EMPOWER NEW ENERGY
How Empower New Energy deployed Zoho Desk to operationalized their across Africa after sales support network
THE CLIENT
Established in 2017, Empower New Energy is a renewable energy financier and co-developer that finances, builds and owns clean power plants for commercial, industrial and agricultural energy users.
An award-winning investment platform, we’re pioneering the market for impact investments in the C&I space in Africa.
Our mission is to bridge the financing gap that currently impedes the deployment of renewable energy in developing countries, with a vision of a world empowered by clean, affordable and reliable energy.
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
"Before implementing Zoho Desk, managing maintenance requests was pure chaos—critical issues slipped through the cracks, contractors operated without accountability, and site downtime lingered far too long. It felt like steering a ship without a compass, jeopardizing our ability to deliver clean, reliable energy to communities in need. Since adopting Zoho Desk, we've transformed our operations: every request is tracked, contractors are fully accountable, and downtime has been drastically reduced. What was once disorder is now a seamless, data-driven process, empowering our team to deliver reliable energy across Africa and scale our mission with confidence."
- George Ndubi, Operations & Asset Manager, EA
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Empower New Energy, a renewable energy financier and co-developer, faces significant challenges in efficiently managing and tracking maintenance operations for clean power plants deployed across multiple African countries. These challenges impede their ability to ensure reliability, accountability, and performance for installed sites, impacting their mission to deliver clean, affordable, and reliable energy.
Key Issues and Challenges include:
Lack of Support Request Management:
- No system to ticket, document, and track routine or preventative maintenance requests.
- Inefficiencies in identifying, prioritizing, and escalating maintenance issues.
Coordination with 3rd-Party Contractors:
- Difficulty monitoring progress and accountability of external contractors responsible for maintenance.
- Limited visibility into performance metrics and adherence to Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
Data Fragmentation and Tracking:
- Absence of a unified platform to **record, store, and analyze** maintenance history and support tickets.
- Challenges measuring downtime, response times, and preventive vs. reactive maintenance.
Geographical and Logistical Constraints:
- Operating across multiple African countries introduces complexities in managing remote installations and service teams.
- Communication barriers exacerbate delays in resolution.
Scalability and Performance Monitoring:
- The lack of an integrated solution limits scalability and hampers proactive maintenance.
- Inability to use **data insights** for decision-making, such as predicting failures or optimizing contractor performance.
Impact on Operations:
-Increased downtime and maintenance costs.
-Reduced site performance, leading to operational inefficiencies.
- Compromised ability to meet their vision of delivering reliable renewable energy to developing regions.
PROPOSED SOLUTION(s)
To address these challenges, implementing a comprehensive ticketing and maintenance management system became critical to streamline workflows, improve contractor accountability and ensure proactive maintenance for their renewable energy sites.
Mediacent Interactive, having meticulously analyzed the client’s operational hurdles, proposed ZOHO DESK - a robust, scalable solution tailored to streamline maintenance management and contractor accountability.
Zoho Desk empowers organizations with intuitive tools to bring order to chaos, enabling precise tracking, efficient workflows and data-driven decision-making, all while ensuring seamless coordination across geographies.
Key Features & Functionalities of Zoho Desk that would address ENE’s challenges include but are not limited to:
Ticketing System: Centralizes maintenance requests, tracks progress, and ensures no issue is overlooked.
Workflow Automation: Automates task assignments, escalations, and follow-ups for improved efficiency.
Contractor Management: Monitors 3rd-party performance, SLAs, and accountability with transparent reporting.
Custom Dashboards & Analytics: Provides real-time insights into downtime, issue resolution times, and maintenance trends.
Mobile Accessibility: Enables on-the-go tracking and updates, ensuring visibility across remote sites.
Multi-Channel Support: Streamlines communication with contractors and teams via email, SMS and more.
Knowledge Base Integration: Standardizes maintenance processes with readily available SOPs and resources.
IMPLEMENTATION
Duration it took to implement the solution(s):
The project took a total of 2 Months.
Bottlenecks, and how they were mitigated
The project had not emerging bottlenecks and featured a smooth deployment end-to-end.
Additional services provided- e.g. migration, customization & integration
ENE required migration of it’s old support data from Excel to the new ZOHO DESK platform. This was effectively handled with correct mapping from old to new system.
RESULTS: BENEFITS & ROI
By adopting the Zoho Desk solution, Empower New Energy experienced a transformative shift toward operational efficiency, enhanced communication and data-driven decision-making. This centralized system empowered the client to overcome maintenance bottlenecks, optimize contractor performance and achieve their goals of delivering clean, reliable energy more effectively.
Positive Impact on Empower New Energy included:
Centralized Data Management: A single source of truth for maintenance requests, progress tracking, and performance analytics.
Improved Team Synergy: Streamlined workflows foster better coordination between internal teams and contractors.
Faster Issue Resolution: Automation reduces downtime, ensuring sites remain operational and productive.
Revenue Optimization: Minimized disruptions lead to improved site performance and consistent energy delivery.
Data-Driven Decisions: Actionable insights allow for predictive maintenance, optimizing resource allocation.
Enhanced Contractor Accountability: Transparent tracking of SLAs and deliverables improves third-party performance.
Boosted Client Satisfaction: Reliable systems ensure timely service, reinforcing trust and long-term partnerships.
Scalable Operations: The solution grows with the business, supporting expansion across multiple regions.
Client Team Onboarding & Training: We believe ultimate success when it comes to systems is "not in implementation, but rather in adoption of the system". As such, Mediacent Interactive, through its mantra of "walking with the client team every step of the journey", provided thorough team training to relevant system users, ensuring they not only grasped, but became prolific in the use of the implemented solutions.
This strategic move will not only resolve current challenges but also position Empower New Energy for sustainable growth and operational excellence.