Last updated: August 2019
Cloud Based Energy Management & Monitoring System
The world has seen an increase in energy regulations recently proving the greater necessity for energy management tools. In the global market, especially for utility companies, energy consultants and energy managers, it has become incredibly important to be able to serve and manage many clients from anywhere. Energy management is a need of any organization in any industry, therefore, specifically cloud-based energy management software has become the dominant tool.
Cloud computing allows service providers to access an elastic pool of IT resources such as storage, servers and computing ensuring they can scale up and down computing capabilities as client needs expand and change.
In this post, we will discuss the 10 reasons why cloud-based software should be used by companies to support their energy management practices.
1. Accessibility
2. Cost Reduction in Development
3. Cost Reduction in Man Power Resource Allocation
4. Elasticity
5. Access to data anywhere, anytime and on any device
6. Boost User Experience
7. Disaster Recovery
8. Ease of Collaboration
9. Enhances a Competitive Edge
10. White Label Capabilities
1. Accessibility
Cloud-based systems allow users to access information with greater flexibility. By utilizing a cloud based system, users can store information from many different data acquisition systems and access and analyze this information from different sites with one application. In fact, such a system allows for easier portfolio management as it is possible to view all managed sites at once. Because managers are able to access information remotely, this also reduces on-site maintenance to only when absolutely necessary, saving time and cost in manual maintenance. [2][4][9]
2. Cost Reduction in Development
Cost reduction proves to be one of the greatest benefits of cloud-based energy management systems as it allows companies to curb costs for the development of local infrastructure. Innovation of the software as needed is crucial to remain competitive. Because these systems are generally sold as a service, the consumer does not need to take care of maintenance and updating of the database and infrastructure which again reduces wasted time and money that could be spent on implementing energy and money saving practices based on the data received. Clients also only need to pay for what they use thereby reducing excessive overhead cost. The flexibility of cloud-based services also allow for minimal sunk costs as needs of the company may change. [2][5][4][9]
3. Cost Reduction in Man Power Resource Allocation
Not only do cloud services minimize costs of software development and maintenance but also direct monetary costs, the cost of time, and spent resources on maintaining in-house IT professionals and infrastructure on gathering, storing and analyzing energy data. This proves most beneficial for sectors that do not or cannot prioritize in-house energy management software experts. [1] [2] [5] [6] [4][9]
4. Elasticity
Cloud-based systems allow for greater deployment flexibility, meaning that it is easy to either upgrade or downgrade resources which proves a great advantage for energy management systems compared to owned infrastructure. This allows the consumer to reduce or increase site data acquisition and maintenance much easier as demand dictates. For energy management specialists and consultants, this proves especially beneficial as clients change, more sites are easily implemented into the system for better-facilitated management. [1] [5] [4][9]
5. Access to data anywhere, anytime and on any device
A major selling factor for cloud-based services, especially for energy management is that users can access their data, dashboard and any analytics from any device around the world. For example, when looking at energy analytics for a building, an energy manager or consultant does not need to be in the building, or even in the office to get live updates on energy use or waste. With access to information from portable devices, this flexibility allows for a competitive edge for users.
6. Boost User Experience
Allowing customers to engage independently with the ever-innovating cloud-based software boosts the user experience. Customers being able to alter the use of the software to their needs without having to develop the platform differently on their own is crucial to support a changing market. The ability to also interact easily with energy data on a constantly updating system is crucial to a better understanding and use of that data. [4]
7. Disaster Recovery
Every business possesses sensitive, important information that is crucial to business operations and must be protected. Cloud-based services are the simplest way to keep information backed up and safe. Specifically, it is cited that small businesses are twice as likely as larger companies to implement cloud-based backup and recovery solutions. This solution saves time and large up-front investments. With cloud-based energy management software, energy data and savings analysis is securely maintained and updated without much work from the customer. [3] [8]
8. Ease of Collaboration
By promoting accessibility, cloud-based services allow for analysis and access to data around the world. Especially beneficial for energy consultants or energy managers for large corporations, because the information is connected to one online system, it is possible to support either many clients at once or support many branches of one client from around the world. Consultants and managers can easily present this information from this one source across many platforms to optimize client service. [8]
9. Enhances a Competitive Edge
Taking the first step towards cloud-based energy management software, and cloud-based services, in general, allow for a competitive edge in the market as a differentiating feature that can benefit the company. Cloud-based software can allow even small and medium-size businesses to act faster than larger, more established companies. For consultancy firms and utility companies especially, by using cloud-based services, they are able to offer clients quick response analytics and advice creating a better client relationship. [4]
10. White Label Capabilities
Again, this aspect emphasizes the flexibility of potential cloud-based service systems. White label services indicate that the site can look like it is managed by the host company such as a consultancy firm to its clients. In order to increase brand awareness and differentiate your company especially for consultancy firms, this feature of certain cloud services allows for seamless integration with a company. The term white label can encompass many features, from the color theme, the URLs, the logos, the reports etc. For example, the white label services offered by Wattics are a premier differentiator of its cloud-based energy management software that allows white label services including but not limited to company colours, contact details, notifications sent from company email addresses and log in from company websites. [4]
These top ten reasons why cloud-based energy management software provides more efficient and cheaper tools for energy management on any scale are important to understand for any professional looking to take their business to the next step with efficient energy management.
Wattics proudly offers its cloud based energy management software to support the ever-changing needs of clients from different industries to support energy efficiency. For more information about our energy management dashboard, sign up for a free demo below:
References:
[1] A. Behl and K. Behl, “An analysis of cloud computing security issues,” in Information and Communication Technologies (WICT), 2012 World Congress on, October 2012, pp. 109–114. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6409059/.
[2] B. Capehart, W. Turner, and W. Kennedy, Guide to Energy Management. Fairmont Press, 2012. [Online]. Available: https://books.google.it/books?id=LWqV4H6TKJMC
[3] Brink, Derek M. “Why are Small Businesses Moving to Cloud Backup and Recovery.” Aberdeen Group. N.p., May 2014. Web. 28 June 2017.
[4] Ruzzelli, A. (2017, June 27). Doubling Your Recurring Revenue Through Energy Analytics [Webinar]. Wattics. https://www.wattics.com/doubling-recurring-revenue-energy-analytics-webinar-series-june-2017/
[5] F. e Amin, A. S. Alghamdi, and I. Ahmad, “Cloud-based C4I systems: Security requirements and concerns,” in Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI), 2014 International Conference on, vol. 2, March 2014, pp. 75–80. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6822307/.
[6] K. Gai and S. Li, “Towards cloud computing: A literature review on cloud computing and its development trends,” in 2012 Fourth International Conference on Multimedia Information Networking and Security, November 2012, pp. 142–146. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261301140_Towards_Cloud_Computing_A_Literature_Review_on_Cloud_Computing_and_Its_Development_Trends
[7] S. Bera, S. Misra, and J. J. P. C. Rodrigues, “Cloud computing applications for smart grid: A survey,” IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 1477–1494, May 2015. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6809180/.
[8] “Why Move To The Cloud? 10 Benefits Of Cloud Computing.” Salesforce UK Blog. Salesforce, 17 Nov. 2015. Web. 28 June 2017. https://www.salesforce.com/uk/blog/2015/11/why-move-to-the-cloud-10-benefits-of-cloud-computing.html.
[9] Pricing Strategies in the market for energy management and information systems: the Wattics case, Alberto Simioni, Arturo Lorenzoni, Antonio Ruzzelli, Master Thesis in Energy Engineering, University of Padua, Italy, 2016
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