Efficient payment allocation with powercloud’s machine learning service

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  • Smooth workflow
  • Decreasing process costs
  • High data security and optimal data protection

With its Machine Learning Service for improved payment allocation, powercloud offers an innovative, powerful solution for energy providers who want to further optimise their payment processes and reduce costs. The new payment allocation service continuously increases the number of incoming payments that can be automatically allocated, significantly reducing the manual workload for energy suppliers. powercloud customers who have already decided to use the Machine Learning Service enjoy an allocation rate of over 98 per cent.

How does the Machine Learning Payment Allocation Service from powercloud work?

The Machine Learning Payment Allocation Service is seamlessly integrated into the existing payment allocation business process: powercloud takes over the setup of the service in the customer’s cloud infrastructure. From then on, the service analyses historical payment data and, based on this, creates individual models that automatically allocate incoming payments – without the data leaving the cloud accounts.

The advantages at a glance:

  • Automation and efficiency: automatic payment allocation significantly reduces manual effort and processing costs.
  • Seamless integration: the service can be easily integrated into existing payment processes, enabling a high level of process quality.
  • Customisation: By building a custom machine learning model, payment allocation automatically adapts to the specific needs and challenges of the utility company in question.
  • Optional manual allocation: If required, manual allocation can be added as an extra feature. With this feature, the service continuously learns from previous decisions.
  • Data security: The service runs exclusively in the customer’s cloud infrastructure, which meets the highest data protection standards.

The service is easy to set up and is done in close collaboration with the customer. powercloud’s experts take over the integration and training of the machine learning service. A monthly model update ensures continuous improvement of results.

A Future-Proof Solution

powercloud’s machine learning services have a modular design. powercloud plans to continually expand its range of services to help energy suppliers make additional processes even more efficient.

 

powercloud completes strategic refocus on the DACH region and commits further investment into its Retail Core Service (RCS) application

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  • powercloud will now exclusively focus on the development of RCS for the DACH region, moving away from non-core activities and strengthening its path towards profitability. 
  • Additional investment has been allocated to R&D for the RCS application to consolidate its market leading position and continue providing enhanced value to customers. 
  • This renewed focus has necessitated a reduction in headcount to better align resources. 

SaaS provider powercloud has successfully completed its strategic refocus on its flagship Retail Core Service (RCS) application. This shift, which concludes the realignment announced in May 2024, was driven by an extensive market analysis and internal survey over the past few months that included an evaluation of customer feedback.  

As part of this move, powercloud will concentrate on strengthening its relationships with existing customers and exploring new opportunities within the DACH region – Germany (D), Austria (A) and Switzerland (CH). This marks a strategic move away from non-core activities pursued in previous years, including the company’s global expansion efforts and development of associated technology. 

Supported by Hansen Technologies, which acquired powercloud in February 2024, the company is now realigned with its origins as a technology leader in the DACH region and well-positioned to return to profitability. To ensure RCS remains at the forefront of the energy sector, powercloud has committed further investment in research and development (R&D) initiatives aimed at driving innovation and delivering enhanced value to customers in the region. 

powercloud is also deepening its collaboration with Hansen Technologies, leveraging their expertise in supporting customers in some of the most technologically advanced energy markets in the world. This collaboration will provide powercloud customers with greater support as well as access to Hansen Technologies’ award-winning utility products, including billing, market communications, energy data management (EDM), and AI-optimized power trading. 

As part of this refocus, powercloud has made the difficult but necessary decision to reduce its headcount to ensure its resources are aligned with its renewed strategy. The company is offering affected employees comprehensive support, including severance packages and career counseling. 

John May, Managing Director of powercloud said, “We are pleased that powercloud has returned to its strengths in providing leading advice and support to customers in the DACH region. The decision to reduce headcount was not made lightly but is necessary to ensure the company can continue supporting the energy sector’s needs, as well as set powercloud on a sustainable path to profitability. We are deeply appreciative of the dedication and hard work of our employees who have played a vital role in powercloud’s accomplishments to date. Moving forward, we have a clear strategy and are eager to leverage Hansen Technologies’ global expertise and bring innovative products and solutions to market. We are confident that these steps will benefit our customers and key stakeholders.” 

