4 tips when choosing your partner.
The recipe for successful partnerships demands that utilities should consider the following:
- Examine what complementary skills and services each partner possesses. What will collaboration be able to achieve?
- Look for common values and a shared vision
- Clearly define the objectives, goals and purpose of the partnership
- Check that a potential partner has the right framework to comply with industry regulations
Competitive advantage.
Strategic partnerships allow organisations to combine skill sets and access a broader range of resources and expertise. This can result in reduced costs, improved profitability and increased agility. Using an external team can free up internal staff, allowing them to focus on adding value in other areas.
Channa Perera, Head of Retail Operations at Brave Energy Systems, says “Utilities can gain competitive advantages by forming strategic partnerships. These include an enhanced product or knowledge base, and lower, fixed cost-to-serve. And don’t forget reduced risk through the future-proofing of software systems”.
Strategic partnerships leverage the strengths of both organisations and can be related to technology, operational efficiency, business strategy, market reach or competitive edge.
Operational improvements.
While strategic partnerships have always had their place in the business arena, the digital age is forcing organisations to rethink how they structure operations. In light of this, several utilities have been embracing digital disruption by partnering with software and technology companies. The intent is to optimise their operations and deliver more reliable and affordable services to their customers. For example, Ergon Energy partnered with a Western Australian energy technology start-up. This enabled them to provide its customers with an integrated, digital energy management system to help households understand and manage their energy.
It’s a win-win situation: end-users are empowered by knowledge and technology to manage and control their energy consumption, and Ergon creates new revenue streams for itself.
Centralised accountability.
Another example of a strategic partnership for electricity retailers is the outsourcing of certain billing and customer management functions. This can be a cost-efficient and effective way to achieve key business goals.
Brave’s RX Retail solution is an end-to-end billing system, also offering a suite of compliance-related reports to cover licence obligations.
“Partnering with Brave means that our customers can focus on other areas of the business whilst we look after the day-to-day operations, and the long-term requirements. We can do this at a much lower cost than the retailer would pay to manage it internally,” Channa said. “Our Brave Managed Services division provides Australian utility companies with the back of house solutions that are managed by a team of dedicated industry experts. They understand market conditions and ensure customers are compliant with regulations and protocols.”
Reducing risk by future-proofing compliance requirements
The Brave Managed Retail service offers a number of features and benefits for electricity retailers.
New customers are validated through a highly automated and scalable onboarding platform. Exiting customers are transferred according to a defined process. Any inaccuracies with customer data are corrected, so retailers ensure all customers have met entry and exit requirements. All customers are invoiced based on an agreed bill frequency. Unbilled customers are immediately brought to the attention of management via the online dashboard. Meter data is reconciled daily, and missing or invalid meter data corrected, guaranteeing the retailer only pays for the correct amount of energy consumed by customers. Network invoices are also checked for accuracy and reconciled. This means the retailer only pays for the energy that was actually supplied to consumers.
“Fewer operating errors and accurate billing means consumers are not only satisfied but they also develop trust in the company. This in turn means they are less likely to ‘shop around’,” Channa said.
“The knowledge of our software solution, combined with the ability to provide resource coverage, allows us to manage the risks associated with business-critical back-office deliverables. Brave has significant experience delivering back-office functions to Australian retailers including onboarding, transfers, billing and payment functions.”
Channa said that strategic partnerships can help prepare utilities for the future, but that knowing the industry and maintaining a scalable environment is key when it comes to future-proofing in an affordable way.
“We are talking about a highly regulated market governed by overarching bodies. It is important that we stay in step with state and national regulators as they propose future compliance protocols,” Channa said. “As they become clear and defined we need our software to comply. We are in a unique position to provide a nimble service, enabling us to plan our software development lifecycles so we can respond quickly when regulations change.”
“Having centralised accountability is a long-term commitment from Brave to our customers.”
