- Keeping sight of efficient and structured implementation
- All-in-one package from user support through to data migration
- Utilities benefit from years of industry knowledge and wide-ranging ERP expertise
(powercloud, Offenburg, Germany, 24 March 2021) Complex change processes are shaping the energy industry – which means the product worlds and customer management of municipal utilities and utility (ERP) for example, have to go through ever more changes. We are talking about individualization, non-commodity value-added services, and customer experience. Here, regional suppliers are particularly well placed to thrive because they are present and trusted locally, and can provide their customers with tailor-made support. But how is it possible to support this transformation with the most simple IT available? Major assistance is provided by the software and IT-consulting firm INTENSE and the utility-digitization specialists from powercloud: These partners dovetail their expertise and provide utilities with support in the transformation process.
“As a powercloud partner for consulting, solution and system integration, we see this as the perfect cooperation, because the customer receives a practice-oriented all-in-one solution. This is also what makes the difference, especially in the case of suppliers such as municipal utilities, as they are looking for turnkey solutions from a single source,” explains Michael Heinze, board member at INTENSE. “We have over 20 years’ experience in the energy industry, are familiar with the business models, and develop innovative software solutions. As IT-architects with long-term expertise in consulting and implementation, we help our customers design and select billing and customer-management platforms that are capability-oriented and futureproof. In this context, the solution offered by powercloud is increasingly coming to the fore. For example, our contact partners appreciate intuitive user guidance and simplicity when it comes to implementing new products.”
The cooperation is by no means a ‘cold start’ – quite the opposite: INTENSE and powercloud are already working with customers such as the Bühl and Uelzen municipal utilities, EnBW and home-storage supplier SENEC. Together, they ensure the implementation of powercloud as well as the migration from existing systems. The customers benefit from a complete package of process consulting and workshops, customization, test management, data transformation and conclusive user support. “We are very excited about the collaboration,” exclaims Zoran Petrovic, CSO of powercloud. “The experience that INTENSE brings to the table is a huge help in every implementation of our solutions – regardless whether that’s greenfield setup or gradual migration from existing systems. The shared project work is highly focused on the customer, as well as being structured and target-oriented. Together, we set new standards for the rapid provision of our end-to-end approach.”
The latter has played an important role for many established utilities: They have often found that even a minor modernization to their legacy system can take a very long time. That is why it is even more surprising that the complete IT infrastructure was modernized with powercloud and INTENSE AG in just a few months. Gradual migration from existing systems is carried out in phases. “We supplement the powercloud step by step and continue to optimize the business processes – in ongoing operations based on a continuous delivery principle. The customer specifies their “cycle time” and decides when they want to shut down legacy systems,” says Christine Scheid, Manager at INTENSE.
The utilities then benefit from an “engine room of the energy industry,” in which a wide range of business processes run in a streamlined, automated manner. “This is the basic requirement for new business models, which will ultimately guarantee the energy transformation. We want to work together with the utilities in tackling this issue,” concludes Zoran Petrovic.
