Utilities have made significant strides in building the data and intelligence capabilities needed to manage physical, digital and customer pressures simultaneously. The next opportunity is operationalization: connecting systems, embedding intelligence into workflows and confirming that insights change decisions.

That’s the central takeaway from Itron’s 2026 Resourcefulness Report: Data Analytics and the Intelligent Grid—How Do Utilities Turn Intelligence into Action?

The research reinforces what we’re already seeing across the industry: utilities are putting intelligence to work across the grid. Near real-time edge data is informing decisions around wildfire risk, outage detection and restoration, load and demand management, and fault location and isolation. It also reveals an opportunity to more fully embed that intelligence into everyday operations.

Here are a few takeaways from this year’s research.

Existing Investments Are Multiplying in Value
One of the findings that stands out is how utilities are working to extend the impact of existing investments and infrastructure. It’s not necessarily about overhauling what’s already there, but about finding new ways to build on it.                                                                                                

93% of respondents say major data and intelligence investments have enabled at least two additional use cases beyond their original purpose. And 58% of respondents deliberately select data and intelligence investments for their ability to support multiple current and future use cases.

This echoes a sentiment we’ve been hearing more frequently across the industry and, most recently, at Inspire: modernization doesn’t always require starting from scratch. When infrastructure and data create a foundation for additional use cases and applications, utilities can build on investments already in place as their needs and operating conditions change.

Grid Intelligence Is Already Supporting Critical Operations
59% of research participants say near real-time edge intelligence is fully operational, with applications including wildfire and vegetation risk, outage detection and restoration, load management and fault location.

These findings signal meaningful progress. Grid intelligence has practical applications, helping utilities gain greater visibility into changing conditions across the system. It’s no longer just a forward-looking talking point. It’s supporting grid operations today. 

At Itron, we often talk about creating “virtual eyes” on the grid. Greater visibility helps reduce guesswork and gives utilities the information they need to make better-informed operational decisions at scale.

Where Analytics Are Making the Biggest Impact
That intelligence is also making an impact across several critical areas of grid operations. 

Among research participants, outage management and restoration and predictive maintenance lead the areas where operationalized intelligence is delivering the greatest value, at 33% each. Workforce efficiency follows at 30%, with peak-load management at 29%. The opportunity now is to build on that progress and make intelligence more consistently available within daily workflows.

Today, 86% of surveyed utility leaders use AMI data enterprise-wide or within specific workflows, but only 41% say that use is fully embedded and scalable across daily workflows. And while 93% are confident data insights are changing decisions, just 54% report strong feedback loops confirming that impact.

Those numbers point to an important distinction: generating intelligence is one step. Making it a consistent part of how decisions are made is another.

The Next Phase Is Connecting Intelligence to Action
The barriers identified by research participants help show where the work remains. Technical integration is the leading obstacle to using data for decision-making at 53%, followed by lack of automation at 47% and data quality at 44%.

Their priorities for the next three years reinforce that need. Enterprise integration ranks first for operationalizing intelligence at 28%, followed by executive decision support at 23% and workflow automation at 20%.

Connecting intelligence across the grid edge, field, control room and enterprise can help utilities respond faster to emerging pressures while getting more from their technology investments. It also brings intelligence into everyday decisions that shape reliability, resilience and affordability.

Building Toward the Operationalized Grid
What I take away from this year’s findings is that utilities have already established a strong foundation. Intelligence is broadly being used, investments are supporting additional use cases and analytics are delivering value across core operations.

This year’s Resourcefulness Report shows just how far grid intelligence has come and the potential for utilities to maximize the infrastructure, data and intelligence already in place. The next phase is about building on that foundation and putting those capabilities to work against an expanding set of grid challenges. 

For a deeper look at the findings and methodology, download the full 2026 Itron Resourcefulness Report and companion research at www.itron.com/resourcefulness.