The company & Project Background
Xoserve is the custodian of Gas Usage Data in the UK. They pro vide a comprehensive range of critically important services to gas suppliers, shippers and transporters that enable the reliable and efficient operation of the retail gas market. Xoserve handled approximately 3.6 million consumer energy provider changes, otherwise known as switches, and 71 million meter reads in the 2016/17 financial year.
Xoserve provides critical information to gas transportation companies from a central data register, along with information about gas flows across the entire gas transportation network. The central register and related information flows require complex, integrated IT systems and highly skilled and knowledgeable people to support the reliable, efficient delivery of these key services.
Xoserve was required to address a new mandate set by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), to improve the end user switching process for gas and electricity. This mandate ensured that Xoserve meet their objective ‘for being recognized as one of the most customer centric organizations in the energy sector.’ The company sought an agile partner with strong technical knowledge of SAP and business process to enable real-time data access for consumers via Price Comparison Websites (PCWs). The main objectives were to allow consumers to securely and quickly access their customer data to facilitate error-free energy provider switching. Xoserve needed the project to be completed in a six-month window due to regulatory compliance requirements
Why Syniti was Selected
The Syniti Digital Transformation Practice (DTP) has strong links with SAP at the product roadmap and architecture levels. Syniti’s software demonstrated how SAP API Management and the SAP Cloud Platform should be applied to the Xoserve business challenge, using a Design Thinking and agile development approach for faster time to benefit. Based on their strong partnership with SAP, Syniti was able to quickly demonstrate their commitment as a long-term trusted advisor, delivering independent and pragmatic advice on Xoserve’s technology investments.
This solution provides us with a platform to open up our data to the innovation of ‘the crowd’ to drive energy agility and efficiency.”
Main Objectives
- Establish a transformative customer experience through the provision of critical, accurate consumer gas metered data
- Utilize accurate real-time data through integration of Xoserve IT systems, gas suppliers and PCWs to facilitate faster switching process for consumers
- Facilitate full compliance based on new government regulations for the energy provider switching process as mandated by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
- Collaborate with a strong services partner to enable Xoserve to securely provision customer data to multiple consumer
Implementation highlights
- Design and deployment of the SAP API Management Platform and SAP Fiori Apps, Syniti effectively enables Xoserve to provide significantly more accurate and real-time data to the customers compared to the standard batch file transfer interface mechanisms previously being used.
- SAP Smart Data Integration (SDI), provides Xoserve with the ability to access and provision both SAP and non-SAP data and replicate the data in batch and real-time, which enables secure data replication between the on-premise SAP Business Warehouse and cloud SAP HANA databases. This ensures the correct data is presented to consumers.
- The speed of the HANA database underpins the whole solution, providing access to
authorized data quickly and securely. The audit and diagnostic requirements are met by
security and logging at both the HANA database and API layer, which ensures that data is
protected and on relevant customers.
Results
Through the efforts of Syniti, the SAP system investment now enhances Xoserve’s end-user customer experience by significantly reducing the overall time involved in the energy switching process, providing real-time metered data to the PCWs. Ultimately, the reduction in data errors and the delivery of real-time data encourages future re-use. This sets the benchmark for customer service levels for interaction with other areas of energy industry.
Demonstrated results include:
- The administration overhead generated by the number of switches handled by Xoserve has been greatly reduced, enabling Xoserve to free up and focus funds and resources on other business challenges
- The combined solution provides a new business model, positioning Xoserve as a leader and innovator in the UK Energy Supply industry
- Full compliance with government regulations — a key requirement for operating in the UK Energy Supply industry
- Approach is scalable in terms of breadth of service and depth of usage for the PCWs, which supports Xoserve’s strategy to expand into electricity offerings
Option to monetize the consumption of customer data in the future available to relevant consumers