Development Update - January 2022
This month:
And we're off! Despite the Christmas cobwebs, January in the dev team was just as busy as the months that preceded it. I think we were all thankful for the rest but also just as happy to be back with the team, planning the next 12 months of new features.
The new system redesign that we announced last month has taken much of our focus. We had many users requesting early access and we're happy to say that feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. As such, we're pleased to mark February 18th as the official date when all of our software will switch to the new design.
Read on to discover more about the new look as well as other bits and bobs.
Custom Branding With The New UI
As previously mentioned, the new design will be going live on all accounts very shortly (February 18th). Our final push has been to adapt the new look so that it works for any system that has custom branding set. If you utilise your own logo and colours within any of UtilityClick's software, then you'll also be able to experience a better UI come February 18th.
Other bits and bobs...
We've also added the following other bits and bobs...
Improvements to The Sales (Tables) Dashboard Reporting
Within the 'Booked Breakdown', 'Won Breakdown' and 'Lost Breakdown' Sales report, you can now drill down to which deals were bespoke and which were matrix.
Built for: PRO CRM
LOA Start/End Date Validation
Customers have reported that they occasionally forget to enter a correct start/end date on a system populated LOA. If turned on, this new feature will prompt users that both a start and end dates must be present before the upload can proceed.
Built for: PRO CRM
Speed improvements for Customer Imports
As part of our ongoing mission to speed up system-wide imports/exports - we've made improvements to ensure importing customer data is now more robust and completes much faster.
Built for: PRO CRM
New bespoke charge units added to Bill Val
We've made Bill Val even more comprehensive and added support to check for additional bespoke charge unit types (including £/meter/month).
Built for: BILL VAL
Activity Sub Types Are now filterable
We've extended the search facility within the Activities component, it's now possible to filter by Task, Type AND Sub Type.
Built for: PRO CRM
Bespoke Charges Summary
Multiple bespoke charges are commonplace in water procurement, because of this we've adapted all quoting results screens (including exports) to include a summary of all bespoke charges per quote.
Built for: PRO CRM
Bespoke Charges On Excel Imports
Users have been able to add bespoke charges to quotes and contracts for some time but now you can now add them when importing in bulk via an Excel file.
Built for: PRO CRM
That’s it for this month.
Our software evolves at such an exciting rate so please feel free to get in touch to discuss any of the functionality we’ve added since you last saw it. We’ll be more than happy to arrange a demo to show you around!
Energy Reporting: 02 Financials
In this Reporting Drilldown episode, we introduce you to our Financials Dashboards and take a look at what makes them the "best of the best".
Calling all CFOs!
You already know - reporting is such a key part of any business. If it's not up to scratch then it can directly jeopardize the company's income. This couldn’t be truer than within the energy sector.
Take a look at some of the key features that our Financial Dashboards offer:
A Useful Snapshot - A quick, uncomplicated overview of your financial position for the year. Comprehensive Drilldown – Need more detail? It can all be found in our 'Financial Tables' reports. Accurate Metrics – Measure your financials against various metrics, like opportunity type and utility type. Performance Analysis – Quickly review your best-performing suppliers and agents. Complete Customization – Use interactive tools to slice and dice your data. Or use the extensive filtering interface to get the data you need. Use It Your Way – Download your financial reports to Excel, CSV or PNG for easy internal distribution. And much more...
See our Dashboards in action today with a live demo...
Further reporting reading...
Energy Reporting: 03 Carbon Reporting
Energy brokers, you know it's more important than ever to provide additional value to…
Energy Reporting: 02 Financials
In this Reporting Drilldown episode, we introduce you to our Financials Dashboards and…
A Big Fat Review Of The Year
What happened in the world?
The US elected their first ever female vice president.
What happened at UtilityClick?
Vendor Agreements Added
This update enabled users to keep all customer data in one place by storing all types of agreements, not just energy related.
Bill Val Launches!
A brand new product was added to give peace of mind to customers that their bills are thoroughly checked prior to payment.
Click To Dial Added
PRO CRM users were now able to make outbound calls and log the resulting details (like call duration and time of call).
What happened in the world?
NFT became a thing. Christie’s sells first purely-digital NFT for $69 million.
What happened at UtilityClick?
Address Lookups Added
Address lookup functionality was added to the system, saving users time when profiling their customers.
