WIXLIB

CLOUD FIRSTDIGITALTRANSFORMATION

CASEHISTORY2

SORGENIA'S “ROADTO-1-MILLION” USESCLOUD TO DELIVERCLOSER CUSTOMERRELATIONS ANDINCREASINGLYPERSONALIZED OFFERS.An ambitious end-to-end digital transformation journey supportsflexible business growth during the transition to deregulation,improves communication and enables new services that attract andretain customers. This strategic collaboration with Microsoft,Accenture and Avanade is positioning Sorgenia as Italy’s first “FULLYON CLOUD” utility.3

DIGITAL ENABLES AQUALITY LEAP INCUSTOMER RELATIONS.CLOUD ENABLES AQUANTUM LEAP INGROWTH.A smiling Bebe Vio, Paralympic fencing champion, is a testament tothe new way of telling stories in Italy’s utility landscape. "Cleanenergy, fully digital, your next energy" is the promise that Sorgenia, aproducer and retailer of natural gas and electric power, makes to itsconstantly growing base of 300,000 customers.Ranked number one by customer headcount and energy sales inItaly’s non-public utility market – and among the top five utilities onthe market nationally – Sorgenia uses four plants for an installedcapacity of 3,170 MW. Adding its Tirreno Power subsidiary brings thisto 4,000 MW.Sorgenia has opted for a “smart” positioning as it enters the newderegulated landscape: it will manage and serve domestic clientsthrough digital channels. “No telephone vendors for our customerrelations,” explains Simone Lo Nostro, Sorgenia’s Market Director andICT. “For us, the future of sales is no longer ‘physical’. It’s digital. Bydeploying the right assets, we can simplify the life of consumers to theextent that they will choose to be our customers. That’s a goodfoundation on which to build greater satisfaction, awareness andloyalty.”SORGENIA IS THE UTILITY WITH THEHIGHEST RATE OF CUSTOMER ACQUISITIONTHROUGH DIGITAL CHANNELS IN ITALY(100, 000).To optimize its strategic positioning and its costs, Sorgeniaembarked on a complex digital transformation project that wouldput in place the backbone of innovative technological solutions thecompany wanted. The project centered on the cloud computing ofMicrosoft, the strategy and technology consulting of Accentureand the collaboration of Avanade, a joint venture betweenAccenture and Microsoft. The goal was to design and develop the“JOURNEY TO CLOUD”.4

Migration to the Cloud necessitated a deep rethink of everything thatwas mission-critical for Sorgenia: an overhaul of CRM and ERP forcustomer acquisition and management, digital channel managementand overall process efficiency; the opening of a Data Hub to analyzeand manage Big Data; the adoption of collaborative workflows andnew communication solutions to enhance productivity.To prepare for the new market scenario, the company streamlined itsinformation systems and injected innovation across the entireorganization as part of the Digital Transformation project thatlaunched in June 2017. The most impressive outcome is that todaySorgenia is one of the nation’s first Cloud-only utilities."WE LOOKED TO CLOUD COMPUTING TO HELP ACHIEVEA KEY BUSINESS GOAL: GROW FLEXIBLY IN STEP WITHINCOMING REGULATORY CHANGES IN THE UTILITYMARKET,"says Simone Lo Nostro, in an overt reference to the sensitive changesoutlined in Italy’s Competition Law (No. 124/2017) which will begin totake effect in the coming months in the run up to July 1, 2020, whenthe current consumer protections in the gas and electricity markets willbe abolished.Most of the 35 million domestic electricity meters installed in Italytoday for a population of 60 million inhabitants fall within the "greaterprotection market" where contract rates and conditions are regulatedby the Authority for Energy. The abolition of the protection afforded bythe regulated market will require approximately 25 million meteredconsumers to select an alternative electricity provider in ways thathave not yet been defined. This transition window offers excitingopportunities for Sorgenia to come into contact with a massive numberof prospects – who may well become customers.5

