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N-iX > Case Studies > Streamlining Operations and Optimizing Costs in Energy with IoT
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Streamlining Operations and Optimizing Costs in Energy with IoT

Technology Category
  • Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Event-Driven Application
  • Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms
Applicable Industries
  • Cement
  • Construction & Infrastructure
Applicable Functions
  • Maintenance
  • Quality Assurance
Use Cases
  • Construction Management
  • Experimentation Automation
Services
  • System Integration
  • Testing & Certification
The Challenge

The client, one of the UK’s largest energy suppliers, was facing challenges in improving their business efficiency and streamlining cooperation with their affiliated company. They were using two separate back-office platforms to manage boiler insurance operations: one for their employees and another for their affiliated company. This led to inefficiencies and difficulties in managing operations. The client needed to build a unified platform that would include all necessary features and could be used by both companies. This would not only improve the efficiency of the cooperation with their affiliated company but also streamline operations for all employees. Additionally, the client aimed to enhance the accuracy, accessibility, and security of their data by combining and standardizing it in a single place.

About The Customer

The client is one of the UK’s largest energy suppliers, powering nearly 5 million homes. The company is also one of the leading providers of home energy and heating equipment, offering the installation and maintenance of smart meters, boilers, thermostats, and more. In its commitment to 100% carbon-free renewable energy, the company plants nearly 1 million trees across the UK annually. The client wanted to improve their business efficiency and streamline cooperation with their affiliated company by developing a single platform that could be used for managing boiler insurance operations.

The Solution

N-iX developed a new boiler insurance back-office platform from scratch using the microservices architecture. The platform was aligned with the existing technology stack by migrating the architecture from MS Azure to AWS. All data from the client’s and the affiliated company’s systems was also migrated to the new platform. The platform was developed with several microservices, each adhering to the common clean architecture template which divides the solution into business logic, application, and infrastructure layers. N-iX also implemented a combined solution for manual and automated testing that facilitated the management of test cases, test plans, and runs. This significantly improved the speed and efficiency of all testing activities. Additionally, N-iX supported the client in developing a new website, implementing multiple features to streamline operations and provide a smooth user experience. Finally, N-iX assisted the client with maintaining the legacy system and transferring users to the new platform.

Operational Impact

  • The implementation of the unified platform significantly improved operational efficiency and streamlined cooperation with the client’s affiliated company. The new website developed by N-iX, visited by more than 100,000 users every month, increased customer satisfaction with its multiple useful features and intuitive UI. Employee productivity was boosted by automating payment collection and reducing the amount of required manual work. The client was also able to significantly reduce operational costs and infrastructure expenses by integrating with Bottlerocket OS and Karpenter cluster autoscaler. The successful implementation of the project demonstrated the effectiveness of the microservices architecture and the benefits of automated testing.

Quantitative Benefit

  • Lowered management overhead and minimized operational costs by up to 70%

  • Reduced infrastructure costs by up to 50%

  • Accelerated the time-to-market by introducing automation tests and setting up the CI/CD pipeline

Related Case Studies.

Case Study
IoT System for Tunnel Construction
The Zenitaka Corporation ('Zenitaka') has two major business areas: its architectural business focuses on structures such as government buildings, office buildings, and commercial facilities, while its civil engineering business is targeted at structures such as tunnels, bridges and dams. Within these areas, there presented two issues that have always persisted in regard to the construction of mountain tunnels. These issues are 'improving safety" and "reducing energy consumption". Mountain tunnels construction requires a massive amount of electricity. This is because there are many kinds of electrical equipment being used day and night, including construction machinery, construction lighting, and ventilating fan. Despite this, the amount of power consumption is generally not tightly managed. In many cases, the exact amount of power consumption is only ascertained when the bill from the power company becomes available. Sometimes, corporations install demand-monitoring equipment to help curb the maximum power demanded. However, even in these cases, the devices only allow the total volume of power consumption to be ascertained, or they may issue warnings to prevent the contracted volume of power from being exceeded. In order to tackle the issue of reducing power consumption, it was first necessary to obtain an accurate breakdown of how much power was being used in each particular area. In other words, we needed to be able to visualize the amount of power being consumed. Safety, was also not being managed very rigorously. Even now, tunnel construction sites often use a 'name label' system for managing entry into the work site. Specifically, red labels with white reverse sides that bear the workers' names on both sides are displayed at the tunnel work site entrance. The workers themselves then flip the name label to the appropriate side when entering or exiting from the work site to indicate whether or not they are working inside the tunnel at any given time. If a worker forgets to flip his or her name label when entering or exiting from the tunnel, management cannot be performed effectively. In order to tackle the challenges mentioned above, Zenitaka decided to build a system that could improve the safety of tunnel construction as well as reduce the amount of power consumed. In other words, this new system would facilitate a clear picture of which workers were working in each location at the mountain tunnel construction site, as well as which processes were being carried out at those respective locations at any given time. The system would maintain the safety of all workers while also carefully controlling the electrical equipment to reduce unnecessary power consumption. Having decided on the concept, our next concern was whether there existed any kind of robust hardware that would not break down at the construction work site, that could move freely in response to changes in the working environment, and that could accurately detect workers and vehicles using radio frequency identification (RFID). Given that this system would involve many components that were new to Zenitaka, we decided to enlist the cooperation of E.I.Sol Co., Ltd. ('E.I.Sol') as our joint development partner, as they had provided us with a highly practical proposal.
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