Energy and Utilities are in the midst of an all-encompassing revolution – both in what they deliver, and how they deliver it. 

At the heart of that is a global movement towards sustainably sourced energy, a commitment to net-zero carbon emissions, and ever-increasing expectations from consumers in the service they receive and the products they purchase. 

Below we take a look at the changes being undertaken within Energy & Utilities and how Inardua and Salesforce can help enact positive change for companies in these sectors.

In the UK the creation of competitive markets in the energy and water industries has created competition and innovation in markets once defined by monopolies, lack of consumer choice, and poor service. 

Where once the traditional ‘Big-Six’ energy companies supplied the vast majority of people’s electricity and gas, the influence of disruptive new-entrants has highlighted the difference that can be made to both the greenness of energy received, and the quality of service on offer.  

First of all, companies like Good Energy and Ecotricity brought the offer of sustainably produced electricity to people’s homes; and more recently digitally engaged suppliers like Octopus Energy, Bulb, and Pure Planet have introduced slick technology driven propositions to bring new levels of service, and new products to customers. 

But whilst there are already examples of progress and of the change that can be achieved in the utilities industry, it’s worth considering the challenges to be faced in the coming years. 

We’re already seeing both energy suppliers and brokers alike cease to trade as the price-cap reduces available margin, and the ongoing lockdowns as a result of Covid-19result in reduced energy demand. With lower margins on offer the importance of operational efficiency, slick sales processes, and differentiated product offerings becomes more important than ever. 

And whilst the well-publicized smart-meter rollout provides both the means for new, engaging products (See: Octopus Agile), it also brings with it inevitable operational and technical headaches, whether it’s in the management of organizing meter-exchanges or engaging with customers to move them on to new smart products. 

What’s more, the challenges faced by suppliers aren’t just from regulatory bodies or technical issues – they are being posed by consumers themselves.  

With expectations of service higher than ever, the next generation of utility customer expect green, sustainably sourced energy; they want tariffs and contracts that work for them, not exit fees and fixed lengths; and they demand slick digital solutions for which their expectations are set not by the incumbent utilities, but by the brands they interact with each and every day - Netflix, Amazon, Monzo, and Uber for example. 

So, it’s clear that there are both tremendous opportunities, and a number of obstacles lying in wait for energy & utilities, but what’s to be done about it? 

Salesforce have recognized the significance of the sector with the launch of their industry specific Energy & Utilities Cloud following on from the acquisition of partner Vlocity. The focus on industry cloud reflects Salesforce’s commitment to supporting key industry verticals through their products, but is not the only way for energy & utility businesses to benefit from the Salesforce platform. 

Whichever Salesforce cloud customers utilise they will benefit from flexible solutions which are constantly being improved upon, the ability to integrate to 3rd party software, a best-in-class User Interface, and a low-code approach to development to offer a robust platform on which to build into the future. 

There are a whole range of Salesforce solutions out there to benefit Energy & Utilities – from the core Sales & Service Clouds; to Pardot for slick automated marketing and communications; to Community Cloud to provide online portals for customer and partner access; to Revenue Cloud to ensure a seamless quote-to-cash process. 

At the heart of all these solutions is the provision of an all-encompassing Single Customer View (SCV) and amazing user experience – so you can be sure the sky-high expectations of your customers are being met through a market leading cloud-based solution. 

Here at Inardua, we have over ten-years’ industry expertise in energy & utilities – across Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, and Product & Proposition - not to mention our Salesforce know-how. 

And off the back of those years of experience we’ve put together our Cloud Utilities demo, to help demonstrate to Energy & Utilities businesses how the power of Salesforce can be used to overcome any industry specific challenges, and to deliver amazing customer and user experience. 

The core of our solution is a custom-built data-model to reflect industry standards for both Energy and Water. 

By reflecting both terminology and metering hierarchies seen in ECOES (electricity), Xoserve (Gas) and CMOS (Water) we can take advantage of Salesforce solutions to deliver industry standard processes, in industry leading ways, including but not limited to:

• Change of Tenancy 

• Meter Exchanges 

• Renewals 

• Pipeline Management 

• Onboarding 

What’s more, it provides a Salesforce platform ready-made to integrate with 3rd party systems, as well as with any industry partners our clients may work with. 

As energy & utilities begin to embrace the potential of the 4th Industrial Revolution, it’s vital their CRM is fit to support them – and we are here to make sure that their Salesforce platform does just that. 

If you’re interested in seeing how we can help you, just get in touch and we can walk you through our Cloud Utilities demo in more detail to help outline a roadmap for your future.