Reducing costs, Mitigating risks and Building capabilities
Presenting a lean and dynamic attitude, this energy supplier on the Belgian and French markets grew rapidly since its foundation in the early 00’s. Having become a top 5 player in the Belgian energy market, with over one billion euros in revenues, the company’s brand builds on a commitment to supply 100% green electricity. Consumer trust is high thanks to an active stance in battles to protect consumer rights and to safeguard a free energy market. The ambition to become a complete energy solution for its customers leads to investments in new subsidiaries such as insulation and energy maintenance.
Business Case
In order to finance its rapid growth and realize its future ambitions to develop innovative operational models as well as enter new markets, parts of the company’s value chain are re-engineered. Energy suppliers interact with Distribution Grid Operators using a message-based market mechanism. The information that flows through this gateway is used throughout all company processes. Errors or delays can propagate costly consequences all through the value-chain. Additionally, any gained capabilities can be leveraged by multiple stakeholders as well.
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Results
The new UMIX certified solution for distribution network management has been fully integrated into the client’s systems.
All the supplier’s processes – sourcing, nominating, switching, billing, rectification and collections – now rely on the system’s output and reports indicate an increased confidence in information quality. A decrease in failure handling and error corrections across all departments significantly reduced the cost-to-serve per client. Moreover, results indicate the operational team is now capable of monitoring more delivery points per operator. Unforeseen benefits are already realized thanks to the increased capabilities provided to data analysts who monitor problems, answer questions and evaluate opportunities, both for individual clients and across groups.
Deliverables
Based on extensive financial analysis and risk assessment, our client decided to rethink its market interaction systems. Based on our energy expertise, a project charter was created that stipulates all relevant topics such as deliverables, budgets, skills and risks throughout the different project stages. A structured collaboration strategy allowed for proper scope management. During the project, we analyzed processes and requirements to allow consistent progress. We defined a testing strategy, including a test planning and a set of test-scenarios to move to production. Automating part of this process allowed a reduced time-to-delivery. To smoothen the complex migration of the customer base, we opted for a segmented phase-out strategy running the legacy external tool in parallel with the new solution. Along with that, we established a monitoring approach to solve problems and capture future requirements in an organized manner. Finally we organized key user trainings.
“We excel in delivering complex projects by leveraging expertise in energy market processes, supply operations, and industry-specific IT solutions.”
This complex project necessitated a strong end-2-end approach. irex Consulting leveraged its sound expertise in energy markt processes (MIG4), energy supply operations and industry-specific IT solutions in order to define a right-sized project plan for delivering this business-critical migration. We relied on our skills in business process engineering, business analysis, requirements management and project management to produce outstanding deliverables all through the project lifecycle.