Recent Publications

Industry Analysts

Why Energy Domains and Scalability Define Software Market Leadership

December 7, 2011

The energy management software market is evolving rapidly as new customer requirements trigger the launch of a new generation of enterprise-scale applications. According to our recent Green Quadrant report on the energy software market customers are buying software to find cost savings (87%), track financial data on energy spend (53%), consolidate consumption data (47%) and achieve energy targets (27%). Key requirements for energy software provided by firms like Infor, JouleX and Verisae are energy monitoring and targeting, reporting and certification, utility bill management and carbon reporting. Our Green Quadrant, based on live product demos and insights from a customer panel, elevated knowledge of energy domains to the top of the purchase list. The four suppliers in the Leaders’ Quadrant (CA Technologies, CarbonSystems, IBM and Verisae) all demonstrated deep, proven capabilities in at least one energy domain.......... Read Full Verdantix Report

Green Quadrant Energy Management Software (Global) 2011

December 6, 2011

This report provides a detailed benchmark of fifteen enterprise energy management software applications to help corporate buyers save time, reduce cost and mitigate risks in product and supplier selection. The study finds that four suppliers currently lead the enterprise energy management software market. When selecting an application, buyers should focus on the value delivered by the software and supporting energy services. Successful implementations match software that is designed for a specific energy domain, such as data centres, grocery retail or commercial offices, with the facilities owned by the customer. Many pre-existing energy management software applications do not have the product architecture to scale up to a global deployment — just 15 applications were selected for this study from a total of 60......... Read Full Verdantix Report

Corporate Sustainability Will Depend on IT Solutions

October 18, 2011

Improving the environmental sustainability of corporate processes and products is slowly but surely moving up the strategic agenda of large companies around the world. In interviewing sustainability leaders at 15 multinationals, we found a wide variety of drivers, barriers, and best practices that are embedding sustainability in corporate operations. One consistent message from these companies is that the more progressive their approach to sustainability, the more they rely on IT systems and skills for collecting, integrating, analyzing, and reporting data and performance metrics. Six types of IT-for-sustainability (ITfS) solutions will gain increasing market traction in the years ahead...... Read Full Forrester Report

Buyers' Guide to Energy Management Software

September 30, 2011

This report provides energy directors, facilities directors, finance directors and VPs of sustainability with independent analysis of the energy management software market. Verdantix selected this subject for detailed study because buyers must choose from a dizzying array of software applications to help them manage energy use within their organization. To better understand this topic we interviewed 16 energy management experts and surveyed 72 energy management software suppliers. Verdantix found that buyers navigate a market containing eight categories of software, each supporting a different mix of user groups and usage scenarios. When surveying the suppliers Verdantix found that the energy management software market underwent rejuvenation in 2008/9 and the influx of new suppliers to the market has increased the choice for buyers. Verdantix outlines buyers’ options and recommends that they consider two additional factors that may influence their purchase decision........ Read Full Verdantix Report

Enterprise Sustainability Management Solutions: Reference Architecture and Buyer's Guide

June 15, 2011

Organizations around the world are elevating resource efficiency and sustainability from a tactical to a strategic concern – and are moving aggressively to improve environmental performance in operating processes and products. For many, this has meant new information management and process control challenges, around energy use, water use, solid waste, toxic materials, carbon emissions and other factors – inside the organization and across the value chain. The report presents a clear, six-level reference architecture classifying essential capabilities for sustainability management at an overall enterprise level down to the device level. We analyze offerings from nineteen top application software providers in the context of capability sets at the top two levels of the reference architecture - enterprise sustainability management and business operations resource management. Lastly, we present a series of recommendations for how organizations can proceed in establishing effective enterprise architectures for sustainability....... Read Full AltaTerra Report

Carbon Management Software Services

2Q 2011

The carbon management market continues to be a young and emerging market that has evolved to take on a much broader focus on energy management or in many cases corporate sustainability, especially in North America. In 2011, Pike Research forecasts that this market will reach about $1.3 billion on a global basis and grow at a rapid compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of almost 35% through 2017 to represent a $5.7 billion market opportunity. This Pike Research report examines global and regional carbon management software and service trends, and forecasts market size and growth prospects by region and different service segments for the period from 2010 through 2017. In addition, Pike Research assesses the competitive landscape, including a SWOT analysis of major carbon management vendors. In the report, Verisae is profiled...... Read Full Pike Research Report

Best Practices Selecting Carbon & Energy Software

March 10, 2011

This report provides sustainability and energy leaders with a framework to save time and reduce risk in selecting carbon and energy management software. To build the business case internally, buyers should ask for case studies with data on financial benefits implementation costs, integration costs, process change costs and contact information. Fresh & Easy, a US retailer owned by Tesco, implemented Verisae’s SRP platform and went on the record to state that the firm achieved $600,000 in annual savings (see Verdantix Fresh & Easy Start Sustainable Software Journey)....... Read Full Verdantix Report

