Billy
All UK energy suppliers must aim to install smart meters in all homes by 2020. This government initiative and other pressures are conflicting energy suppliers business models. How will they profit from reducing the energy used by their customers? Billy gives customers control by facilitating simple installation and is a touch point for a new market place for energy providers to sell energy efficient smart home appliances.
̌
Working with a leading UK energy supplier we mapped the currently friction-full process of installing smart meters. We re-built the journey by leveraging technology and the end customer, shifting 95% of the process into the customer’s hands.
Customers we spoke to preferred to take greater responsibility rather than liaise with companies and arrange multiple site visits. They were also believed they would get more from their products if they better understood how they worked.
Billy’s true value comes in the long term, where knowledge of a customer’s energy use allows Billy to identify the products that will reduce energy consumption.
FEATURES
HOME INFORMATION CAPTURE
Billy customers initiate the installation process by following a few easy-to-understand steps. Technical details are registered by a computer vision engine. The experience builds momentum and commitment from the customer before the instillation process starts.
AUGMENTED GUIDANCE
After a short visit from an engineer, customers are sent their smart meters for installation. Voice based instruction and augmented reality help the customer through critical steps and optimises the device’s connectivity.
CONNECTING WTIH THE UNCONNECTED
After devices are installed, customers can manage their energy bills through the app. Billy evaluates the energy bills to estimate the relative costs each appliance in the home to suggest alternatives.
By reducing the creeping costs of infrastructure transformation and creating a smart marketplace for eco-appliances, Billy shifts the interests of stakeholders across the ecosystem to support society and the customer’s desire to reduce home energy use.
HACKERGAMES
Billy was the outcome of 10 sprint teams running during EY’s 2016 Hackergames. The programme saw 1500 EY employees share their clients’ future challenges. After interviews, workshops and analysis, I was part of the team at Hackmasters distilling 40 briefs. Each brief was tackled by EY staff teams during a series of 1 day sprints where each idea was presented until the 10 winning ideas were chosen. The programme’s final stage was a 5 day sprint with 40 developers, data scientists, designers and strategists elevating and prototyping the solutions.
Film by Robert Battersby
I was responsible for designing and implementing the process as well as leading the team developing Billy.
Billy was presented at EY’s London head quarters in 2016 and further explored and shared by EY’s strategic consulting teams.
