CIO interview: David Ivell, chief technology officer, Good Energy

Current and future IT priorities

Good Energy has a busy technology and innovation agenda in the coming months. The company has just gone through a transformation to refocus the organisation, with technology now being a “driving force underpinning growth”, says Ivell.

When it comes to key pillars of its overall IT strategy, Good Energy is moving towards a cloud-first model. But that doesn’t mean cloud only, but a hybrid model, using cloud where appropriate, says Ivell. 

The firm is also working on projects geared towards the efficient acquisition and conversion of new customers, as well as delivering better customer experience and service, he says. In practice, this includes developments in web and mobile, along with the introduction of new Salesforce customer relationship management (CRM) tools and a unified communications strategy based around a Microsoft stack. 

Integration will be key to Good Energy’s future, says Ivell. To that end, the company is working to create an enterprise integration platform that will enable it to integrate on-premise, but also to integrate platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) cloud applications, as well as regulator, utility and trading partner apps and other third-party, cloud-based applications.  

The company is also putting a sharp focus on data, with enhanced data warehousing and a move towards Power BI.  

Commenting on Good Energy’s IT sourcing strategy, Ivell says the plan is being defined by the amount of valuable intellectual property that the firm is creating now, which is prompting a move towards insourcing around data and software products. 

“We are creating a smaller number of strategic alliances and relationships,” he says. 

The organisation is also implementing its Rapid Innovation framework to enable fast prototyping of new products and services, which then go on to customer testing. 

“We are taking Rapid Innovation seriously to build new services and products at the cutting edge of this industry and are recruiting to expand that differentiator in the market,” says Ivell.

But such changes do not come without challenges. “Speed of delivery has moved from months to days and the cultural change is something that takes a while to embed,” he adds. 

Good Energy’s idea is to encourage people to shift their energy use away from periods of high demand, and smart meters will be key to achieving that goal. The company will deploy the new generation of smart meters, called SMETS2, which will usher that cultural shift while allowing customers greater insight and control over their energy use.  

“At the moment, power stations slavishly generate to meet any level of demand,” says Ivell. “But smart meters will enable a more flexible, intelligent relationship between generation and demand, which will reduce the need for infrastructure upgrades and allow a greater share of the UK’s power to come from variable, renewable sources of power, such as wind and solar. 

“Smart meters are the key to increasing the UK’s renewable electricity capacity from 25% towards 100%, helping us to tackle climate change and reducing our dependence on imported fossil and nuclear fuels.”

Some businesses are already happy to be financially rewarded for switching off certain non-critical activities temporarily at peak periods, says Ivell. He argues that the deployment of smart meters and the development of smart household appliances could also see this demand-side response technology found in businesses also becoming common in homes. 

“For instance, householders might agree to let their energy supplier automatically pause their dishwashers, fridges or tumble dryers for short periods in return for a payment or discount on their bills,” he says. 

Building a digital workforce

IT professionals and people involved with digital initiatives represent a quarter of Good Energy’s overall headcount. Ivell says this function has grown by 30% this year, reflecting the company’s insourcing and internal development focus, and the intention is to hire more.

According to Ivell, the idea is to develop expertise and intellectual property around the firm’s enterprise integration and API (application programming interface) layer, as well as business intelligence and digital. However, the CTO concedes that hiring the talent Good Energy needs can also be a challenge, given the current dynamics of the UK jobs market. 

“Some of the best talent within the 20-30 age bracket isn’t as mobile as in previous generations,” he says. “That can be due to characteristics of that age group or just the practical cost of living, which means young people are having difficulty moving away from their parents’ homes in the current property market.” 

Despite the intricacies around attracting talent, Ivell is upbeat about growing his department.   

“We truly believe we are building one of the top digital teams in the UK and are starting to attract extraordinary talent while we accelerate,” he says. “Successful recruitment will therefore be of paramount importance.”