How can technology help businesses to overcome energy challenges post-Covid?
Over the past year, technology has helped businesses to overcome many of the challenges created by Covid-19. As we adjust to a ‘new normal’, having the right technology in place can help to keep your organisation’s energy strategy on track in a post-pandemic world.
Going forward, many businesses will be operating differently to how they were pre-pandemic. Perhaps your organisation was forced to make redundancies and is now working with more limited resources, or maybe you have shifted to a more flexible way of working. No matter how your business operations have changed, if you’re finding it more difficult to stay on top of your energy usage and achieve your energy goals then finding the right technology could help you to take back control.
It’s therefore worth exploring how energy technology can help you to:
Cut your energy costs
If your business is one of the many that are currently facing increased financial pressure as a result of the pandemic, investing in energy software could help you to significantly reduce your energy bills and give your bottom line a welcome boost. There are a range of solutions that can help you to cut costs in different areas of your energy strategy, so it’s worth investigating your options to find out which solution could bring the most benefit to your business.
If your organisation uses a significant amount of energy, then software that can help you to reduce your usage could enable you to cut your energy bills. At SystemsLink, we’ve found that businesses that use our Energy Manager software can make savings of up to 25% on their energy costs by monitoring their consumption and targeting areas of energy waste or where energy efficiency could be improved. Tech solutions can also be incredibly useful when it comes to invoice validation, as validating each and every energy bill you receive is typically complex and time-consuming for your team. Research has shown that on average, 3% of your annual utility spend is invoiced incorrectly, so having invoice validation technology on board could help you to identify overpayments and make further savings.
Monitor your energy use from afar
One of the biggest challenges energy managers have experienced since the pandemic is staying on top of their energy consumption when they’re not on site, as lockdowns forced many organisations to shift to remote working. If your organisation is among those set to continue with increased levels of home working, then you could find it much easier to stay in control of your energy remotely with energy management software in place.
Your energy management tech should provide you with an at-a-glance view of various aspects of your energy consumption, so you can monitor how, when and where your organisation is using energy, whether you’re on-site or off-site. More sophisticated solutions will include features such as trend analysis and comparison with previous performance, targets or benchmarks, so that you can monitor how different areas of your organisation and different sites are performing. If you’re set to work remotely for the long-term, or you’re managing energy across multiple sites, features like SystemsLink’s Smart Spaces tool can be invaluable. Smart Spaces enables you to set boundaries for acceptable usage and will automatically alert you to any unusual consumption, helping you to minimise energy waste.
Make sustainability progress
Research has shown that sustainable companies outperform their peers in the stock market[1], so if your organisation is focused on recovering from Covid-19, it’s important to ensure that you continue to make progress towards a more sustainable future. Even if your budget doesn’t currently allow for large-scale changes, simply monitoring your usage and encouraging behavioural change can help to reduce your organisation’s carbon footprint.
Energy management software can help you to do just that by giving you a clear picture of which sites and areas are using the most energy, which enables you to target these areas for improvement. SystemsLink’s software allows you to create custom reports and dashboards, which you can use to compare sites, sharing this information with each site to create competition and encourage efficiency behaviours. If your business is required to report under energy efficiency schemes like the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS), SystemsLink also offers compliance modules, which can simplify your reporting process and free up your team to focus on increasing your organisation’s sustainability.
Take control of your energy post-Covid
Whether you’re striving to reduce your energy costs, monitor your usage from afar or stay on track with sustainability improvements, SystemsLink’s software can help you to overcome a range of energy challenges. To find out more about how our software could help your business, call us on 01234 834650 or email sales@systems-link.com.
[1] https://www.capgemini.com/no-no/2020/10/the-positive-impact-of-sustainability-on-business-financial-performance-and-resiliency/
