How SSE Energy Services’ pioneering adoption of automation is underpinning an industry-leading transformation that is setting the pace of change in the energy sector
How SSE Energy Services’ pioneering adoption of automation is underpinning an industry-leading transformation that is setting the pace of change in the energy sector
2
3
C
hief Information Officer Philip
bring new products to market faster, with-
Clayson is putting digital agil-
out sacrificing quality.
ity at the heart of the compa-
With customers’ digital engagement
ny’s strategic transformation plans for the
increasing and the introduction of smart
future, following the recent acquisition of
metering within homes, SSE Energy
SSE Energy Services by OVO Energy.
Services knew it had to focus on digital
OVO Energy was founded in 2009
agility and innovative product offerings.
and redesigned the energy experience
In order to accelerate this direction,
to be fair, effortless, green and simple
SSE Energy Services appointed Philip
for all customers. Following the acquisi-
Clayson as CIO in August 2019, bringing
tion of SSE Energy Services, today OVO
experience of driving fast-paced digital
Energy and its Retail partners serve
transformation for companies including
nearly 5 million customers, all striving to
News Corporation, BT and TalkTalk.
deliver more affordable clean energy for everyone.
Clayson said: “With increasing numbers of new digital enabled products to deliver to market, at an accelerated
Introduction
pace, we needed to leverage technol-
SSE Energy Services has been supply-
ogy and expertise to help us drive up our
ing power to millions of UK homes for decades. The technology infrastructure within the company had been built and maintained with dependability and assurance at its core. Clayson is now empowering the 1,000 strong IT team to adopt a learn-fast, failfast culture and mindset, while at the same time maintaining the performance and quality of their outputs. Key to achieving this has been extending the company’s partnership with Expleo. Through the adoption of Expleo’ automated testing solutions, SSE Energy Services can now 4
boost agility, shortening product and competitive advantage and increase our
system releases from several weeks
agility.�
to just a couple of days, by providing a
SSE Energy Services formed a strategic
pioneering approach to automation.
partnership with Expleo, a leading technology and engineering consultancy. As
Automation first
the two companies previously worked
Expleo was in an excellent position to
closely together, SSE Energy Services
advise the company on how to best
had trust in Expleo’s expertise to help
move to a framework that automated
with a key part of the programme. This
the entire testing lifecycle for all of its
would help SSE Energy Services main-
complex and integrated retail systems.
tain performance and quality, but crucially
Julie Heneghan, Client Director at 5
Expleo, said: “Many companies use auto-
Energy Services entrusting Expleo to
mation on low-risk, fringe applications
deliver best-in-class testing and assur-
and as a result deliver limited value to
ance that would reduce the cost and
their organisation. However, our in-depth
frequency of system defects.
understanding of SSE Energy Services’
Expleo helps SSE Energy Services
systems meant it was clear to us that an
to enable mass testing of the software
automation-first approach would deliver
deployed to customers for smart meter-
the biggest possible impact in terms of
ing. This includes testing the smart meter
value.”
itself before it’s installed into customers’
To help achieve the transformation,
homes, to testing the app on the in-home
the relationship moved from a standard
display which helps customers see how
services delivery model, to a strategic
much energy they are using.
and innovation-led partnership, with SSE 6
“Now, instead of a traditional services
supplier model, SSE Energy Services
with dedicated funds to formalise the
works in partnership with us to map out
creation of new ideas and concepts and
the future IT change roadmap safely in
ultimately put them into practice.
the knowledge that Expleo automatically
Combining the best of technology and
delivers the quality assurance they need
engineering, Expleo is a digital partner
without any effort on their part.� says
for the future for energy and electric
Heneghan.
vehicle companies. As energy and mobility markets converge, Expleo provides
Innovation to the fore
clients with end-to-end expertise in the
To best deliver the benefits of automation
design, development and implemen-
and other improvement initiatives in the
tation of a seamless customer experi-
future, SSE Energy Services and Expleo
ence. Its track record of delivery in smart
have created a joint innovation board
energy billing solutions, battery charging 7
technology, electric vehicles and the
quickly, but we can’t sacrifice quality.
wider smart grid puts it in a unique posi-
There are critical journeys where custom-
tion to help its clients innovate for the
ers rely on us to deliver every single day.
future.
Our automation-first approach and part-
“Innovation is at the heart of what we do at Expleo,” says Stephen
nership with Expleo has helped us to deliver quality to our customers.”
Magennis, Managing Director of Expleo’ s Technology business in the UK. “But
Exceeding expectations
for us, it’s about making incremental
In applying the new automation tooling,
changes, on a continuous basis, to drive
SSE Energy Services is already seeing
bigger overall gain. This also allows us
compounded benefits. These include
to monitor and measure each innovation
smoke-testing new environments in near-
and work out what it’s actually achieved
real-time and a reduction in manual test
for our client’s business, so we can take
effort of up to 65 per cent. “This enables
a swift decision on whether to keep it
the SSE Energy Services technology
or move onto something else that could
team previously involved in this area to
potentially have even greater impact.”
have more time to focus on new initia-
SSE Energy Services has continu-
tives for the company to accelerate the
ous insight into the progress of testing and innovation through Expleo’s Quality
pace of change”, says Clayson. The direct result for SSE Energy
Intelligence Platform (QIP), part of its inno-
Services is that new customer offerings
vative AI and analytics offering. It moni-
can be pushed through faster – helping
tors execution and results, demonstrat-
it set the pace in the market. In fact, the
ing release on release productivity and
speed of output is now 2-3 days, rather
efficiency gains by aggregating the data
than 2-3 weeks or months with an overall
into a dashboard, giving a real-time and
cost saving of 60 per cent.
predictive view of progress, quality and velocity. Tom Little, SSE Energy Services IT
Technology + people + culture = pace
Delivery Manager, who played a leading
Having the right technological tools is
role in the technical transformation, says:
a vital part of any digital transformation.
‘’We want to get our solutions to market
But in order for the investment to be a
8
9
success, there needed to be an internal
providing Scrum Master training to key
shift within SSE Energy Services toward a
SSE Energy Services team members,
highly engaged, learn-fast fail-fast culture
including project managers and product
and mindset.
owners.
To this end, SSE Energy Services invested in upskilling staff, including introducing formal accreditation in
Industry leading digital transformation for growth
delivery management techniques such
With the acceleration of digital and agility
as Agile as well as technological disci-
at SSE Energy Services, it is now much
plines to increase agility from the bottom
more nimble when it comes to dealing
up. Expleo aided this programme by
with change. This proved crucial with the
10
unexpected arrival of Covid-19. The fact
Energy Services to swiftly respond to
that both internal and external partner
change. The team and our partners
teams were able to quickly pivot to oper-
including Expleo should be proud of
ating virtually, with no impact on services,
being part of what must be the biggest
demonstrates that its transformational
digital transformation the sector has seen
journey has brought additional benefit to
due to Covid-19.” says Clayson.
SSE Energy Services and ultimately its customers. “Our digital transformation means
The company’s successful digital transformation, underpinned by its pioneering adoption of automation in partnership
that IT is now an engine for growth and
with Expleo, means that it is continuing to
competitive advantage. It enables SSE
set the pace of change in the industry. 11