 

Press Contact
Kai-Hinrich Renner
powercloud@schoesslers.com
+49 159 – 04 12 47 09 

 

A secure future with powercloud – billing platform even more powerful

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  • More flexibility for utilities
  • For optimal customer satisfaction
  • Efficient and even more future-proof

Energy providers are constantly faced with the challenge of responding to complex, changing customer requirements and dynamic market conditions. In order to provide our customers with optimal support and a future-proof billing platform, we are continuously investing in the further development and optimisation of our software.

powercloud billing core now even more flexible and future-proof

The latest powercloud milestone ensures that our customers are well prepared for any eventuality: the comprehensive further development of our billing core through the introduction of a new billing feature.

Previously, the billing logic for creating invoices was embedded in the billing core. With the introduction of the new billing feature, we now offer an innovative solution with even more flexibility for our customers.

For the electricity and gas sectors, all existing billing rules from the billing core are combined with flexibly configurable billing templates. These templates make it possible to customise the billing rules for each electricity and gas product, enabling energy suppliers to tailor their invoicing.

Existing powercloud customers only need to make a few minor changes to get started with the new billing feature. New customers will immediately enjoy all the benefits of the new billing logic.

Numerous advantages for powercloud customers

The combination of billing rules with flexibly configurable billing templates offers powercloud customers several advantages

  • Maximum flexibility
  • Improved system stability
  • Better scalability
  • Accelerated implementation of new developments such as § 14a ENWG, dynamic tariffs, billing using price sheets and billing for complex systems

By combining billing rules with billing templates, we offer our customers a future-proof solution that ensures maximum adaptability. Suppliers are now able to react even faster and more flexibly to new circumstances and challenges.

The ability to adapt billing processes flexibly and efficiently to new circumstances will be crucial to remaining competitive in an increasingly complex energy market – with powercloud, energy suppliers have a clear advantage.

 

powercloud billing core – focus on our centerpiece

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Since the end of May, we have been focusing all activities and resources on the original powercloud billing core. But what exactly is that?

You can think of the powercloud billing core as the energy industry’s engine room: it enables energy suppliers to efficiently manage and bill for electricity, gas, heat, water, and wastewater, as well as various products and services.

All customers benefit from a unified standard that features a high degree of automation, excellent scalability, intuitive usability, speed, and flexibility. This allows energy providers to fully concentrate on their core tasks.

Energy Industry Engine Room

The powercloud billing core encompasses all business processes and data required for the “energy industry engine room.” This includes billing processes, market communication, payment transactions, receivables management, invoice verification, tariff calculation, and many other areas. By using web services, known as REST APIs, powercloud customers can also easily integrate their peripheral systems, whether from powerApp partners or third-party providers, ensuring a comprehensive customer lifecycle.

Reduction of Cost-to-Serve, Low Cost to Acquire

Through the use of modern technology standards, project and operational costs can be significantly reduced, and project timelines shortened. Streamlined processes, digital channels, and automation within the billing core reduce the costs for energy providers. New products can be brought to market independently within just a few hours – without the need for developers or complex configurations. This enables energy suppliers to target their audience even more effectively.

The powercloud platform handles all format changes and regulatory adjustments without the need for customer-specific development efforts or downtime. New requirements are implemented in an agile manner and are available for testing and productive use in a short time, without customers having to apply complex updates themselves. Instead of updates occurring only twice a year, they are released every two weeks.

A Look at the User Interface – Simple User Guidance

The central customer and contract management system is the heart of the powercloud billing core. The user interface, with its embedded functions and operational guidance, is designed from the user’s perspective, which makes a noticeable difference in day-to-day work. Intuitive and ready-to-use, it supports users in their daily business: it offers a comprehensive overview of the entire customer and contract cycle.

One unique aspect is that every contract stored on the powercloud platform can have a customer-specific price, meaning price adjustments can also be made for each individual customer – similar to flight bookings. In contrast to other systems, where tariffs apply equally to all customers.

