A move to the cloud: Vattenfall Netherlands

This is how Vattenfall Netherlands takes the step to the cloud

Vattenfall Customer Solutions, the department that provides consumers and companies with innovative energy solutions and services, has hundreds of data products.  Since May last year, the energy company has been transferring all of these to the cloud. It is up to transition manager Arjan Otter to ensure this mega operation runs smoothly. What do data and global warming have to do with each other? Vattenfall has the ambition to become 100% data-driven. In their view, this is one of the best ways to achieve the group’s sustainable ambitions: fossil-free living within one generation.

Energy consumption in quarterly values

“Data does not only ensure that we, as an energy supplier, can make better decisions, it also helps our customers to use energy in a smarter way”, says transition manager Arjan Otter. He gives an example. “By accurately charting the energy consumption of households in quarter-hourly values, we can see exactly when peak consumption occurs. This data helps us to make targeted offers at other times of the day. For example, by making the charging of an electric car cheaper at that time. In this way, we reduce the load on the electricity grid and there is more room for sustainable energy.”

To the cloud

It is one of the many examples that shows how Vattenfall Netherlands uses data for targeted customer propositions. But the company wants more. Gather new insights, offer personalised products and market smart propositions. To achieve this, Vattenfall Netherlands is now making the switch to the cloud. It aims to reduce costs, among other things. “Many of the existing platforms our organisation uses require a lot of maintenance and high licensing costs. We are now consciously winding down that landscape”, says Otter.

Transferring data products one by one

“We have an existing data platform which is used 24/7 by a wide group of internal and external customers. That is why we opt for a very slow fade-out of the old platform and we are transferring the data products one by one. There are over 250 of them, so you can understand how extensive the project is. We started one year ago and are about halfway through”, says Otter. Privacy plays a vital role in this process. Vattenfall is building a new scalable platform that will already offer benefits even when the whole transition is not yet complete.