AGL leads cloud innovation in Utilities
A power shift to consumers is well underway, with today’s customers having more information and new ways to access energy.
Consumer demands and expectations are causing utilities companies to reimagine their services and offerings. As energy alternative products, markets, regulations, and customer needs continue to evolve at a faster rate, the industry must be able to proactively listen to consumers, and become more agile and insight driven, reacting at consumer and community speed.
One company who is not only responding to, but leading such a transformation, is AGL Energy Limited (AGL), one of Australia’s largest energy retailers. With the growing choices of providers and cost-saving options available to local energy consumers, AGL knew it needed to find ways to differentiate its offerings in a more dynamic and competitive environment.
Early on, the company saw the cloud as a way to drive new opportunities to differentiate itself beyond pricing by enhancing the value and delivering personalised experiences to customers.
Rolling out smart meters was one of the first ways AGL drove this transformation, subsequently empowering consumers to better understand their energy consumption, as well as lower costs and increase energy efficiency.
As Utilities became more data driven, AGL furthered its investment in the cloud by consolidating its independently-managed business websites into one platform based on Microsoft Azure. Working with Avanade and Accenture, AGL implemented a customer experience solution from Sitecore running on the platform. This enabled the company to take advantage of rich and scalable features, while leveraging existing investments in Microsoft technology, such as Office 365, which the company rolled out as part of the cornerstone of its cloud strategy. Office 365 allows AGL to take advantage of public cloud services and bring together its operations and employees, providing business-critical mobile connectivity and improved collaboration. Office 365 has enabled AGL to save money, control costs and simplify email support.
The latest step in its digital journey is AGL’s announcement of the release of native iOS and Android apps targeted at residential customers—the first such app for any Australian tier one energy retailer. These have seen strong download growth and engagement and allow customers to track usage, better estimate energy costs, and pay bills easily. The apps themselves rely on an Azure cloud-based API, giving the apps a platform that scales easily to match customer demand.
The Azure cloud is also opening up the possibility of the Internet of Things (IoT), which AGL has already started to tap into through a new product called Solar Command. Hosted on the AGL Solar website this gives customers the opportunity to be able to see how their solar panels are performing and provides advice on how to improve performance, for example whether they need cleaning or if a panel is malfunctioning or needs repair.
Andy Williams, AGL’s Head of IT Delivery, says the company’s digital journey has been undertaken with two broad aims at its centre; doing things faster, better, and cheaper, and creating a more engaging and effective customer experience.
From where we sit, it looks like AGL has not only met these goals, but is well positioned to take advantage of the next wave of digital innovation.
LinkedIn: Francois Nasseys
