As we look to enter a new financial year ENSEK are pleased to welcome Tom Bromwich to the team as our new Chief Growth Officer. Tom will work with existing clients and prospects to help them navigate a constantly changing market.
What’s your background and where have you come from?
I’ve spent the last nine years at Centrica in the UK B2C business, covering areas such as energy pricing, customer strategy, sales and performance management for British Gas.
The last three years at Centrica were as Sales Director, concentrating on energy, home services and boiler installations. I led strategic planning and performance management for the UK B2C products with significant involvement across customer insight, marketing, product and proposition.
Prior to that I was at Bain & Co, one of the top 3 strategic consulting firms, where I split my time between financial services and energy projects. One area of focus was B2C debt in utility companies, specifically for one of the Big 6.
I have a PhD in magnetic materials, an interesting topic but after 3 years in a dark room with a microscope I wanted to find a role that involved speaking to people and collaborating to solve problems!
What drew you to ENSEK?
There is a huge pressure in the energy industry to reduce cost to serve by improving the customer experience.
The B2C market is going through a major transformation, especially as a result of the price cap and needing to improve financials. ENSEK is uniquely positioned to act as a catalyst and facilitate this transition.
It’s a similar story in the B2B market too, with a need to concentrate on customer experience and reduce cost to serve. Legacy systems do not lend themselves to fast and agile change which is required to differentiate in an increasingly competitive market.
ENSEK can support that transformation within the energy industry, both within the UK and internationally.
The ENSEK team is aligned, welcoming, engaged and 100% proactive on trying to solve some of those industry challenges with our clients.
What do you think is ENSEK’s biggest strength right now?
The Software as a Service platform itself is ENSEK’s biggest strength. It has a simplicity from an end user perspective that makes it easy for any agent to pick up.
The architecture is built in a way that allows users to work remotely. This is essential in the current climate with the COVID-19 pandemic
The ability to hand tasks over smoothly between modules and teams is proving critical for energy suppliers’ communications. Having a single source of the truth is more important than ever for all suppliers, so accounts are looked after, and nothing falls through the cracks.
ENSEK’s platform users can provide their customers with ongoing service, which is important when people are impacted with big changes and uncertainties. It helps to build a customer’s trust with their energy supplier and reduces any potential additional stresses.
The platform has a proven track record in improving the customer experience and reducing suppliers’ cost to serve.
What do you think are the greatest challenges facing the energy industry in the UK?
Long term, beyond cost to serve, customer experience and the price cap, it’s around becoming Net Zero.
It’s understanding how the energy industry can be at the front and center leading decarbonisation. From a downstream perspective, it’s about creating the customer-centric tools required to manage and control our individual carbon footprints.
The smart meter roll-out is also a massive challenge. Many consumers don’t see the benefits beyond not having to submit a meter read. The challenge is around how to engage customers with the masses of available data and help them make informed decisions around how they manage their home or business. This is something ENSEK is working on.
Fast forward 5-10 years and we’ll likely see widespread use of technology to optimise and integrate generation, energy use and storage and allow customers to better manage their homes and businesses. For example, giving the consumer the chance to decide when they’re charging their electric vehicle, generating from solar, storing energy in their battery and based on information around, when the energy prices are cheaper.
In the short term, the focus needs to be on weathering the storm of the pandemic. Already we’re seeing a shift away from B2B energy consumption and a rise in B2C usage. Direct debits are being cancelled, as pay cheques freeze and so on.
The current challenges energy suppliers are facing are around remaining resilient, providing business continuity for customers and being compassionate towards the many people who will start to struggle financially, whilst managing their balance sheets to ensure the health of their business.
Where do you see ENSEK in the next few years?
We’re constantly looking for feedback from our customers on the SaaS platform we provide. Using the feedback, we’re able to continue to evolve the platform so it can help customers stay ahead of the competition, reduce cost to serve and provide customers with a frictionless experience.
Granted the world is riding a storm we’ve never had to ride before, but we still believe there is opportunity for growth for energy suppliers. If anything, the current environment only reinforces the need for agility and reduced cost to serve. ENSEK’s role is to provide the technology that underpins these goals, so we can grow both within the UK and internationally with our customers.
Interested to understand how Tom can help your company grow?
If you’re keen to discuss with Tom how ENSEK can help with the growth of your energy supply business, get in touch.
