Putting Data to Work
Written by EnergyX Solutions Inc. ・Toronto, Ontario
Apart from reviewing data to provide meaningful insights, it is important to also understand how data can be put to work directly. One important example of how utilities can put data to work is through automated workflows. For example, bill data can be used to trigger customer emails, or process data, such as a timestamp, can be used to facilitate application adjudication automatically. Data-based actions can also be strung together in more complex sequences that take business rules into account. For example, an automated workflow could be enabled as follows:
When a customer from zip code 10101 (address data point) is eligible for an HVAC upgrade (based on a business rule), as identified through a virtual assessment (an array of customer building data points), send that customer an email with the limited time offer (based on past program participation data) for heat pump upgrades (based on building and consumption data).
This example uses data at multiple aggregation levels to determine and trigger actions based on certain business rules to streamline a workflow. When data is accessible, very little analysis is required to design such workflows, and most modern marketing CRM platforms can accommodate this level of automation - no additional IT resources are required!
Perhaps unsurprisingly, automated data workflows like the example above generate even more data in the form of program results. Results can be grouped, and different workflows can be compared against one another as program coordinators review reports on a weekly basis to see, for example, how many of these emails were sent, and how many were engaged with. The best performing groups give insight into which combinations of data provide optimal results.
In addition to building data-powered workflows, another great use of data is to simply create dashboards to understand the performance of platforms or programs against targets. These kinds of aggregate visualizations are a great way to share ‘management-level’ data with multiple stakeholders and glean quick, actionable insights with very little analysis required. Dashboards aggregate data, making data mountains seem much more manageable, while at the same time keeping programs on track and eliminating end-of-year surprises. Well constructed dashboards can even eliminate the need for repetitive manual reporting - putting your data to work and saving you time. Once again, putting your data to work produces even more data from which you can gather insights. For example, when the data shows a higher engagement with in-person audit requests over February and March than in January, it will be important to prep your audit teams and call centers with this information so they can be prepared to work with customers who may call in. And additionally, it provides a well-spring of information that can drive content for
This is part of EnergyX Solutions’ 3-part-series on Data:
Putting Data to Work (this article)
Get in touch to learn how we can help make your data work for you.