- 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.
“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.