Sorgenia needs scalable technological tools to rapidly adaptto new market realities and be ready to better satisfycustomers.THE CLOUD IS THE BESTSOLUTION THAT ENABLESUS TO GROW FLEXIBLYAND SEAMLESSLYMANAGE THE GRADUALACQUISITION OF A LARGENUMBER OF CLIENTS.IN A CONTEXT WHERETHE ABOLITION OFCURRENT CONSUMERPROTECTIONS AND THEEXPANSION OF OURCUSTOMER BASE WILLNOT REQUIRE ANY NEWIMPLEMENTATIONS.Independently of the future deregulated marketscenario, Sorgenia has ambitious plans to grow: thegoal is to jump from 300,000 customers today toONE MILLION WITHIN FIVE YEARS .6

SIMONE LO NOSTRO,Market Director and ICT, Sorgenia.7

THE MICROSOFTSOLUTIONS THAT WEADOPTED, THANKS TO OURCOLLABORATION WITHACCENTURE AND AVANADE,REINFORCE CUSTOMERMANAGEMENT AT SORGENIAWhen selecting the players who would lead a strategic migration tothe Cloud, Sorgenia chose Microsoft, Accenture and Avanade basedon their track record. “Competence and reliability differentiate thesethree players in projects of complex digital transformations. Microsoftsolutions and platforms have revolutionized information technology.Accenture and Avanade go the extra mile to ensure a strategic projectis successful,” says Simone Lo Nostro. Continuity was also important.Sorgenia’s information solutions are based on Microsoft Dynamics andtheir legacy system was Microsoft based. The large scaleinteroperability provided by Microsoft platforms facilitated interactionswith third-party solutions and ensured compatibility with industrystandards.“NO COMPLEX PROJECT COMES WITHOUT CRITICAL PHASESBUT IN OUR CASE THE PROFESSIONALS AT MICROSOFT,ACCENTURE AND AVANADE MANAGED THEM RAPIDLY ANDEXCEEDED OUR EXPECTATIONS. WITH PARTNERS OF THEIRCALIBER ON BOARD, DOUBTS NEVER CROSS YOUR MIND,”ADDS SIMONE LO NOSTRO.The cloud migration project impacted all aspects of Sorgenia’s corebusiness. The Microsoft Dynamics 365 Cloud platform not onlyhelped the utility optimize the acquisition of new customers withoutcompromising existing customer relationships, but also enabledminor customizations required by the utility market, such as enablingCRM to dialog with the credit-check systems to verify a newcustomer's credit rating.8

Dynamics 365 running in synergy with Dynamics AX on Azure hasmade processes more efficient. Both tools are deeply integrated withSorgenia’s other business solutions and deliver efficiencies bysimplifying process automation. System integration gives Sorgeniaextra synergy across diverse areas and generates insights that feed intoeveryday business activities. Microsoft Dynamics AX resolves twomajor needs for Sorgenia: it gives the utility the scalability it needs toaddress surges in energy demand and allows it to rapidly build robustdesign environments for testing and developing pilots which arefundamental for generating a competitive advantage in the utilitiesindustry.“IN OUR MARKET, BEING THE FIRST WITH NEW PROJECT IDEASIS MAKE OR BREAK. ENERGY IS A PURE COMMODITY: IF WHATWE OFFER CANNOT DISTINGUISH US PARTICULARLY, HOW WEDO IT CERTAINLY CAN. THE FIRST TO LAUNCH AN INNOVATIVESERVICE IS PRACTICALLY GUARANTEED A COMPETITIVE EDGE,"EXPLAINS SIMONE LO NOSTRO.9

FASTER OPERATING TIMES,NEW CUSTOMER DATAANALYSES AND BRINGINGNEW SOLUTIONS FASTERTO MARKET. SORGENIA’SBUSINESS KEEPS EVOLVINGTO CAPTURE NEW MARKETOPPORTUNITIESSpeed, precision, punctuality, excellent customer experience, costsavings: in the Utility sector, these are increasingly the benchmarkswhich savvy consumers – especially the younger demographic – useto select a provider. For Sorgenia, Cloud operations have enabledbetter business management. The results are impressive: executiontime has been reduced by 15-20% for every 100 operations.“THIS KPI IS SET TO IMPROVE AS WE CONTINUE TO IMPROVEAND GENERATE MORE COST SAVINGS”, SAYS SIMONE LONOSTRO.When Sorgenia decided to jump from on-premises to Cloud, thecompany estimated it would amortize the investment in 3-4 years onthe back of new customer acquisitions. Operations would alsobenefit: as automation accelerates back office activities, personnelcan be deployed to higher value-added activities and bettercustomer care. Billing cycle performances have also improved.10

