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 – provides 100% renewable energy to the Italian market. We were founded in 2014, but our history is linked to that of a Spanish energy group – Audax Renovables – which deals not only with selling but also with 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 in 2022 exceeded 2 billion euros. 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 one – that is substantially immobile, in which it is difficult to enter and carve out a significant space, considering the presence of operators that enjoy decades-long positional rents.
In my opinion, Audax has succeeded 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 that are 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 dynamically adaptable approach, so as to find a 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 on the energy market of Russian aggression in Ukraine.
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”, open, curious and pragmatic relationship. We are aware that without it it would be difficult to grow, generate profit, look ahead. 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 that lies behind them). A technology that has required large investments of time, people and economic resources in Research & Development and that today we know is increasingly high-performance and efficient, even in terms of costs.
Then there is the widespread nature of digitalization that has revolutionized business processes – streamlining them, automating them, integrating them with each other – and that has allowed for increased productivity, reduced errors, and better planning of choices.
Extremely useful for the normal running 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 can follow and support our customers in an increasingly close manner.
The building blocks of this transformation are both the various and most advanced management software available on the market and IT programs built specifically to meet our needs.
On the customer side, we cannot fail to mention the mobile application – with all the services it includes, 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 PagoPA).
D. How do you imagine the future of TLC in the company?
R. We can only believe in an ever-increasing integration of TLC into processes. For example, considering only the debt collection sector in which I operate on a daily basis, the contribution of technology has been fundamental in achieving an improvement that is both measurable and long-lasting over time.
Furthermore, we are waiting – probably for the beginning of April – for the release of a dedicated software, built not only to speed up processes (such as reminders, reminders, suspension), but also to make them more accurate and precise. These latter characteristics are essential in a “delicate” field 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've been in the company?
R. Let me think about it… We were at the beginning and as pioneers you first had to put up a “flag” to mark the borders of your 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 “messa in mora” printed one by one and put in envelopes…
A heroic, but fortunately short, period before technology came to our rescue, freeing up precious time!