Users intuitively navigate from the central customer object to the associated contracts and back. The contract management across sectors offers view and edit options for numerous business processes, such as market communication, tariffing, billing, receivables, and payments. Regulatory, periodic tasks like changes are clearly visible for each contract, and integrated basic CRM functionalities such as follow-up and note features support users in their daily work.

Every process proactively reports its status, enabling real-time tracking and corresponding responses. This detailed tracking of changes based on events significantly facilitates customer service and enables third-party systems to highly automate the further processing of data.

Seamless Collaboration

As a SaaS solution, powercloud allows users to access the platform and billing core online anytime and from anywhere. Collaboration is seamless, as even contract details can be shared within seconds by sending a URL.

EWE and powercloud are extending their cooperation by at least five more years

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  • EWE convinced by strategic realignment
  • Cutting-edge IT architecture enables reduction of CTS and CTA

EWE and powercloud are extending their partnership for at least another five years. The two companies have been working together since 2018, actively promoting the energy transition and digitalisation. A contract to that effect has now been signed.

The clear commitment of powercloud to focus on the core billing and the German market in the long term and to further improve the performance and reliability of the billing platform has convinced the leading energy service provider in north-west Germany, based in Oldenburg: the new contract is also a recognition of the successful cooperation over the past few years.

The two companies have been working together since 2018. Since then, EWE has been using the state-of-the-art IT architecture of the powercloud billing platform to respond quickly and flexibly to new challenges while also scaling. The platform’s high level of automation also enables continuous cost reductions, while new billing products are opening up new sales and revenue models for the energy industry.

Dr. Christian Friege, EWE Board Member for Market: “For us, the continuity, reliability and technical development in our partnership with powercloud as part of our digitalisation strategy in the energy segment has been important and crucial to our decision to continue our collaboration.”

“The strategic realignment of powercloud towards our core product and the German market has been met with a lot of positive feedback from our customers and the market. The recent signing of the contract shows that our measures are already bearing fruit. We are very pleased about the continued cooperation and look forward to continuing to support EWE’s development as an innovator for an increasingly decentralised, ecological and digital energy world,” explains John May, CEO at powercloud.

 

powercloud Reinforces Commitment to Original Core Product

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powercloud announces a crucial strategic initiative to concentrate its efforts and resources on its flagship product, the original powercloud billing core (Retail Core Service, “RCS”). This pivotal decision follows an extensive review of the company’s product portfolio and market positioning.

The review, which included valuable feedback from customers and a thorough technical evaluation, reinforced the respect the RCS technology stack has in the marketplace – a fact that significantly influenced Hansen’s decision to acquire powercloud. The capabilities of RCS, coupled with its proven success in the market, underscore the strategic importance of this product for powercloud’s future growth and innovation. Within this strategic direction, powercloud has decided to transition away from the product variant “powercloud Flex”. This decision, though challenging, required a significant reorganisation of the company and the departure of some valued colleagues. Ultimately, this is about delivering substantial benefits to our clients.

By channelling its efforts towards RCS, powercloud aims to enhance its product suite, ensuring it meets and exceeds client needs with enhanced service and innovation. This focus will particularly benefit existing customers, reaffirming powercloud’s position as the preeminent provider of the leading Customer Information System (CIS) application in the German market.

 

“We are confident that this re-focusing will strengthen our organisation and enable us to deliver even greater value to our clients,” said John May, MD of powercloud. “Our unwavering commitment to RCS positions us to redefine our standing as the foremost CIS application provider for energy retailer and municipal utilities in Germany and beyond. This focus also represents a maturing of the powercloud business and the whole powercloud team is now engaged on a common goal, and we are excited by the future of our company.”

 

Additionally, powercloud is in the early stages of developing a new Grid product, further expanding its innovative product suite. powercloud believes that this renewed focus on its original core product, complemented by the development of the new Grid product, will drive ongoing innovation and operational excellence, solidifying its position as a leader in the energy software market.

