IDC Energy Insights announced on Monday, the availability of a new IDC MarketScape designed to evaluate IT (professional) services firms that provide consulting, project management and IT outsourcing offerings for utility smart grid investments on a worldwide basis.

The new report, “Worldwide IT Professional Services for Utility Smart Grid 2014 Vendor Assessment,” analyzes quantitative and qualitative characteristics of vendor offerings (delivered today and planned for the future) and actual performance as rated by IT service firm clients.

The report is based on a rigorous evaluation framework that assesses vendors relative to the evaluation criteria. Vendors evaluated in this report include: Accenture, Atos, Capgemini, CGI, IBM, Infosys and T-systems.

This IDC MarketScape provides an assessment of firms with a global capability to deliver services across major regions APAC, Europe and North America.

The assessment looked at firms that deliver business consulting, IT consulting, systems integration, and IT outsourcing.

There are many other vendors that offer a partial list of IT services that deliver on a local, regional and national level.   The vendors in this assessment provide utilities an integrated IT service capability.

“Regional market experience and knowledge is an effective pollinator of ideas for other regions. It is this dynamic that places global IT services firms at an advantage. Since the major regions of APAC, Europe and North America are in their own right unique to each other, project diversity is identifiable and growing. Carrying the experience from one region to competency centers and clients in other regions will allow utilities to learn and innovate from the sharing of ideas that IT services firm gather,” said Marcus Torchia, research manager, Worldwide Smart Grid Strategies.

IDC Energy Insights suggests utilities should use this new report to aid internal utility processes around vendor identification and selection. Further, IDC Energy Insights recommends the following actions for utilities: Identify an initial uncut list of IT services firms.

Float an RFI to the firms initially identified and use an assessment approach on the responses to determine the short list for RFP invitation.

Identify the top two or three firms, work through key details before final selection including filling resource gaps i.e. employee turnover, and how they will be managed from a schedule standpoint; pricing additions and out of scope work i.e. time and materials, outcome based; etc.

IDC MarketScape criteria selection, weightings, and vendor scores represent well-researched IDC judgment about the market and specific vendors.

IDC analysts tailor the range of standard characteristics by which vendors are measured through structured discussions, surveys, and interviews with market leaders, participants and end users.

Market weightings are based on user interviews, buyer surveys and the input of a review board of IDC experts in each market. IDC analysts base individual vendor scores, and ultimately vendor positions within the IDC MarketScape, on detailed surveys and interviews with the vendors, publicly available information and end-user experiences in an effort to provide an accurate and consistent assessment of each vendor’s characteristics, behavior and capability.

IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of IT, telecommunications, or industry-specific suppliers in a given market.

The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor’s position within a given market.

IDC MarketScape provides a clear framework in which the product and service offerings, capabilities and strategies, and current and future market success factors of IT, telecommunications, or industry-specific vendors can be meaningfully compared.

The framework also provides technology buyers with a transparent foundation to allow companies to independently compare the strengths and weaknesses of current and prospective vendors.