Electricity quotes made easy:The new Primeo Energie offering tool
As part of the “Automated Offers / Offering Tool” project, we were commissioned by Primeo Energie AG to digitalize and automate the offer process for back-to-back offers from energy supply companies in a first step. Primeo Energie employees can now also use the quotation tool to create and conclude quotations for large customers.
THE CHALLENGES
In the Swiss electricity market, Primeo Energie AG serves both liberalized large customers and entire municipal utilities (so-called energy supply companies, EVUs). The repeated preparation of offers for future electricity purchases, based on historical data, is part of the daily work of the sales staff and key account managers (KAM).
As part of the "Automated Offers / Offering Tool" project, the offer process for energy supply company back-to-back offers was to be digitalized and automated. The aim was end-to-end use without media disruptions.
The "sticking points":
- Customer feedback had to be integrated continuously during development
- The need and demand from employees was high - as was the speed of further development
- A complex stack with the integration of five participating systems had to be implemented:
- SAP ERP/IS-U
- SAP CPI, submodule of SAP BTP
- SAP Sales Cloud
- SILOVEDA® forecasting tool from Girsberger Informatik
- SE:Sales® from Soptim
OUR APPROACH
MVP approach: In order to meet the tight deadlines, we opted for a minimum viable product (MVP) approach: We focused the requirements on a minimum scope that could be implemented within the very short lead time with the given technologies. This was possible because requirements had already been recorded as part of a preliminary project and many of the architectural questions had been clarified at an early stage. Customer requests for subsequent further development packages have been collected consistently and continuously since the start of the project..
Agile approach: App development followed the tried-and-tested pattern with two-week sprints, regular technical and functional refinement sessions and early implementation of demos/prototypes within and outside the development team. The various specialist representatives were constantly involved during development. This meant that draft solutions could be validated promptly and specific requirements and requests were addressed at an early stage.
Digital platform: The solution was based on Primeo Energie's tried-and-tested "digital platform" (an integration platform). The solution was developed as an encapsulated self-contained system, which was integrated into the corporate CMS "Magnolia".
Multilingualism: The tool was consistently implemented in German, English and French.
Further key technical data:
Frontend (Angular):
- Attractive user interface in the customer portal (integrated into the corporate website) using Angular with Primeo's own UI component library
- Corresponding services for communication with the middleware via REST API
- Integration of the offer tool into the Magnolia CMS of the digital platform
Middleware (Java Spring Boot):
- Storage and management of offers in a Postgres DB with access via Java Spring Boot components
- Asynchronous subsequent processing with downstream systems:
- Conversion of a historical load profile into a future one by using an external forecasting service
- Transmission of the quotation request via CPI/BTP to SAP Sales Cloud, which in turn communicates with SE:Sales for the purpose of price calculation
- Use of SAP ERP for PDF generation (AdobeForms) and e-mail dispatch
- Communication with Google Cloud Platform for the delivery of user notifications in the event of status changes
SAP IS-U:
- On-the-fly generation of a white label price sheet PDF with logo and name of the RU, implemented with AdobeForms. Available in three languages.
- On-the-fly generation of a Primeo Energie offer with contract clause page. Available in three languages.
- Sending of parameterizable e-mails according to corporate design.
THE RESULT
Energy supply company employees can now use the new offering tool in the customer portal to independently and fully automatically calculate an electricity procurement offer from Primeo Energie for their connection users (e.g. industrial customers in the urban area) and also conclude a binding offer directly.
With the first feature release of the second version, Primeo Energie AG employees can also use the offer tool to create and conclude offers for direct bulk purchasers.
Massive cost savings are already apparent thanks to the reduction in routine tasks. The economic goal in the final expansion stage is to reduce the manual workload of the sales staff by as much as 94%.
The offering tool has quickly become an essential instrument for drawing up and concluding energy contracts - both for energy supply companies and for supporting Primeo Energie AG's direct customers. What used to take around four hours of process, several sales employees and KAMs is now reduced to around 15 minutes to the calculated offer thanks to the tool.
Hundreds of calculated offers and concluded contracts via this offer tool speak for themselves. The time savings and ease of use combined with very stable operation ensure a high level of satisfaction among the various end customers.
About Primeo Energie
“clever. inspiring. future-oriented.” Primeo Energie makes homes smarter, mobility more sustainable and motivates people to use energy efficiently. The company develops energy solutions for private and business customers, energy supply companies, cities and municipalities. Around 700 employees reliably supply over 170,000 customers in Switzerland and France with energy. Its business areas are energy, grid, heat and renewable energies. Primeo Energie is active along the entire value chain, from production and trading to distribution and sales. By imparting knowledge to children and young people, Primeo Energie is helping to ensure that future generations also live responsibly. Primeo Energie was founded in 1897 as the EBM cooperative, has its headquarters in Münchenstein (Switzerland) and branches in Paris, Strasbourg and Saint-Louis in France.
www.primeo-energie.ch
www.primeo-energie.fr
“Working with inpeek was and is a pleasure. We have managed to build a well-designed, solid and fully integrated online tool in a very short time, which has not only greatly reduced our internal workload, but has also cut the processing time of our customer inquiries to a fraction. Many of our customers were very impressed.”
Pablo Martin, Product Owner & Manager
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