Big Data for the digital energy transition

How did you come up with the idea for Enersis and what has happened in the meantime?

Christina Würthner: Enersis Suisse was originally founded as a business and IT consulting company for the energy industry. From the consulting projects, founder Thomas Koller recognized the need for software that first takes care of data quality and data management as a basis.

This gave rise to the Enersis Big Data platform and subsequently various pilot applications based on it, as well as the Digital Energy Boardroom as a vision.

With this solution, Enersis was clearly too early to the market in 2010. In the course of increased competitive pressure for energy suppliers, the realization followed that the expansion of renewable energies and decentralization can only be managed through greater digitization.

This brought the breakthrough in the last twelve months. In the meantime, our customers include E.ON and Innogy in Germany.

What support have you received?

Würthner: The development of the software business, i.e. the actual start-up, took place with a focus since 2014 and included two rounds of financing with business angels and a VC investor. These investments laid the foundation for the establishment of the German subsidiary in the Berlin area.

Membership in the Startup Focus program began in 2015 with the Smart City Expo in Barcelona. A prerequisite for our participation at the SAP booth as a startup was acceptance into the program.

We are currently working intensively together in the go-to-market area, e.g. by participating in trade fairs and SAP events, but technical cooperation is also to be intensified further. The aim is for us to win projects via the SAP sales organization as well.

Why is Enersis the first Swiss OEM partner to rely on Hana?

Würthner: We were the first OEM partner in the utilities sector. From the IT/SAP consulting work, there were close ties to SAP in Switzerland. Our founder Thomas Koller, as a computer scientist and IT nerd, is always at the forefront of innovations and thus knew Hana directly when it was introduced.

He saw the potential of Big Data in the energy industry and decided to partner with us. To this day, we don't see any alternatives. In the meantime, the S/4 rollout has also started in the industry, so we can take advantage of benefits such as real-time connections.

Where do you see your unique selling proposition?

Würthner: Enersis has a clear focus on Visual Energy Analytics. We have our competencies in the areas of Energy Management, Big Data Management, Data Science and Analytics.

In addition, we have a service team that has already implemented various large projects for customers as consultants and project managers. For our customers in the segments of energy suppliers, cities and regions, and energy-intensive companies, we are the partner for software applications from a single source and deliver pilot projects in three months.

We are currently active in Europe with a focus on the DACH countries.

Where does the data that you prepare come from?

Würthner: Enersis processes, among other things, statistical, technical, financial and geographic data from a wide variety of data and system sources. These can be static, dynamic or even real-time.

Using special data models/algorithms, we gain new information and can also provide forecasts and or simulations.

What requirements do customers have to meet with regard to master data?

Würthner: The data must be in digital form or, if necessary, digitized, but it is not a prerequisite to use SAP in the company. Enersis can flexibly access different data formats and IT systems through its solution platform based on Hana, its own data model and a proprietary ETL/data import interface. This is what makes Enersis so special and fast in project implementation.

What implementation times should potential customers expect and what support do you offer in the pre-project phase?

Würthner: Enersis supports solution finding and implementation. The Digital Energy Boardroom solution platform includes a flexible, agile approach and enables realization times for pilots of two to three months.

Rollout and implementation then depend on the size of the customer as well as the additional functionalities then usually desired - but two to three years even for larger applications, as is usually the case with IT projects, is not the case with Enersis.

What are the next steps?

Würthner: Enersis aims to further expand its key accounts in Germany and Switzerland, further standardize and scale its current products, and further commercialize its solutions in the market.

In doing so, we naturally want to leverage SAP's presence and seek access to the large SAP customer base in selected segments via the internal organization. International projects in Europe are certainly a logical next step in the medium term.