 

Advancing the energy transition and e-mobility with innovative charging products

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What is the role of electric cars in the energy market of the future? One thing is certain. The answer goes far beyond “normal” use for driving to work or to the supermarket. Intelligent electric car charging strategies can reduce the burden of the power grids or provide temporary storage for power from solar systems. As a result, electric cars will be a crucial element of the energy transition. These innovations, however, will require appropriate energy products – a task for Volkswagen Group Charging GmbH (“Elli”). In our new case study on Elli, we explain in detail why the company has opted for powercloud as its backend and the IT challenges that had to be overcome.

 

Download the Elli case study here:

 

Download case study

 

The entire implementation process at Volkswagen Group Charging GmbH took only five months, from spring to late summer 2021 and this was done in the face of a demanding task:

  • The new, highly-flexible solution had to replace an existing legacy software system.
  • The new platform is comprehensively linked to the Elli IT structure by API and forms the technological basis for future solutions related to electric cars.
  • Intelligent charging services can be handled entirely automatically and without errors: a complex task that involves, among other things, the handling of smart-meter data and the optimization of load profiles in the power grid.
  • On top of this are basic conditions such as data persistence, data reconciliation, and the optimization of all the billing processes.

 

Interested in finding out more about the Elli powercloud implementation? Download our new case study here:

 

Download case study

 

Volkswagen Group Charging GmbH (“Elli”) relies on powercloud 

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  • Development was geared towards a quick market-launch
  • powerApps enable efficient business processes
  • Platform is ready for European expansion

 

(powercloud, Offenburg, 13/10/2021) – Elli, a brand of the Volkswagen Group, has been offering its clients an intelligent household electricity tariff since August 2021. Implementation of the corresponding backend was facilitated by the SaaS platform powercloud in cooperation with powerApp partners and took less than five months.

Clients with Volkswagen e-cars and plug-in hybrids benefit from Volkswagen’s “Naturstrom Connect Tarif”, as their vehicles are prioritized when it comes to charging, as long as excess renewable energy is available in the grid. This is both more sustainable and also makes more financial sense.

“The focus is on app-based control of the charging process, where the client only has to enter their desired departure time in advance,” explains Ingo Müller, Head of Energy Solutions for the Volkswagen brand Elli. “A smart charging function then automatically optimizes the process. What’s more, clients also collect points in this manner, with which they can reduce their electricity bill by up to 100 Euros per year.” The overarching objective was to establish a European billing platform in the shortest possible time – this would enable Elli to achieve a successful market launch very quickly. Two factors were of vital importance in this regard: First of all, every powercloud implementation uses a standardized best-practices process with defined onboarding modules. The end-to-end solution is ready in just a few weeks, is scalable at any time, and can also be rolled out to new countries, for example. The powerApp store from powercloud also makes it possible to integrate the special business processes and innovative products into the complete service solution in a highly flexible manner – Elli simply adds the relevant apps to the core functions of powercloud and then uses other functions.

 

download our whitepaper now

 

“Established industry partners, startups, fintechs and global technology companies transfer their know-how into powerApps,” explains Marco Beicht, CEO of powercloud. “This approach was highly important for Elli. This means that not only was powercloud standard including migration implemented, but also an entire process landscape, featuring a range of powerApps and modules, since the complete service solution has to fulfill a series of conditions regarding process mining, the customer portal, reports, payment methods and more. The end result is that Elli now benefits from a highly efficient SaaS-platform.”

A closer look at the powerApps in use reveals a broad spectrum of technical possibilities and economic advantages. That is why Volkswagen Group Charging GmbH relies, for example, upon an efficient completion route to customer acquisitions and an extensive self-service customer portal. Both solutions from work digital are available “out of the box” in the powerApp Store. The same is true of the two apps from powerdata for connecting other systems with powercloud – including monitoring of integration – as well as real-time analysis of turnover, yields, gross margins and much more. In this context, the “Business Process Mining” app from Lana (acquired through Appian) is also useful: It makes it possible to optimize customer processes on the basis of AI and adapt them to new conditions. What’s more, the powerApp from PayPal as well as the app from the SCHUFA bureau for credit checks have also been integrated. The BPO service-team from hsag Heidelberger Services AG is responsible for the customer experience and back-office processes, and also brings their chat-bot Isa into the cooperation – including integrated live chat for churn prevention campaigns on the basis of the iAdvize conversational platform.

