CRM For Energy Communities

What are energy communities?

They are organisational structures through which members of a local community come together. Their aim is to share #renewable energy in a collaborative way, which leads to significant savings. Moreover, their basis is voluntary and they are constituted as legal entities. At the end of the day, they are individuals to form a collective and participatory mode of #self-consumption. Community participants can install any renewable energy source on their properties, such as solar panels. The electricity generated is distributed among the members in an organised manner. In this way, everyone enjoys the benefits of local production and reduces dependence on external sources. When making arrangements, it is important that we have the right technological solutions in place. It is essential to monitor energy production to ensure the highest possible efficiency, for example. To achieve this, we need to opt for intelligent systems, which improve the distribution of energy, optimising storage or coordinating community members.

‍Advantages of a CRM for an energy community

The management of energy communities is simplified through a CRM due to its functionalities.

It is of great help, as it brings numerous advantages. They will be able to manage the

energy generation with precision, adjusting it to your requirements.

‍Easy community management

This is an essential advantage in simplifying and improving member management. The programme has a unique database in which the system information is stored. Administrators can access it at any time, while preventing the dispersal of documents, which reduces the risk of making errors or omissions that would be detrimental to the community. In addition, both individual and collective needs are easily addressed and understood.

‍User-friendly

The programme is easy to use due to its accessibility, intuitive interface and the simplicity with which operations are executed. During learning, the curve is not very steep. In a short time we can become familiar with its functions and basic operations, which is possible thanks to an intuitive design and clear navigation between the different options.

‍Coordination of members

Coordination of members has to be adequate to ensure energy efficiency, and the organisation of the information provided by this programme makes it easy to understand each person's energy preferences or level of participation. The data is easily shared and helps managers to better understand the current situation.

‍Centralisation of documents

This is the most significant advantage provided by a #CRM, as it is able to store, manage and provide access to all the community's documents. These are no longer scattered across numerous devices or in physical format, which avoids loss, duplication or the need to store them in a room.

On the contrary, they are centralised in a single database, where they are organised according to the criteria of the administrators. For example, contracts are located in one folder, user manuals, project reports or energy policies in another. When we need to access them, it will only take a few seconds.

‍Task automation

Many document management and other processes are automated, especially repetitive or routine tasks. This allows administrators to focus on the more complex activities that are of greater value to the community. We gain consistency and accuracy. Thus, we minimise the risk of human error.

‍Risks of performing CRM functions by hand.

Carrying out tasks by hand is not an option that guarantees the efficiency we are looking for, as it will lead us to make mistakes, spend too much time on tasks or get confused. That is why it is important to rely on what automation can bring.

‍Loss of time and cost-effectiveness

This is a consequence of not #automating repetitive tasks, which have to be done by hand. For example, we would have to collect information from community members and update it from time to time. This means asking questions and collecting data little by little. Also, cost-effectiveness is reduced by under-utilisation of available resources. After all, we cannot optimise their management, because we are forced to attend to other, less valuable obligations.

‍Increase in errors

The increase in errors is another risk that comes from work done by hand. If we were to pass a huge amount of data between documents, we would end up giving rise to problems.

Figures, names or omissions are likely to be confused. This will lead to revisions having to be made, which increases the workload and leads to wasted time.

‍Less control

The control available to us will be much less, as we will not be able to see the variety of data easily. We have no simple way to monitor generation or interactions between community members. Similarly, it will be difficult to understand the needs of individuals. As a result, we will have misunderstandings and poor management.

‍Less agile management

Agility is a decisive factor in management tasks, especially when a problem arises. If it is not solved in a short time, it is likely to become more serious and more difficult to reverse. Without sufficient information, we will not be able to find solutions quickly enough.

As we can see, a CRM becomes an indispensable part of the management of an energy community. With its help, tasks become more agile, we have abundant information and exhaustive supervision to analyse and manage it. All of this means that we will be able to make the most of the energy generated.