In the ultra-competitive Utility market, EBITDA marginscount less than elsewhere. "To beat the competition, you have to workon cost efficiency. In our case, knowledgeable IT choices are helpingsignificantly. We also drive growth by leveraging the moment weacquire a new customer: it is imperative that we respond rapidly whenSales & Marketing need new sites or apps,” explains Simone LoNostro.There was another reason why Sorgenia chose Microsoft cloudsolutions to simplify its IT infrastructure and ensure robust security.Adopting the Office 365 cloud productivity platform enabled theutility to embrace smart working. Business applications and userfriendly communication tools allow employees to share informationand conduct activities anywhere and anytime. Today, approximately300 Sorgenia employees work one day per week from home. Despitethe change in mindset required, smart working has already improvedcollaboration levels, business productivity and employee work-lifebalance.“OUR PEOPLE ARE AN IMPORTANT FACTOR INSORGENIA’S GROWTH. THEY HAVE THE RIGHTTECHNOLOGIES AND SECURE SOLUTIONS AND AREMOTIVATED TO DRIVE OUR BUSINESS TO NEW HEIGHTS,”ADDS SIMONE LO NOSTRO.11

THE NEW TECHNOLOGIESWE ADOPTED AREPERFECTLY ALIGNED WITHOUR AMBITIONS AND ARETHE RIGHT CHOICE FORSORGENIA AS THEY HELPUS RAPIDLY BUILDINNOVATIVE SOLUTIONSTHAT WE CAN MANAGEEFFICIENTLY.SIMONE LO NOSTRO,Market Director and ICT Sorgenia.12

WE CAN ACHIEVE OUR GOALTO GUARANTEE CUSTOMERSATISFACTION AND QUALITYONLY IF WE OBTAIN COSTSAVINGS AND FASTEROPERATIONS. TODAY, WE ARELEAN AND AGILE: WE CANCOMPLETE PROCESSES ENDTO-END IN MINUTES.SIMONE LO NOSTRO,Market Director and ICT Sorgenia.13

A DATA HUB WITHINCREASINGLYPERSONALIEDOFFERSA cornerstone in Sorgenia’s digital transformation project is thecreation of a Data Hub on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.Its computational and analytical capacity delivers increasinglypersonalized communications and services. This solution has enabledSorgenia to lay the groundwork for efficiently managing Big Data incompliance with the higher standard of security and privacyguaranteed by the Microsoft cloud in the new GDPR. The project iscurrently ongoing and partial releases will go live over the comingmonths.“TODAY, WE HAVE PERSONAL DATA, LOGISTICSAND MONTHLY CONSUMPTION FOR EACH CUSTOMER.TOMORROW, OUR NEW DATA HUB WILL ENABLE US TO OBTAINDEEPER CUSTOMER INSIGHTS AND ADD PERSONALIZED ENERGYOPTIMIZATION OFFERS TO BILLS. WE WILL LEVERAGE ARTIFICIALINTELLIGENCE TO STUDY MADE-FOR-ME PRODUCTS AND IDENTIFYTHE COMMUNICATION LANGUAGE AND CHANNEL MOSTAPPEALING TO EACH CUSTOMER. SORGENIA’S DISTINGUISHINGFACTOR WILL BE THE WAY IN WHICH IT INTRODUCES ITSELF ANDDIALOGUES WITH PEOPLE,” CONCLUDES SIMONE LO NOSTRO.14

THE POWER OF THREEAccenture, Avanade and Microsoft help companies to create new solutions fortransforming their business and customer experience. The combined strength ofour alliance can help you become more agile, innovative, competitive and ready forlong term success.15