UtiliPoint's® 2006 Technology Vendor Analysis Matrix (TVAM)
UtiliPoint® International, Inc. developed the TVAM in response to an acute industry need for sophisticated analysis and independent evaluation of technology vendors and service providers in an easy to understand and immediately actionable format.
TVAM rankings are a tool for vendor and service provider evaluation. TVAM is neither a guarantee of performance by vendors and service providers ranked nor is it an UtiliPoint® International endorsement of any technology or service product, vendor, or service provider.
UtiliPoint® International has interaction and/or client relationships with all of the vendors and service providers ranked in its TVAMs. UtiliPoint® includes all vendors and service providers with active clients in North America. UtiliPoint® welcomes the inclusion of other vendors and service providers who feel they may have been omitted in any given TVAM ranking.
UtiliPoint® International is using the TVAM methodology not only to rank utility and energy industry outsourcers (Technology Vendor Analysis Matrix 
) but also technology vendors in the CIS market. The Tier-1 CIS TVAM provides analysis for CIS vendors serving the largest utilities in the North American market. Likewise our Municipal TVAM and our TVAM for Emerging CIS Vendors evaluates CIS players that predominantly serve utilities in other market segments. In the future, UtiliPoint® plans to expand the TVAM rankings to other technology and service provider markets on an ongoing basis.”
TVAM methodology is not an "apples to apples" comparison of vendors, but rather a thoughtful and comprehensive model for creating a "level playing field" where heterogeneous vendors can be compared directly to one another across many capabilities, functions, and business values.
UtiliPoint® International does its best to be both objective and fair. Each company's rank—within its group of firms—is based on the same set of measures. Furthermore, most of the percentage of a company's ranking is based on a formula that uses objective measures of business quality and technological superiority. The remaining factors are based on UtiliPoint's® expertise and the expertise of other industry thought leaders and observers that help UtiliPoint® shape its well respected views. UtiliPoint also queried business executives both at utilities and energy companies as well as at technology companies for their opinions.
TVAM Development
UtiliPoint® International, Inc. has spent more than a year developing the TVAM methodology for evaluating utility and energy technology vendors and service providers.
TVAM methodology has three primary research components that inform UtiliPoint's® statistical comparison and ranking of technology vendors and service providers. The three primary research components are:
- A research questionnaire of more than 85 direct questions and approximately 260 secondary questions answered by each technology or service provider ranked.
- A research questionnaire of 18 direct and approximately 18 secondary questions asked of peers, i.e., executives from the companies ranked, about the other vendors and service providers in their market space.
- Significant inquiry by UtiliPoint principals and researchers directed to customers of companies ranked to validate both the vendor/service provider questionnaire and the peer review questionnaire.
For more information on UtiliPoint's® TVAM, please contact Ethan L. Cohen at 1-617-960-3584 or ecohen@utilipoint.com.
TVAM methodology and results are the copyrighted intellectual property of UtiliPoint International, Inc. UtiliPoint® is the sole, proprietary author and distributor of TVAM.