Development Update - May 2022
This month:
You'll have seen that over the last 6 years, here at UtilityClick we have added many and varied types of useful features to our software. However, this last month has seen what promises to be the most important from a social and ecological standpoint.
We're all very proud and energised to be focusing on a new Carbon Reporting module that we hope will allow you to offer your customers a service that's above and beyond anything they've experienced before. Whatever your thoughts on climate change, it's clear that being more focussed on our environmental footprint has to be good for everyone, so developing a tool that has the potential to make such a difference is a real privilege.
Read on to hear more about this and the other bits and bobs as we look at the dev releases from May...
Carbon Reporting Module
This new module will allow you to record all carbon emissions generated by your customers and their staff. Using a variety of different emissions criteria you can report on elements such as energy usage, travel and accommodation. You can then present the results using our beautiful reporting suite.
This is a stage one release and we have many improvements planned over the coming months (including releasing it into the customer portal so your customers can add and track results themselves). For now, we'd like to invite volunteers to try this new module and feedback on their progress. Please contact your account manager if you'd like further information.
Other bits and bobs...
We've also added the following other bits and bobs...
Restrict Access to Cloud Documents
When uploading associated documents to a customer within the PRO CRM you can now select which user level has access to view. Useful if the contents of the document are confidential.
Built for: PRO CRM
Inactive Date For A Site
Within a customer site, you can now elect to set it as "Inactive" and record a corresponding date. This is solely for administration purposes and will not affect any associated meters or contracts.
Built for: PRO CRM
Recycle Dead Leads By Campaign
We've added an option to our very useful 'Recycle Dead Leads' tool that will allow you to recycle any dead leads that are associated with a specific campaign.
Built for: PRO CRM
Commissions Export Optimisation
Requesting exports of a considerable size can take time and in some extreme instances could cause the request to time out completely. We've optimised the SQL code so that exports from our Commissions module are now completed up to 5 times quicker.
Built for: PRO CRM
Additional Value Types for Bespoke Water Charges
When managing a bespoke water charge within the Procurement module you can now select from an additional two value types - 'Per day' and 'Percentage of annual spend'.
Built for: PRO CRM
LOA Reporting Functionality Added to Dashboards
Using the Customer Rankings dashboard, you can now view and filter customers by any LOA expiry date (and within any given date range). Useful when reporting against any upcoming expiries.
Built for: PRO CRM
Restrict Access to Activities
We've amended restrictions around the Activities module so that a non-super admin user can only see activities for which they are either the owner or had the activity assigned to them. E.g. They cannot see activities just because they are the Account Manager of the Customer.
Built for: PRO CRM
Days At Deal Status
We've added a new piece of information to the "Deal Status / Last Deal Status Change" column within the Pipeline module. You can now see how many days a deal has been sitting in its current stage. What's more, you can check the 'History' of any deal to review deal status changes, the date it was changed and who changed it.
Built for: PRO CRM
New "PAY ON RECEIPT - SPLITS" Payment Profile Added
We've developed a new payment profile for when you need to show forecast and actual commission information based on team splits. This is useful when you need the commission applied to the split amount, not the total contract amount.
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!
Learning From Napster & Metallica
Back in the year 2000, you'll likely recall how the rock band Metallica took out their frustrations on the music sharing platform, Napster. They brought a lawsuit against the company that effectively brought Napster to its knees and removed it from our computers.

Turn the Page and in its place, a savvy Steve Jobs took that idea, added some legality and developed the process into the multi-billion dollar practice of instantaneous music purchase & delivery that we know today.
Cue our Sales Director, Andy Hunter who recently likened this digital revolution in the music industry to that of the current situation with energy suppliers and their difficulties in adapting to digital.
He wrote:

"Energy Suppliers that don't fully embrace digital will get left behind. Just like within the music industry - It took a Napster inspired Steve Jobs to create a digital solution that felled major players who were resistant to change. Suppliers that refuse to automate will go the same way as Virgin Music and HMV."
Suppliers completely embracing digital is a (Lars Ulrich) drum that you will undoubtedly have heard banged many times before, but this time it appears to be different.
At UtilityClick, we're having more conversations with suppliers on this subject than ever before. There is undoubtedly a shift in focus following the multitude of events over the last two years, not forgetting of course OFGEMs strategic review that looks to affect commission transparency, due October 2022 (UK only).
So how can we all play our part?
Brokers, Suppliers and UtilityClick
We need to come together.

Energy Brokers:
We hear you - You want automated tendering, you want better communication, and you need suppliers to catch up with your digital processes.
Suppliers:
We know your desire to become lean. You need automation in place to react to the ever-changing market.
Connect with us. Tell us where you struggle, and what you need - We then can work with you to build it.

