For retail energy providers the focus is shifting from growing a retail book to as big as it can be by any means possible, to creating a portfolio of compelling offers that bring sustainability, reliability and affordability at a competitive price while mitigating supply and bad debt risk. Companies must take a more aggressive and transformative approach to aligning business processes with strategic objectives.

All companies set strategic objectives they must achieve, guided by their overall strategy - for shareholder satisfaction and to provide direction and focus on key priorities that help support long term success. The challenge with strategic objectives is they do not always align with current state business and operational practices. Year on year, companies see a shortfall in their goals and objectives because teams have a hard time relating what they currently do to what they need to be doing to hit the mark. Much like typical New Years resolutions - without proper planning, business alignment, and buy in, they go unachieved. 

To avoid this, it is imperative that businesses have a clear picture of what they do day to day and that operational documentation is up to date. This helps them quickly see where strategic objectives will be impactful, and what business practices they need to focus on to achieve results. 

When business processes are properly aligned with strategic objectives, it enables the organization to move forward with purpose to achieve transformational results. Every aspect of the business, including decision making, resource allocation and project prioritization, becomes better coordinated, allowing the company to meet its goals more effectively and efficiently, and remain competitive in the long term. Lack of proper alignment can lead to inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and a lack of focus, preventing the company from achieving its strategic ambitions.

Retail energy companies are no different. In fact, one could say, it is imperative that retail energy companies take a more aggressive, transformative and focused approach because, at least in the deregulated states in the US, the competition and customer expectations are drastically changing. The focus is shifting from growing a retail book to as big as it can be by any means possible, to a combination of a portfolio of compelling offers that provide sustainability, reliability and affordability at a competitive price, and effective supply and bad debt risk mitigation. Additionally, retailers are looking at acquisition through the purchase of customer books. It is a tough platter to balance while simultaneously having to achieve strategic objectives. 

Where to Start 

1. Document what you do – Spend time documenting current state business processes in all areas of your business. Note where processes are automated and where they are manual. Keep track of pain points and areas that drive operational issues, waste and financial risk or leakage.
2. Be outcome focused – As soon as strategic objectives are finalized (or even as they are being defined) catalog where business process aligns and supports strategic objectives and where there are gaps. Envision to-be business process as if the strategic objective were already implemented. 
3. Know the goal – Make sure the desired outcome is the main priority by making the anticipated results visible and well known. Communicate with team members the objectives, goals, and optimal outcomes. Make sure communication is reiterated constantly. 
4. Get help – Consult with experts in the retail energy industry to benchmark best practices and understand where operational practices do not align with industry standards and where common blind spots are. They can also help expedite the process of keeping baseline documentation up to date, creating your implementation roadmap and supporting delivery needs. 
5. Measure it – Establish KPIs and metrics to measure processes against industry standards and if targets are being met. Build dashboards to track this daily if necessary to track trends and performance so you know when the efforts are making an impact.
6. Keep documentation updated – Continually review and update business processes to ensure that as things change the documentation is current. 
7. Dedicate resources to achieve results – Put together a task force of people to plan how to adjust existing business processes or even define new processes to achieve the results needed. 
8. Try and try again – Do not be afraid of failure. Make the steps of revisiting and revising part of the continuous process. 

Examples of Strategic Objectives

One example of a retail energy strategic objective may be to acquire other retail energy companies. Acquisitions have an impact on operations, sales, finance, supply, product development, and many other functional areas. A key outcome of this strategic objective would be to integrate an acquired company into daily operations within X number of months of acquisition. 
To achieve this key outcome, an organization needs to be able to compare the target business processes and key systems and assess gaps in an efficient and timely manner. Knowing these gaps and overlaps will help assess what needs to be done and create an implementation roadmap and comprehensive requirements to achieve the desired outcome. 

Another example of a strategic objective where process mapping comes in handy is any strategic objective around operational efficiency or cost optimization where a key outcome is to reduce operational costs by a specific percentage through process improvements, automation, and/or technology upgrades. Knowing where your inefficiencies, pain points and manual processes are is key to quickly formulating a game plan for achieving your goals. 

Easy Wins 

At the end of the day, companies will struggle with growth and transformation into the successful businesses they desire to be without conscious steps to create a plan aligning their strategic objectives with day-to-day business processes and practices and identifying how these objectives will impact current operations. 

In turn, quickly identifying where strategic objectives impact operational process will help expedite the creation of a roadmap for execution. Additionally, it will assist in communication, prioritization and execution of solutions targeted at achieving the objectives and outcomes. From there, it is easy to see the path to the desired future. 

How Capco Can Help

At Capco, our Retail Energy practice team has over 500 years of industry expertise in both power and gas markets. We bring functional business process knowledge and a broad range of technical skills, including end-to-end customer lifecycle business process optimization and best practice implementation, as well as analytics, forecasting, pricing, customer management and billing system implementation. Our Retail Energy Framework and other project accelerators like BA Genie (part of our generative AI tool set) set us apart from other practices. We are a one-stop firm with a deep pool of experience to ensure you meet your company’s strategic objectives.

If you would like to see how Capco’s retail energy experts can assist you in your business process mapping, aligning with your strategic objectives, general business process optimization or technology needs, please contact us via the form below.