MALVERN, PA — Ninety-three percent of U.S. utilities surveyed by Natuvion and Cognizant have either incorporated artificial intelligence into transformation projects or factored future AI use into their decisions, even as roughly 40% identify poor data quality as a significant obstacle to technology upgrades.
The findings point to a widening operational challenge as utilities increase their reliance on cloud computing and prepare older information systems for AI, SAP S/4HANA and other technology changes.
Nearly 58% of utilities surveyed reported using more cloud services than before, compared with 50% in the companies’ 2023 benchmark, according to the U.S. Utilities Transformation Study 2026.
The combination of greater AI adoption and persistent data-quality problems is increasing the importance of how utilities handle decades of customer, billing, meter, asset, financial and operational information during system migrations.
“AI is quickly moving from experimentation into the operational landscape of utilities, but AI can only be as reliable as the data underneath it,” Joanne Lange, chief executive officer of Natuvion Americas, stated.
Natuvion, a Malvern-based data-transformation specialist, is positioning that issue as a central part of its work with utilities moving to SAP S/4HANA and cloud platforms.
Utility migrations can require companies to determine which information should move to new systems, which data should be cleaned or transformed and which records can remain in legacy environments while maintaining regulatory requirements and business continuity.
Natuvion focuses on SAP IS-U and C4U data models used for utility operations, including meter-to-cash processes, device management and billing histories.
The company’s Data Conversion Suite is designed to analyze existing technology environments, selectively migrate information, transform and validate data, and support the retirement of legacy systems.
Natuvion plans to focus on those capabilities at SAP for Utilities, Presented by ASUG, scheduled for Oct. 6-9 in San Antonio, Texas. The company will discuss preparation of SAP and non-SAP data for S/4HANA, cloud and AI deployments, including data quality, migration, validation and legacy-system retirement.
The company is also tying those data-management requirements to SAP Business AI, arguing that utilities need sufficiently structured and reliable information before expanding AI across business processes.
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