Kreiswerke Main-Kinzig GmbH expand their digitization strategy and engage SoftProject GmbH to implement and operate a new web portal for customers. In the future, the entire network connection process – from application to completion – will run completely digitally as Software as a Service (SaaS) on cloud-based applications. This avoids media disruptions, reduces costs, saves time and at the same time increases employee and customer satisfaction. The entire solution is operated in SoftProject GmbH’s ISO 27001-certified data center.
“Essential for our strategic decision favoring SoftProject was the high degree of standardization and automation of the solution as well as the possibility to efficiently and easily connect web portals to our existing IT systems,” says Sascha Krause, Department Manager Network Management & Services at Kreiswerke Main-Kinzig.
In their catchment area, they supply around 125,000 people with drinking water, around 100,000 people with electricity and have also been supplying their customers with gas since 2012. Through their subsidiaries, they also provide public transport, implement energy concepts for heating and lighting, promote e-mobility and invest in renewable energies such as photovoltaics and wind power.
The web portal is only the entry point for numerous automated follow-up processes
Both customers and Kreiswerke clerks will benefit from the new digital solution: Using the portal embedded on the utility’s website, prospective customers can apply for grid connection regardless of location, view the processing status at any time, and accept offers online. The information and data entered by the customer via the web portal is not transferred manually – for example by typing – into the systems by the clerks, but forms the basis for subsequent digital processing: Incoming applications can be processed automatically, quotations created and orders entered via the digital clerk portal included in the solution.
Existing systems and processes are important for digital transformation
The clerk portal maps the entire grid connection process: from commissioning to meter installation, commissioning to billing. “For this purpose, in addition to the portals as SaaS solutions, we use our X4 Suite on-premises digitization platform on the servers of the Kreiswerke and can thus integrate the existing IT systems into the processes,” says Volker Tiedemann, digitization expert for the energy industry at SoftProject GmbH. The X4 Suite has more than 200 adapters with which companies can also connect cloud solutions. Many of SoftProject GmbH’s more than 300 customers are already benefiting from this and tapping into new technologies such as the internet of things, big data or machine learning.