How We Helped Energiebank in the Arnhem Region Scale Up Using Salesforce
The Arnhem Region Energy Bank Foundation helps households reduce their energy consumption and, as a result, their energy costs. In the Netherlands, approximately 750,000 households lack the financial means to pay their energy bills. Of those, about 10,000 live in the Arnhem region. The Energy Bank’s mission is to ensure that energy remains accessible to everyone. It does this by raising awareness and providing advice on energy conservation. Energy coaches from the Energy Bank help people navigate a process in which they are encouraged and supported through this transition.
A Challenge for the Arnhem Region Energy Bank.
Commissioned by the City of Arnhem, the goal of Energiebank Arnhem Region is to help 2,500 households reduce their energy bills over the next three years. Until 2021, this was done for approximately 75 households per year. This target has been adjusted to 300 households per year for 2021–2022, and the number is expected to increase even further in subsequent years.
With the tools that were previously available, this was an unachievable goal for the coordinators and energy coaches. This was primarily due to the inefficient process surrounding the registration of a new program. Until recently, household registrations were received by phone or email and were manually entered into Salesforce. This was error-prone and also very labor-intensive. Furthermore, it was impossible for coordinators to monitor progress between the time of registration and the completion of a program. This makes mid-program guidance difficult, if not virtually impossible.
Solutions.
Together with BRITE, we developed a Salesforce-based solution that supports the processes of Energiebank Arnhem Region. The registration process now takes place via a form on the website, with all the information entered being sent directly to Salesforce. This ensures that coordinators immediately have the correct information at their disposal and can contact the household to request additional information when necessary. In addition, each household can be linked to a coach within the system. Coordinators have insight into the status of each household, the number of visits, the use of energy-saving products, communication with the household, and the agreements made to save energy.
In addition, Salesforce Community Cloud was chosen as the platform for the energy coaches. Among other things, coaches can use it to record visit times and meter readings, upload meeting notes, order energy-saving products, and log their hours.
The Results:
- Thanks to the one-to-one link between the website and Salesforce, fewer errors occur during data collection
- More relevant data is being collected. This includes, for example, data on commonly used energy-inefficient appliances. In the long run, once enough data has been collected, new initiatives can be developed based on this information.
- The process is much more efficient now that the energy coaches can enter more data through their own platform. This enables scalability, allowing us to support more households while ensuring the quality of the programs.
- Finally, the management team at Energiebank Arnhem Region can now create dashboards that provide insight into the number of applications, the processes involved, and their status, as well as the key performance indicators that need to be monitored.