PG&E's Leadership Supported by Regulation

December 21, 2010

This case study is one in a series of Verdantix reports that analyzes corporate sustainability strategies. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is a Californian utility, providing energy to approximately 9.4 million people and generating revenue of $13.4 billion in 2009. Many of PG&E’s sustainability initiatives are driven by regulation, such as investing in customer energy efficiency and developing and sourcing renewable energy supplies. Verdantix's take: The data PG&E will gain on upstream Scope 3 carbon emissions will provide a strong foundation for the development of internal decision tools for sustainable procurement. PG&E’s 2014 energy consumption reduction target and growing range of reporting requirements make a strong case for investing in sustainable business software. Resource draining reporting tasks, such as recalculating emissions baselines and changing organizational boundaries, can be automated using software from providers such as CarbonSystems, Enablon, Hara, IHS and Verisae...... Read Full Verdantix Report

The Evolution of Enterprise Carbon and Energy Management Software

December 21, 2010

A new market of dedicated solutions that allow companies to manage their sustainability strategy is ripe to be tackled by software vendors and service providers. Forrester segments this emerging market of carbon and energy management software into three layers, with enterprise carbon and energy management (ECEM) systems placed at the top of the organization, aggregating carbon and energy information from various sources. In the report, Verisae is noted for its partnership with Schneider Electric, strong clientele and sophisticated capabilities. Verisae is listed as a key vendor to watch ..... Read Full Forrester Report

Building Energy Management Systems

4Q 2010

The Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) market, a growing segment of the larger building efficiency industry, is gaining momentum as an alternative, cheaper means for end-users to implement energy efficiency applications in commercial buildings. Conceived out of the market demand for a lighter, less-expensive and strictly energy-related automation and management systems for commercial buildings, the BEMS market includes both specialized and broad-based solutions. Such solutions range from reactive energy efficiency optimization software to predictive supply and demand side energy management architectures. The BEMS market will continue to grow at a strong pace over the next few years, as players in adjacent markets continue to invest in the space. These players will include IT vendors, building management system (BMS) vendors, curtailment service providers (CSPs), and other energy efficiency companies. In the report, Verisae is analyzed as one of the key market players..... Read Full Pike Research Report

UK Government hits businesses with carbon tax

October 28th, 2010

The UK government announced that HM Treasury will retain 100% of funds from sales of carbon emissions allowances sold by the government to between 3,000 and 5,000 private sector and public sector organizations covered by the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC). Participants in the CRC must pay for their allowances in April 2012 to cover the compliance year that begins April 2011. The new policy will require organizations to strengthen their energy management team, take a more strategic view of carbon reduction, accelerate investments in carbon and energy data management and get more involvement from the CFO in energy efficiency investments. In the report, Verisae is mentioned for their work with Tesco..... Read Full Verdantix Report

Sustainable Business Systems

October 25th, 2010

In an increasingly information-rich and connected world, corporate accountability and performance is fully under the spotlight. Currently, we see the convergence of critical technological, environmental, economic and energy-related factors forcing radical market and economic transformation. Any one of these factors by itself would be capable of provoking and potentially disrupting business strategy, performance and competiveness as well as market dynamics and larger-scale economic trends. The coincidence of major shifts in all these factors, which is further accelerated by stimulus and recovery funding, guarantees that the current market transformation is undoubtedly a once-in a-centennial phenomenon. This is an economic and business change of state. The report is comprised of three parts: 1-Enterprise Sustainability for the Low-Carbon Economy; 2- Defining the Need for Sustainability Solution; and 3- Differentiating Sustainable Solutions by Functional Domain. Verisae is noted in parts two and three...... Read Full Gartner Report

Smart Grid: Ten Trends to Watch in 2011 and Beyond

October, 2010

During the last few months of this decade, the electric utility industry has experienced a momentous season. The “smart grid,” the integration of new embedded computing and communications technologies into the fabric of the power network, is widely seen as the means to adapting our electrical infrastructure to meet these global needs. There are dozens of trends that bear watching and scrutiny. In the report, Pike Research focuses on ten such trends that will be most influential in the emerging smart grid sector. In the report, Verisae is noted for its SaaS software, asset and carbon management offerings ..... Read Full Pike Research Report

Pike Research Report: Virtual Power Plants

September 27th, 2010

Virtual power plants (VPPs) utilize software systems to efficiently manage an increasing diversity of electricity generation, energy storage, and demand reduction assets. In the United States, VPPs not only deal with the supply side, but also help manage demand and ensure reliability of grid functions through demand response (DR) and other load shifting approaches, in real time. In the report, Verisae is listed as a key industry player..... Read Full Pike Research Report