“We are very proud that by working with these partners, we have been able to provide an efficient complete solution for the backend of Volkswagen Group Charging GmbH,” is how Marco Beicht summarizes the situation. “What is critical in this regard is the fact that every app integration into our platform is done without the need for complex IT projects. Here, it is of central importance that the powerApp Store is an integral part of the powercloud operating model. This means the apps being used are automatically integrated into our transparent software-as-a-service model, and as the platform operator we ensure the quality standard of the apps. This idea enables us to create flexible IT systems, which make for a high level of investment security and competitiveness. This opens us a world of possibilities for companies, with which they can react radically and quickly to changes in markets and infrastructure.”

 

About Volkswagen Group Charging GmbH (“Elli”)

Elli is a provider of energy and charging solutions. Elli offers simple, convenient solutions at the interface between energy and mobility. The goal is to make it possible for anyone to become part of the energy transition – in a simple and transparent manner.

As part of the Volkswagen Group, Elli supplies households throughout Germany with Volkswagen Green Energy – 100% sustainable and from renewable sources. In turning to Volkswagen Green Energy Connect, customers can take advantage of intelligent charging to reduce the CO₂ emissions of electric vehicles during the use phase.

 

download our whitepaper now

 

 

Download Case Study today: How Ostrom plans to take over the German energy market

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These days, talk about the ‘digital future’ of utilities is hard to avoid. It will be shaped by automated IT systems, rapid change processes and innovative products outside of the classic energy contract. But how close are we to this future? The start-up Ostrom has an incredible answer to this question: Since April, the Berlin-based company has been operating as an independent energy provider concentrated fully on mobile, digital channels – just like the Uber app. If you want to know more, be sure to download our new Case Study on Ostrom!

Maximum customer orientation, extremely simple tariffs and highly automated IT processes – this is the foundation with which Ostrom aims to take over the German energy market. We present the strategy of the green tech start-up from Berlin in a new Case Study.

 

download now

 

Four interesting facts from the Case Study:

1. The motto: “The least expensive, and most climate-friendly power is the power that isn’t consumed” is Ostrom’s motto. Because of this, the company finances its activities exclusively via a monthly basic fee, passing the purchase price of green power entirely to the customer.

2. The market strategy: Within the market, Ostrom plays the role of the ‘Uber of the energy sector’ – an agile player that organizes all transactions with customers via a smartphone. All processes — from product development to customer service to marketing activities — are geared to customer needs.

3. The IT system: Ostrom uses powercloud and benefits from highly-automated IT processes, digital sales structures and innovative working methods. This is the basis of how products are developed and launched rapidly and customer processes handled quickly.

4. The start: Ostrom has been using the completely new IT system since April 2021 – with strong results. This is shown, for example, by an extremely impressive Trustpilot score of 4.8.

 

Download our Ostrom Case Study today and learn more about the innovative business model and the IT solution from the green tech start-up.

 

download now

 

 

How powercloud is becoming an enabler for highly efficient energy startups

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High energy prices for consumers combined with an increase of renewable energy make it easy for a wide range of energy startups to enter the market: They score points with offers that are more transparent, more green, and more cost-efficient than the competition. Their business model is built on fully digitized processes. What role does the highly efficient SaaS solution from powercloud play in this context? 

 

The energy transition is necessary and renewable energies are more and more demanded and also funded by governments with liberalized markets. But the network expansion that energy transformation demands is costly. The expense is passed on by the network operators to the electricity customers and increasing prices lead to customer fluctuation. Here, digital channels provide fast access to new offers and provide comprehensive comparison options – and not only on prices. What matters as well is customer satisfaction, where the energy comes from, and the flexibility and transparency of the overall offer: How are prices calculated, can the customer benefit directly from reduced consumption, and can intelligent applications such as digital meter systems be integrated? One could also say: The topic of “energy” is becoming more emotional.

