Embrace partnerships to drive agentic AI and the E&U transition

The energy and utilities (E&U) industry faces a convergence of pressures: advance decarbonization initiatives and the broader energy transition, modernize infrastructure, and deliver superior customer experiences—all part of their digital transformation journeys amid the cost-of-living crisis. Traditional approaches aren’t sufficient. Strategies and daily operations must take an ecosystem view—one that connects developments in agentic AI, cloud-native platforms, and digital engineering.

However, no service provider or technology vendor has the breadth, depth, or innovation firepower to tackle these challenges. Deep strategic partnerships across technology, industry, and hyperscaler ecosystems demand more than just best practices—they’re the only path forward. This report builds on our recent market analysis to highlight how consulting, tech, and business providers are forging deep alliances to best help their E&U clients.

Quality of partnerships drives the outcomes toward the energy transition

HFS Research recently examined the energy and utilities ecosystem partnerships, evaluating providers on multiple parameters such as value proposition, go-to-market strategy, and market impact. This POV, in particular, zeroes in on the top 10 service providers (see Exhibit 1) collaborating with the maximum number of ecosystem partners in the E&U industry.

Exhibit 1: Top 10 IT service providers by number of partnerships in the E&U industry

Source: HFS Research, 2025

TCS topped the partnership leaderboard, driven by a visibly mature ecosystem strategy spanning sustainability, cloud, and operational technologies. Wipro and Accenture followed closely with a strong emphasis on advisory-first and transformation-led engagement models.

For E&U enterprises, this matters deeply. Providers with wide-reaching partnerships can accelerate the onboarding of new technologies, drive co-innovation at scale, and remain resilient amid the rapidly shifting regulatory and market dynamics.

Take TCS, for example: its partnerships with grid automation players and AI accelerators allow utilities to streamline predictive maintenance, reducing outage durations and grid downtime. Wipro leverages its alliances in energy transition and digital twins to offer modular, scalable solutions for decarbonization tracking, a critical capability as ESG scrutiny intensifies.

But it’s not just about quantity. The quality and focus of these partnerships determine real enterprise outcomes.

Technology partnerships are fueling agentic AI and software-defined E&U

Exhibit 2 outlines the technology alliances shaping E&U transformation. Hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) lead the charge, but so do GPU and AI-native firms (such as NVIDIA) and workflow automation leaders (such as ServiceNow).

Exhibit 2: Top 10 technology partnerships by IT service providers in the E&U industry

Source: HFS Research, 2025

These partnerships form the scaffolding of agentic AI in utilities, enabling systems to automate and make context-aware decisions. For instance, a utilities firm partnering with Infosys and NVIDIA uses AI agents to optimize real-time grid loads based on weather, consumption, and price forecasts.

Similarly, Capgemini’s partnership with Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability enables real-time emissions tracking and automated reporting. These aren’t superficial tie-ups; they translate directly into compliance, efficiency, and competitiveness.

Still, enterprises must look past brand names and assess which service provider ecosystems are pre-integrated with the tech partners most aligned to their roadmap. This is where the speed to value lies.

Energy-focused industry collaborations drive localization and resilience

Technology is critical, but domain-led partnerships bring contextual intelligence to life. Industry-focused alliances with grid consortia, green hydrogen innovators, and regional energy startups enable providers to localize solutions, comply with regional mandates, and co-create with utilities.

Exhibit 3: Top 10 industry partnerships by IT service providers in the E&U industry

Source: HFS Research, 2025

IBM’s tie-up with energy blockchain innovators supports peer-to-peer renewable energy trading pilots in Europe. Wipro’s engagements with EV charging consortia are creating real-time demand response platforms. These are not one-size-fits-all use cases—but instead, hyper-targeted, co-created innovations.

For E&U leaders, these partnerships offer more than just pilots—they build strategic resilience. As geopolitical and climate disruptions challenge conventional grid models, these collaborations provide the agility and local relevance that hyperscaler-only solutions often lack.

The Bottom Line: Forget siloed technology or single-vendor strategies—today’s enterprises must demand full ecosystem accountability.

Transformation is no longer IT’s problem but a boardroom imperative, bringing together hyperscalers, AI disruptors, and domain specialists. At the same time, partnerships must be evaluated by how deeply they are integrated into business goals. To fully realize this, E&U enterprises should:

• Insist on co-innovation roadmaps demonstrating how agentic AI and energy-specific use cases will be deployed, not just proposed.
• Evaluate ecosystem maturity, not just service provider capabilities. Your partner should be able to orchestrate NVIDIA, AWS, and EV grid solutions into one coherent strategy.
• Align partnership depth with the transformation stage. Startups may need off-the-shelf tech integrations, while large utilities must prioritize multi-partner orchestration and compliance-ready frameworks.