Critigen, the technology consulting and geospatial systems development company, announced the creation of a dedicated Utility Design and Engineering Systems practice. The announcement signals the company’s ongoing commitment to utility companies modernizing their systems in the face of intense industry market challenges. Additionally, Critigen announced that utility design and engineering expert Brandon Raso has been appointed to lead the new practice.
Research and Markets estimates the global utility market will grow from US$4.2 trillion in 2020 to US$4.5 trillion in 2021. Growing populations, greater access to energy sources, and higher living standards are driving this energy growth. At the same time, utilities are contending with increased demand for renewable energy sources, an ever-growing need for grid modernization in the face of aging infrastructure, and rigorous new safety and security mandates.
“Modernizing electric utility infrastructure through enterprise technologies is critical to manage the complexities of today’s market disruption and growth,” said Jeff Haight, chief executive officer, Critigen. “To meet market demands, utilities recognize their critical business operations must be supported with higher quality, integrated data. Moving from a legacy GIS to a streamlined, spatially-enabled enterprise is a top priority for organizations that desire to provide the highest standards of reliability and responsiveness into the future.”
“Critigen’s Utility Design and Engineering Systems practice helps utility companies address today’s most pressing priorities — whether it is seamlessly integrating design with GIS to develop a complete digital twin — or upgrading Esri customers to the new ArcGIS Utility Network and integrating GIS with enterprise systems such as SAP and Salesforce. With Critigen as a partner, utilities can receive instant access to maps and related information across departments, allow employees to monitor the status of their utility networks, and include location analytics and geospatial data into their everyday workflows and decision-making,” said Jaime Crawford, senior vice-president, Strategic Industries and Accounts.
“The decision to formally create this practice is a testament to our deep expertise working with utility companies — and a sign of how vitally important this work is to the future of the market,” added Crawford.
“We are confident Brandon can continue to grow and deepen our long history of providing utilities with the expertise to successfully integrate location with business data — allowing them to provide greater visibility for planning and increase access to safe, reliable services for their customers, even in the face of great change.”
Raso brings nearly 15 years’ experience in utility design and engineering systems work to Critigen. Most recently, he served as the GIS Technology and Mapping Supervisor at Puget Sound Energy, where he worked for the past 14 years.
