI Vendors for DER Integration,” Hannah Davis and Roberto Rodriguez Labastida, Q4 2021
³ Guidehouse Insights, “Guidehouse Insights Leaderboard: Home Energy Management Providers,” William Hughes and Neil Strother, Q1 2021
⁴ Guidehouse Insights, “Guidehouse Insights Leaderboard: Smart Meter Analytics,” Michael Kelly and Richelle Elberg, Q1 2021