New Marketer Goes Live with nGenue
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again … My favorite topic to write about is a new nGenue customer Go Live! Go Live you say? Coming off a warmer than expected winter, with record low natural gas prices and amid Covid-19, natural gas businesses are actually overhauling their operations and installing new software systems!? Yes, indeed. In fact, many businesses have been busy in 2020 cutting their costs, increasing their productivity and improving operational efficiency as not only a recovery strategy, but also a growth strategy. Our latest Go Live is an example of this; an established natural gas marketer who viewed 2020 as a “no time like the present” opportunity to make changes.
This marketer has a mix of residential and commercial customers, a leadership team with diverse backgrounds, a commitment to delivering outstanding customer experience and big growth plans for 2021. Prior to engaging nGenue, the team was utilizing a homegrown solution that was aptly described as a “spreadsheet on steroids”. Unfortunately, steroid use devolved day-to-day operations to a dark and lonely place; one where system limitations were impeding their ability to grow, scale, and diversify their product offerings. While their homegrown system did the basics, many manual processes had been boot-strapped around it to overcome shortcomings. A hard look at their system yielded the following assessment:
- To grow, operational software must be able to grow with you.
- Spreadsheet-based processes equate to lower productivity and higher business cost.
- Boot-strapped operations result in excessive cross-referencing, data reconciliation and human error.
- Poor data integrity yields inaccurate financials, profit loss, frustrated employees, and unwanted attrition.
Motivated to change, this experienced marketer discovered nGenue’s all-in-one solution had everything they needed, at a price that would actually lower their existing system operating cost, via an affordable monthly licensing fee aligned with the seasonality of their natural gas revenue stream.
Data conversion and implementation was straightforward. After a review of their existing system and historical data, our team got to work converting historical data and configuring (not coding) the nGenue solution according to how they could be most productive. Putting to work LDC EDI automation, wholesale supply functionality, and a pricing engine tailored to their specific needs took about two months in the time of the Coronavirus – a 100% remotely managed implementation. This marketer now has a solution that handles every aspect of their business, with all their data neatly housed in a central data repository, simultaneously accessible by all operations staff members. Additionally, the operational staff now can work remotely, with zero dependance on spreadsheets.
Many we speak with believe an end-to-end operational solution to service a natural gas book either does not exist or, if it does, it will be cost prohibitive, but this marketer will attest that neither of these opinions are true. As this new nGenue customer said to me, “We are blown away by how nGenue automation will replace so much of what we used to have to manage ourselves. This has enabled us to expand our pricing capabilities and speed. Our data has been so bad the last few years, we are excited to have clean, accurate data together in one place. nGenue will be a key enabler of our expansion into new markets without having to increase headcount.”
Whether large or small, LDCs, Marketers and Utilities face increasing competitive and compliance pressures, requiring increased operational efficiency, data integrity and process improvement. Their operational systems must support this, but most don’t. Engage us and we’ll show you how to make an affordable breakthrough. It’s what we do for natural gas companies, and we are experts in our field. nGenue enables competitive advantage.
– Ken