Marketing API Integration
This was a new API connection that allows contacts to be automatically fed through to any system of choice.
What happened in the world?
Ever Given boat blocks the Suez Canal for 6 days.
What happened at UtilityClick?
A New Advanced Search
We deployed a MASSIVE upgrade to all system search tools, making it even easier to search for customers and leads.
The UC Jukebox
This brought an integrated UC Video Jukebox to PRO CRM. Now if the work gets tough users are able to turn up the tunes.
Our staff launched a lighthearted energy podcast and inadvertently stumble into a great energy-saving waffle cooking hack.
What happened in the world?
Nomadland wins Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress at the Academy Awards (Oscars).
What happened at UtilityClick?
Employee Payment Terms
We added an enhancement to our Commissions module that allows users to create employee payment profiles. Monthly payments due can then be reported to internal agents.
Monthly Usage Tools Added
This allowed for future forecasts to be updated based on actual usage, thus providing a clearer insight into users finances.
We Turned 5 Years old
Half a decade ago UtilityClick was just an idea from the inside of a South London flat. Fast forward to April 2021 and our software is used to procure over 2.8 TWh every year.
What happened in the world?
The one where the cast of the hit TV series, Friends reunited.
What happened at UtilityClick?
Supplier Pricing Participation
With this update, suppliers could now mark whether they will be participating within a tender or custom pricing request.
Parent/Child UI Overhaul
This upgrade made it so much easier for users to review Parent/Child portfolios.
What happened in the world?
England reach the finals of a European Championship for the first time ever.
What happened at UtilityClick?
Speedier System Exports
We rewrote each module using pure SQL code, which means requested exports are completed much faster.
Another new product, allowing users to create their own energy price comparison website through Tickd (and then manage it all through our industry-leading CRM system).
Bulk Reassigning Customers
We realised the unnecessary admin required to make wholesale changes to a customer, so we added a bulk assignment tool.
What happened in the world?
The delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics takes place and is dominated by the US and Chinese teams.
What happened at UtilityClick?
Meter Lookup With MPAN
We added the ability to search for a site or meter location by MPAN.
PORTAL offers suppliers a doorway to interact with TPIs, whilst INSIGHTS allows for invaluable monitoring of market conditions.
Authentication With Microsoft
This update brought Microsoft authentication to the majority of our services. Now all that is needed is an existing Microsoft login and password.
What happened in the world?
Lionel Messi leaves Barcelona in tears after 21 years with the club.
What happened at UtilityClick?
This one was huge! We completely redeveloped all reporting and dashboards from the ground up.
What happened in the world?
Nasa's rover lands on Mars and collects first rock samples.
What happened at UtilityClick?
A Bumper Release Of Over 100 System Improvements
Including a 'Recycle Dead Leads' tool, 'Quick Customer Snapshot', and improved error messaging for imports.
What happened in the world?
Space tourism takes off as William Shatner actually goes to space.
What happened at UtilityClick?
A 2.0 of an upgrade which included significant improvement to the upload process as well as making the system much easier to use.
A Jam-Packed Bonus Box
We released a selection of items for PRO CRM containing 9 new tools.
What happened in the world?
Britney Spears is a free woman after a judge ends her conservatorship.
What happened at UtilityClick?
Extended Dashboards And Reporting
We rolled out 10 new beautiful dashboards to all customer accounts. These new reports not only look great but focus on speed and clarity.
No matter your supplier relationship coverage, this update meant you could now choose to employ the "Get Tickd Quotes" button and utilise the connections that Tickd have assembled.
What happened in the world?
Angela Merkel steps down as German Chancellor after 16 years in charge.
What happened at UtilityClick?
Complete System Redesign
The end of the year saw the completion and rollout of a shiny new design for our PRO CRM, BILL VAL and PORTAL products.
Duck Hunt Game
Everyone hates an error screen so we tried to soften the blow of ours by giving users the chance to play a version of the 1984 hit Duck Hunt each time it appears.
EDF Energy Contract Submission API
We've worked closely with EDF to give UtilityClick TPIs the ability to submit contracts directly to the supplier, once a quote has been marked as accepted.
And that was all in just 12 months!
You’ve seen how quickly both the world and our software evolves. Please feel free to get in touch to discuss any of the functionality we’ve added since you last saw it. We’ll be more than happy to arrange a demo to show you around!
Further reading...
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