INDUSTRY NEWS: The Importance of A Track Record

The energy management industry is growing fast. Many providers have recently appeared, offering energy management solutions that promise the benefits of digital technologies and highlight many capabilities including artificial intelligence, IoT and orchestration.

When evaluating these platforms and proposals, it is important to consider the track records of partners and their technology platforms. AZZO is proud to have built our EnergyX solution on proven & tested platforms such as Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure and Microsoft’s Azure. We’ve deployed hundreds of EcoStruxure-based systems over the past 16 years. With this depth of experience in energy and power management, we know that projects which seem simple on the surface can quickly grow in complexity and expense.

Here are some suggestions for confirming the competencies and experience of partners and platforms:

• Ask for reference projects - a qualified partner should be able to produce several successful projects that are related to yours

• Ask about bench strength - how many experts and years of experience does a provider have in house?

• investigate the technology platforms - there are a number of areas to explore here:

  • How mature are the technologies being deployed? is there a good balance of robust, stable core platforms combined with some recent, future-oriented applications? It is risky to launch into a large project with unproven core platforms.

  • Can you try out a demo of the real platform(s)? A working demo shows that the partner is confident that the user experience will not be changing frequently. This is a sign of confidence in the platform and a signal that the solution will not be built purely as a one-off for your project. While is always some degree of customization, your project should not be a science experiment.

  • Ask about upgrade processes. AZZO has a well-defined approach to upgrades, including device firmware, to ensure you get the latest features and security updates without destabilizing your system. If a partner can’t articulate a formal upgrade process, it may be a sign of immaturity.

  • Is the documentation complete? Platforms with a track record will have detailed documentation for end users and services providers. Immature platforms will be changing so frequently that documentation is not up-to-date or available at all.

  • Is there an established ecosystem or marketplace for platform extensions? A marketplace indicates that a platform is widely adopted and is benefitting from “network effects”, where a critical mass of customers and partners are investing in it for the long term.

  • Does your potential partner provide marketplace solutions? Only the most accomplished partners contribute to the marketplace because it requires the highest degree of understanding and expertise about the underlying platforms. Partners who sell into marketplaces not only have the expertise to design and deploy solutions, they understand the platform internals so well that they can build components for it.

These are just some of the aspects to investigate when assessing your partner’s track record and ability to deliver on your key projects.