ENDS Special Report: Environmental Business Software

September 7th, 2010

Suppliers of energy and asset management tools such as EnerNOC, Johnson Controls,Pace, Summit Energy, TEAM and Verisae have started adding carbon management modules to their software. These focus on cutting energy costs with features such as automatic metering, building energy controls and bill payment systems. Some go beyond carbon. The Verisae Sustainability Resource Planning platform, for example, also allows water and waste management...... Read Full ENDS Report

I.T. will Power Boom in Energy Managed Services

August 13th, 2010

The carbon management agenda continues to drive new waves of entrants into the more established managed energy services market. Specific issues include quantifying cost and time savings, the domain expertise of the suppliers, and the level of engineering support available for energy efficiency and carbon reduction projects..... Read Full Verdantix Report

Fresh & Easy Starts Sustainability Journey

July 30th, 2010

This report is one in a series of Verdantix reports on corporate sustainability strategies and the use of sustainable business software that analyzes the business drivers behind Fresh & Easy’s selection of a Verisae application for achieving their sustainability goals. Fresh & Easy chose Verisae because of its asset level data collection abilities, advanced analysis and forecasting functionality and proven track record as a supplier.... Read Full Verdantix Report

Buyer's Guide To Sustainable Business Software

July 5th, 2010

The pressure on firms to collect, store, audit and report accurate sustainability data is growing. Tighter regulations, stakeholder pressure and potential cost savings drive firms to look at better alternatives to existing systems. Firms should not be confused by deployment options on offer and should let business requirements and commercial constraints drive strategy... Read Full Verdantix Report

Carbon Emissions Management

Carbon Management in the Global Manufacturing Sector
Q3, 2010

Report examines carbon management from a manufacturing sector perspective, including trend analysis and market sizing and forecasts from 2008 through 2017. Pike Research assesses the competitive landscape, with a profile of Verisae's SRP Platform providing carbon management solutions to manufacturing companies... Read Full Pike Research Report

Demand Response Energy Management

Commercial, Industrial, and Residential Applications for Peak Demand Load Management
Q2, 2010

Pike Research mentions Verisae in their report surrounding Commercial, Industrial, and Residential Applications for Peak Demand Load Management... Read Full Pike Research Report

The Commercial Realities of Sustainable Business

by David Metcalfe, May 14, 2010

Environmental Leader mentions Verisae in an article, written by Verdantix’s David Metcalfe, discussing the commercial realities of sustainable business and mentions Verisae as one of the industry’s software providers... Read Full Verdantix Article

Five Pitfalls of Sustainable Software Business

Why Buyers Need More Strategic Vendor Selection Criteria
May 11, 2010

Verdantix lists Verisae as a chosen supplier to implement sustainable business software that goes beyond reporting... Read Full Verdantix Report

Recession Requires Carbon Strategy Refresh

Dramatic Fall In CO2 Emissions Creates Uncertainty
March 2010

Verdantix mentions Verisae in their report assessing the implications for those responsible for their firms carbon management plans, as well as their need for more sophisticated carbon forecasting capabilities ... Read Full Verdantix Report

Best Practices For Carbon Management

February 12, 2010

Verdantix mentions Verisae in their report discussing how Best Practices For Carbon Management opens up revenue opportunities, strong governance of carbon initiatives mitigates current and future risks, and carbon reduction plans translate into deep energy cost savings... Read Full Verdantix Report

Market Overview: The Advent Of Enterprise Carbon And Energy Management Systems

Sketching The New Opportunities For IT Vendor Strategists
by Christopher Mines, November 17, 2009

A new liability is coming onto the collective balance sheet of companies around the world: carbon. In the context of increasing awareness of the business and societal risks of climate change, corporate carbon emissions (and the energy consumption that creates them) are being scrutinized as a crucial indicator of business performance. And the spreadsheet data that most companies use to estimate their carbon footprint will not withstand that scrutiny from customers, regulators, and shareholders... Read Full Forrester Report

Software Strategists Tackle Green IT

How The Software Industry Will Go Green
by Christopher Mines, April 7, 2008

To date, the vast majority of mindshare and activity about improving the IT industry's environmental stance has focused on the life cycle of hardware assets — greening their design, manufacturing, operation, and recycling/disposal. Recently, we have received a number of inquiries from the software side of the industry about its opportunities to help customers accelerate green IT and broader green business initiatives. Software has a huge role to play in green IT, with contributions coming from products and vendors across a range of enterprise software markets... Read Full Forrester Report