Audax and technology. Open, pragmatic and secular approach
Giorgio Carzedda, Debt Collection Department, explains Audax Renewables' attitude towards technology in an interview for WoW Tech, the Timenet podcast dedicated to ICT and Digital.
[Listen to the episode on Spotify]
D. Hi Giorgio, tell us about Audax Renewables and its approach to business and the market…
R. I work at Audax Renewables Italia, a company that – as the name suggests – supplies renewable 100% energy to the Italian market. We were born in 2014, but our history is linked to that of a Spanish energy group - Audax Renovables - which deals not only with selling but also producing electricity from photovoltaic and wind power.
I'll give you some numbers to better understand our reality: we are present in 9 countries, we supply electricity and gas to over 400 thousand customers - mostly SMEs and industry - for a turnover that exceeded 2 billion euros in 2022. On the renewable generation side, our pipeline is over 2,500 MW.
The history of the Audax Group is that of a company that has achieved important results in a rather short period of time and in a market - the energy market - which is essentially immobile, in which it is difficult to enter and carve out a significant space, considering the presence of operators who they enjoy ten-year position incomes.
In my opinion Audax achieved this through a combination of elements. First of all, a pragmatic and agile entrepreneurial attitude capable of seizing opportunities without delay, when they arise. Then thanks to the foresight of having focused on the development of clean and renewable sources and offered customers innovative supply solutions different from those of the competition. Finally, an attitude that I would define as "resilient" has allowed us to face critical events or periods thanks to a flexible and dynamic adaptation approach, so as to find balance in a short time and continue with our plans without excessive upheavals. We have learned to do this in these rather complicated years: the Covid-19 pandemic, the subsequent economic crisis and the consequences of Russian aggression in Ukraine on the energy market.
D. Well, we understand that a company like Audax Renewables has evolved a lot in recent years... But what relationship does the company have with technology?
R. A "secular" relationship, open, curious and pragmatic. We are aware that without it it would be difficult to grow, generate profit and look forward. Technology, on the other hand, “informs” every aspect of the company and its business. There is, first of all, the one that governs the production of photovoltaic and wind energy (from solar panels to wind turbines, with everything behind it). A technology that required large investments of time, men and economic resources in Research & Development and which today we know is increasingly performing and efficient, even in terms of costs.
Then there is the widespread nature of digitalisation which has revolutionized company processes - streamlining them, automating them, integrating them with each other - and which has allowed us to increase productivity, reduce errors and plan choices better.
Very useful for the normal carrying out of current activities within the company, it has literally transformed the customer care, with a series of initiatives that were unthinkable just a few years ago and through which we follow and support our customers ever more closely.
The building blocks of this transformation are both the various and most advanced management software on the market and computer programs built specifically to meet our needs.
On the customer side, we cannot fail to mention the mobile application - with all the services it contains, starting from the personal management of your contract - and the entire range of remote assistance services, real and virtual, instant messaging and payment (up to to PagoPA).
D. How do you imagine the future of TLC in the company?
R. We cannot help but believe in an ever-increasing integration of TLC into processes. For example, considering only the area of debt collection in which I operate on a daily basis, the contribution of technology was fundamental in achieving an improvement that was both measurable and long-lasting.
Furthermore, we are awaiting - probably at the beginning of April - the release of dedicated software, built not only to speed up processes (such as reminders, reminders, suspension), but also to make them more accurate and precise. Characteristics, the latter indispensable in a "sensitive" area such as debt collection.
D. Do you have a "colorful" event to tell...? What did you find and how have daily life and processes changed since you joined the company?
R. Let me think... We were at the beginning and as pioneers we first had to put up a "flag" to mark the boundaries of our territory and then worry about giving it a complete shape. In that initial phase, I remember a few trips to the post office near our Turin headquarters loaded with paper envelopes containing the "formal notices" printed one by one and bagged...
A heroic, but fortunately short, period before technology came to our rescue, freeing up precious time!
