Energizing a forward-thinking ecosystem

It’s hard to know what the future will bring. Unless, you create the future yourself. Electricity provider ewz takes this approach to heart, by moving towards being a provider for energy products and services for energy solutions.  
Our task was, together with ewz, to envision and define how ewz’s digital future as Switzerland's leading sustainable energy provider can look like. And further, how this user-centered digital ecosystem supports achieving their business goals in all the different user segments, strengthens their position and creates value for their clients.

Missing the big picture of the puzzle

During the years, ewz’s digital products, along with user needs across departments have grown organically. This led to inconsistent and fragmented user journeys. That’s how ewz’s Digital Experience Team faced the difficulty to prioritize tasks and build a harmonized digital landscape. In order to tackle these challenges, a product vision of a digital ecosystem was realized in 2023. However, it became evident that there was a lack of clarity within the company and its internal stakeholders about the fundamental purpose of a digital ecosystem.

No short-cuts for building the future

We took a step-by-step approach and started with the future vision. The product vision of ewz's future digital ecosystem provided a solid starting point for discussions and feedback collection. Based on the vision we focused on establishing the conceptual and strategic foundation of the digital ecosystem. That included the definition of what the digital ecosystem is and its value proposition, we shaped customer segments, aligned stakeholders on goals and KPIs, and secured management buy-in. Now, with the foundation set, we're focusing on the future – developing a digital roadmap to realize the vision. This process is ongoing.

Starting with a vision

First, we talked to internal stakeholders of ewz and to the users of the website. Based on their needs and pains, a vision of the digital ecosystem was created. This product vision’s aim is to support the achievement of ewz’s business goals and place the user at the center. It allowed them to move around in a seamless, structured network of digital channels.

Creating value by defining it

Based on internal stakeholder feedback on the vision, the project team identified a lack of alignment among the stakeholders due to the absence of a conceptual foundation. To address this, we conducted iterative work sessions with stakeholders. This helped us define the digital ecosystem and its value. With this approach of co-creating a step-by-step alignment and buy-in was achieved.

Success comes in matrices

During this worksession series with stakeholders we collected requirements, challenges and goals for the digital ecosystem and developed success matrices for each user segment. They define main goals, goals in the digital ecosystem and KPIs. This was needed for the project team to become capable of acting and implementing. As a last step those were presented to the management to get the buy-in to continue working towards a digital ecosystem until 2030. 

Recreating a business

Linking all digital channels into a holistic digital ecosystem reflects the forward-thinking ambitions of ewz. In addition, the digital ecosystem offers various touchpoints that positions ewz not only as an electricity provider, but as a partner for comprehensive energy solutions. The digital ecosystem thus initiates in a promising future – for ewz and for all its customers.

Project-Facts

Project team