 

Download our white paper now

 

How energy startups score points

In this market new energy companies with digital business models have enormous opportunities: On the one hand, they are automating and digitizing their processes to such an extent that they can get by with a fraction of the cost-to-serve typical for the industry and so can realize very low energy tariffs. On the other hand, they score points with a fully digital and transparent offer: Using the app, which shows them their current consumption and current costs, users can easily report their meter reading, correct the budget billing or change their inventory data. The next step is to connect the app to a so-called smart meter. Customers can now run an ongoing analysis and manage consumption intelligently – for example, by charging their electric car only when electricity is cheap. The innovations open up a great range of money-saving methods and practical solutions.

 

Rethinking product management from scratch

Here the powercloud platform plays a strategic role. It enables many startups to implement the automated processes concerned, and at the same time ensures a much more flexible product creation: In just a few clicks users can design, fully automatically, a billable product and publish it ad hoc on the market – from commodity and non-commodity bundles to offers on marketing surplus energy, storage solutions, wallbox and conventional residual electricity tariffs. The entire product management is reimagined and consistently follows the agile concept. Nor do you need time-consuming IT projects to implement new functions and business models. Regulatory changes are provided free of charge.

 

Download our white paper now

 

The kinds of opportunities that emerge through this approach are revealed by a glance at exemplary startups, which offer their customers green energy and also bank on powercloud:

 

  • Lition is a private trading marketplace whose goal is to network decentralized energy generators and consumers. On this platform, consumers select the solar or biogas system they want to source their energy from. A blockchain is used for trading.
  • stromee acts as a smart home platform. The overarching goal is to minimize energy consumption. This means energy can be bought from stromee at the energy purchase price. The company earns revenues only on a fixed basic monthly fee – not from consumption.
  • Yippie is a nationwide provider of sustainable electricity and gas with the vision of developing an ecosystem that is both digital and sustainable. And not static, but rather agile and dynamic.
  • Ostrom is an independent energy provider focused on mobile digital channels – much like the N26 direct bank in the financial sector. A whole range of ways to save money and practical solutions open up for the customers.
  • e.optimum offers household customers low wholesale prices – and highly transparently: The price of green energy is transferred without risk or margin surcharges. On top of that only a very low basic fee is levied.
  • stadtenergie is the new digital brand of the DEW21 energy supplier from Dortmund. Their offer is focused on product bundles of electricity and gas as well as non-commodity hardware. Short project run-times and fully digital processes are the company’s trademark.
  • Octopus Energy is an English supplier, which is fully reliant upon digital customer-access and attractive partnerships with other companies. This means, for example, that the customer will be offered a Germany-wide “Tesla energy tariff” in the near future.

 

 

Optimizing all business processes

Transparent tariffs, digital customer access and fully optimized processes – these are the conditions with which a wide range of energy startups are scoring points on the market. Last but not least, powercloud ensures there are low barriers to entry in this regard: The company is ready to switch on the end-to-end solution after just a few weeks – from the first kick-off till “go live”. Afterwards, users receive many benefits such as free format changes, comprehensive automation, and simple user guidance. These arguments are convincing more and more start-ups and companies with a “digital mindset”, and the development is only just getting started: Barely a month passes without a new utility being founded, since the potential of the energy market is huge. On top of that, there has been a general upsurge in digital channels over the course of the Corona crisis. Opaque tariffs and clumsy “analog” communication are becoming more and more of a disadvantage.

 

About the author

Steven Dawson, VP powercloud North America, brings more than 15 years of experience in the IT industry, working for SAP, Oracle, and Genesys. He is recognized for building Salesforce Energy & Utilities (formerly Vlocity) in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland from the bottom up. His new mission is focused on migrating energy and utilities companies in North America away from old on-premises/legacy systems to a new, modern architecture and billing platform in the cloud. Dawson established powercloud’s North American operations within the Atlanta Tech Village, one of the nation’s largest technology innovation workplaces. Companies that are dedicated to the growth of the energy and utilities sector in the southeast and especially within the Atlanta area. In all of his endeavors, he has helped energy companies reduce operational and acquisition costs while achieving the best possible Customer Experience.