From change to opportunity

From change to opportunity

How ENGIE B2B Netherlands best responds to a dynamic market

A rapidly changing market places high demands on IT, such as a flexible attitude and the ability to respond quickly to new opportunities. ENGIE Nederland successfully deploys Salesforce solutions for this purpose and works intensively with CaseNine's experts. In conversation with Leon ten Hove (ENGIE Netherlands) about expectations, opportunities and a solid cooperation.

Leon ten Hove works at ENGIE Netherlands as Manager Global Energy Management & Sales (GEMS IS NL). In this role, Leon's responsibilities include managing a team of 60 colleagues. The team's responsibilities include IT for the business market and energy management solutions. ENGIE's core activities include supplying energy products for the business market. This includes gas and electricity, but also related trade products, such as solar panels.

Change and opportunity

Leon has now been with the energy supplier for more than 14 years. The organization is currently facing interesting changes, driven in part by the current energy transition. "We are dealing with the substantial increase of renewables on the market. This is energy derived from natural sources, such as solar and wind. These renewables are having an impact on the market. For example, consider the

 strong increase in solar panels and wind turbines, as well as to the availability of heat pumps. Among other things, customers have the option of self-generation. These trends create variation, including in the area of predictability of energy consumption. It also causes us to look at buying and selling energy in a different way," Ten Hove said. Investments in renewable energy have been further accelerated by external factors, such as the war in Ukraine. Leon: "The increased gas prices, for example, underline the need to invest in renewable energy. This speed is also necessary. The goal of being CO2 neutral by 2045 shows considerable ambition."

"ENGIE Energie Nederland is facing interesting changes, driven in part by the energy transition."

The role of IT

The rapid changes in the market also place new demands on IT. Leon commented, "The challenge for IT is to respond quickly and flexibly to the changes. A telling example of this are flex products: products and services that are geared to the new demands of the market. Such products have quite an effect on our processes. We are now engaged in an Operational Excellence project to get all products properly in the systems. Another concrete example is the changed predictability in the field of purchasing and selling energy, or forecasting. The traditional forecasting models are no longer adequate. They are being replaced by new models, and IT plays an important role in this. Finally, we are also dealing with the digitization of the overall landscape."

The IT environment

Time for a look under the technical hood. ENGIE Nederland uses a combination of SAP and Salesforce. Leon says: "Basically, we use SAP in the back-end, for contract management and invoicing, among other things. We use Salesforce for the front-end, for internal and external CPQ processes, among other things. The chosen technology stack - Salesforce and SAP - is generally determined together with headquarters, but we can deviate from this at the local level. In practice, something like this will only happen if there are region-specific reasons for this." For the deployment of technology, ENGIE always looks critically at suitability. For example, the energy supplier uses Vlocity (Salesforce Industries) because the solution offers the right basic components. Especially in the area of quotations, the organization is making great progress. "Originally, we did not have a proper quotation module. The consequence was the relatively large amount of manual work, copying data from SAP into other environments, such as Microsoft Word. This takes time and is error-prone. Moreover, this lacked real-time insight for our account managers. That situation made it more difficult to deliver detailed quotations in a short period of time. Now we use the CPQ module for almost all products. The system is seamlessly linked to our back-end systems. This major challenge is currently about 90% complete. We are now working on the final part of the project, our 'specials,'" Ten Hove said.

"We use Salesforce for the front-end, for internal and external CPQ processes, among other things."

Collaborating with experts

For the Salesforce project, ENGIE is working intensively with CaseNine. Ten Hove commented, "For Salesforce Industries we use CaseNine's expertise. Especially in the project phase, the team stands out in terms of expertise, knowledge and skill. The cooperation is intensive: we hire experts, who thereby become an extension of our internal team. I like the fact that the resources match our questions and needs well. As an organization, we are used to doing a lot of things ourselves. That means that in practice we don't outsource many activities either." It is also important for ENGIE that the organization has access to the right advice, at the right time. Here, too, CaseNine plays an important role. Leon: "In practice, I notice that we receive substantive quality advice from CaseNine. I find transparency in the cooperation very important. This means clear advice, even if such advice may be 'less nice' for us as an organization to hear. It is important to my team that we have the opportunity to bring and keep the necessary knowledge in-house as well. We always look for a good balance between internal and external expertise. We work together with CaseNine's DevOps team. In this, we share responsibility. That works pleasantly, for example with training sessions, in which we exchange knowledge and really operate as a team."

"We always look for a good balance between internal and external expertise."

Demonstrable improvement

The solid cooperation between ENGIE and CaseNine gives the desired result. For ENGIE, it is now possible to create real-time quotes and share them with customers in a short period of time. The organization also now no longer needs to revisit previous quotations, so customers can now make quick decisions based on complete information. Leon: "The lead time for producing a quotation has been significantly reduced. Where previously this could take a week to ten days, our account managers now often manage to respond the same day."

Cooperation from solid foundations

ENGIE itself spends a lot of time setting up a clear analysis and setting up the scope of an IT project. Leon: "For our suppliers, I find it important that they can make a good translation to the technical aspect and the associated costs. I also expect them to be transparent about the things that are or are not possible. The match with the demand is really important. This also prevents disappointment afterwards, for example unforeseen costs in a follow-up phase. Herein also lies an important responsibility for us as clients. You have to know exactly what you want and, above all, describe what you expect. This prevents discussions and ensures a smooth process in execution." 

"For our suppliers, I find it important that they can make a good translation into the technical aspect and the associated costs. I also expect them to be transparent about the things that are or are not possible."

Follow-up steps

Leon's team is continuously working on further improvements and adjustments to the IT infrastructure. The rapidly changing market demands a flexible attitude and quick adjustments. "We are now focusing on our back-end. The SAP-based CRM system is now ten to fifteen years old and thus insufficiently flexible to anticipate all changes in time. We are ultimately working toward one base for maximum flexibility."

Leon ten Hove

Expert

Leon ten Hove works at ENGIE Netherlands as Manager Global Energy Management & Sales (GEMS IS NL).