There were more than 112 million blogs as of March 2008 with new blogs being created at a rate of 175,000 per day and 1.6 million new blog posts per day according to Technorati, a blog tracking website.

How many of these are focused on energy, natural resources or commodities is anyone's guess-but it is a big number.

And how has the blog caught on as a corporate communication tool in energy and utilities? UtiliPoint has observed a growing trend among software vendors in the space to add a blog to their website as well as among mainstream publishers and even some Utility companies.

This survey was conducted to establish just how much influence blogs have in the space and how important a tool they are becoming for corporate communications. The survey seems to demonstrate that blogs in the energy industry are beginning to gain in importance both as an information source and as a promotional device.

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This UtiliPoint study utilized both top-down and bottom-up proprietary analysis techniques to establish the European market size for ETRM software license sales in 2007 for all energy commodities. The final report details the ETRM market size by a number of parameters.

Strong demand growth in 2006 was fueled by a variety of factors including the entry into European energy markets by new players particularly financial companies and ongoing liberalization and maturing of European energy markets. This growth has continued through early 2007 and demand levels remain strong. New growth is expected to occur amongst end user markets (Commercial & Industrial companies) as well to keep demand levels high. UtiliPoint expects to see some slowing of growth in 2008 but markets will remain strong barring any unforeseen industry events.

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Since 2000, spending on technology for utility customer service has slowed, and only recently has it shown signs of renewed growth. Uncertainty following significant events, such as California's deregulation experience and the collapse of Enron, created a prolonged dislocation event that had significant and ongoing impact on the vendor community and available solutions. The impact of the latest dislocation event has already resulted in the exit of a number of vendors and the entry of several others.

There remains a very real probability that more vendors will disappear or be acquired as they reach a make-or-break point over the next one to two years. There are emerging signs that this dislocation event is coming to an end, and UtiliPoint research shows that demand for customer service technology is growing in certain areas and stabilizing in others. An overall goal of reduced costs and improved customer service levels appears to be the focus of most utility's customer service goals.

Technological advances in customer service solutions continue to contribute to an accelerated rate of change in the industry. For a technology supplier to be successful in the energy industry it needs a thorough understanding of the marketplace, insight into current technology solutions and their providers, and a deep knowledge of the specific business needs and challenges of potential customers. 

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The UtiliPoint International, Inc. ETRM Implementation survey was conducted as a ‘snapshot' survey using an internet-based survey instrument only and targeting various email lists maintained by UtiliPoint. 35 respondents represent ETRM Implementation projects across North America and Europe. To our knowledge, it is the first survey to delve into the implementation of ETRM software and it therefore provides useful benchmark data for those about to undertake such a project. This report outlines the survey's results and our analysis.

The report looks at ETRM project duration and costs, project activities including integration, enhancements, data conversion and training, the use of third-party consulting firms in implementation, respondent's ETRM Implementation project experiences, project success rates and approach to training. While the quantitative metrics provide good data points for ETRM Implementation project managers, it is the lessons learned section that may provide the most value to report readers.

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