Äänekosken Energia switched smoothly to EcoReaction

Replacing and upgrading critical information systems almost always causes major waves of change in companies. When Äänekosken Energia Oy, a company owned by the City of Äänekoski that is responsible for energy and water supply in the city and the surrounding area, renewed its customer information system in 2019, the waves of change also affected the consumption reporting service offered to energy customers.

When systems were purchased jointly with another energy company, Wapice’s EcoReaction was chosen as the consumption reporting service. The choice was easy, as EcoReaction was delivered in the same package with Empower’s (now Enerim Oy) back-office systems. EcoReaction has a ready and tested interface to the customer information system, so Äänekosken Energia did not have to worry about integrating the systems.

“The cooperation with Wapice has gone very well. The challenges we faced during the deployment phase were solved very quickly. Similarly, there is nothing to complain about the maintenance of the service,” says Emma Raitio, Customer Service Manager at Äänekosken Energia.

After the introduction of EcoReaction, Äänekosken Energia, just like all other electricity companies in Finland, upgraded its service to be Datahub-compatible. According to Emma Raitio, both the Datahub integration and the GSRN number change were deployed really smoothly and quickly. After these deployments, Äänekosken Energia will have time to consider what else could be introduced to energy reporting.

Of course, the new reporting system is more modern than our previous system. Customers can now quickly get the information they need from the online service.

Emma Raitio, Customer Service Manager, Äänekosken Energia Oy

According to Raitio, the level of automation of customer service functions is higher than in the old system. The features offered by the new system are also reflected in the reduced workload of customer service. In particular, Raitio highlights the ease of editing reports with EcoReaction.

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At Äänekosken Energia, EcoReaction operates in a multi-client environment developed for Wapice servers.

The multi-client environment we offer is particularly good for companies such as Äänekosken Energia. The shared environment is based on the economies of scale, allowing small and medium-sized companies to benefit from the economies of scale traditionally enjoyed by large energy companies.

Jukka Hämäläinen, Product Manager, Wapice Oy

Wapice delivers EcoReaction to Äänekosken Energia as a SaaS service. “The SaaS model is the right one for us. Outsourcing server maintenance has also suited us. This allows us to focus on the content of the service,” says Emma Raitio.