A backlog growing faster than IT could clear it
Every use case, large or small, went through the same IT teams and processes built for routine tickets, and every new request joined the same queue.
Case study · AI Demand Management
Transforming into the world’s first AI-native utility
How a national energy and water utility used MARCO® to turn thousands of AI use cases into a single engine for AI-native transformation.
Overview
The story at a glance
A national energy and water utility set out to become the world’s first AI-native utility, with AI embedded in every division. That meant changing two things at once: how fast the business could identify and apply AI in its workflows, and how central IT supported and scaled that work.
The utility needed more than higher project throughput. It needed operational infrastructure for the thousands of use cases already overwhelming IT, without adding headcount that would be expensive to staff and too specialized to maintain.
The challenge
AI ambition outpaced IT’s capacity to deliver
Central IT was overwhelmed. Champions in every division submitted AI use cases faster than IT could process them, and the AI-generated briefs lacked company context and often contained invented detail. Engineers spent their hours rewriting briefs in clarification meetings instead of building, leading to over 1,000 use cases in backlog.
A pipeline without a path
Use cases moved from opportunity to value delivery, with handoffs between several teams. Some went to a request for proposals and others stayed internal, with no shared system tracking either path.
Cost and delay on every request
Contracts, partners, and licenses sat in separate systems, and contracting a new AI provider could take up to six months.
The solution
One workflow from use case to delivery, with capacity on demand
AIC deployed MARCO® inside the utility’s own secure environment, giving every request the same route from business need to production. Teams focus on the initiatives that matter most, spend less time coordinating across functions, and connect each approved initiative with the expertise and capacity to deliver it.
How it worked
Grounded briefs, one managed route
Requesters build briefs from spreadsheets, images, and meeting recordings, grounded in a knowledge base of the utility’s technologies, policies, and data. Each brief then moves through the utility’s own demand-management stages and terminology.
Capacity on demand
Sourcing checks licensed partners first, then affiliates, then partners being onboarded, and only then external providers. Vetted forward-deployed engineers from AIC’s partner ecosystem add capacity where it’s needed.
Sovereign control, existing investments intact
MARCO® connects to the utility’s ERP, contract, and license systems, and the utility keeps control of its data and approvals.
The impact
A predictable, measurable path to AI
Faster delivery, less wasted spend, and a clear line from every AI investment to its return.
65% faster time to value
Projects reach production faster, backed by AIC’s 90% pilot-to-production success rate.
Duplicate projects and redundant spend avoided
Every brief is checked against existing projects, contracts, and licenses before funding.
AI investment tracked from funding to return
Each funding decision is recorded with its rationale and a date to reassess. One portfolio scorecard shows progress, spend, realized value, and capacity gaps, ready for the board.
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