What is UtilityClick doing?
We've already started. In 2022 we're investing hugely in building smart automated portals for TPI customers and the suppliers themselves.
There is a massive desire from us to be part of this radical change in the energy industry and we need your input to make it happen.
You might say, Nothing Else Matters.
Further reading...
Development Update – February 2023
This month we're bringing you something a little different for our regular update.…
Development Update – January 2023
Like the morning after a big party, we've embarked on a lot of tidying up over this…
Development Update - April 2022
This month:
Easter came and went for the dev team and despite the on/off/on again nature of work over this period, the team still managed to maintain the rapid development pace that seems to be a theme for 2022.
Over the coming months and throughout this year, you'll see we'll be making many changes to the customer portal, both in terms of looks and functionality. We're already well into the design phase that will see a better UX experience for your customers and this month we've embarked on improving how your customers submit meter reads.
Elsewhere and on a more general level across all our systems, we've been continuing our focus on ensuring absolute security for you and your colleagues. To find out more about these and other bits and bobs, read on below:
Security Improvement: Restrict User Sessions
At UtilityClick we take your security extremely seriously and we're constantly pursuing areas where any potential improvements can be made to protect your data. We're adding yet another layer of security that restricts an account to one location at a time, so you can be certain that if you are logged in to UtilityClick, then no one else can be.
Other bits and bobs...
We've also added the following other bits and bobs...
Ability to manage supplier matrix pricing at user level
Previously it was possible to enable or disable a particular supplier's products to control which matrix pricing was returned when quoting. We've enhanced this feature so you can now enable/disable on a per-user basis. E.g. You could allow sub-broker access to your pricing and enable alternate products to which you use internally.
Built for: PRO CRM
Improved Search Functionality Within Activities
A few months back we made significant improvements to the search feature found within the Leads module. We've now developed a similar improvement within the Activities module. You can now search Activities by Meter Number, Site Address, Site Postcode as well as Customer Name.
Built for: PRO CRM
Support for Multiple Commission Rates
This is an optional feature that allows for different commission levels to be set for different meter rates. E.g. If you require a different commission set for meters with a varying day and night rate. This optional feature is only available when adding manual bespoke quotes and is available upon request.
Built for: PRO CRM
Re-assign tasks when changing lead generator or account manager
When amending a Customer/Lead's "Account Manager" or "Lead Generator" the system now displays a checkbox asking if you'd like to also transfer all open tasks to the new lead generator/account manager.
Built for: PRO CRM
Add Customer References to Vendor Agreements Export
When exporting Vendor Agreements to Excel, the Customer Reference is now included as an additional column.
Built for: PRO CRM
USA System Language Update For Dashboards
We've adapted our new dashboard suite so that it better reflects the region it's being accessed from. Specifically, when accessing from the USA, all general terminology has been updated so as to use a more familiar vernacular.
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!
Shhhh. We won't tell if you don't
Energy brokers, by fully customising our software you can:
Allow your staff to send LOAs, COTs & contracts via branded email notifications; automatically generated through the system. Provide end-user customers with their own secure account to manage meters and current contracts. Produce reports, run tenders and present fully branded results to customers in real-time. Give sub-broker access to your pricing books, manage their commissions and allow them to run quotes on your behalf. Offer bill validation as an added service and present a variety of reports within your very own white-labelled customer portal.
Suppliers can take advantage too. You can:
Give TPIs access to your branded portal and connect with them more efficiently. Receive automated matrix contracts. Upload updated pricing or have us do it for you. Receive tenders, import prices and receive feedback automatically. Set & receive statuses to and from TPIs. Know when pricing is due, when it’s received, and how it fared.
With our fully brandable PRO CRM, Supplier PORTAL and Customer Portal, you can seamlessly present our tools as your own and manage it all from one central location.
Further reading...
Development Update – February 2023
This month we're bringing you something a little different for our regular update.…
Development Update – January 2023
Like the morning after a big party, we've embarked on a lot of tidying up over this…
Development Update - March 2022
It's funny how certain themes seem to develop around a particular month. The theme for March has most certainly been one of security. It helps that one of our founding directors has been compulsively security-obsessed since day dot and it's something that is heavily ingrained into everyone within the team.
We've made great strides this month with our progress in offering 2-factor authentication on all accounts. Separate from this, we've continued our integration with Microsoft authentication services. Not only can you now force your users to ONLY use Microsoft credentials to access UtilityClick, but you'll also be able to use any associated Microsoft email account to send official system notifications.
Read on to hear more about this and the other bits and bobs as we look at the dev releases from March...
Multi-Factor Authentication
You'll soon be able to add an additional layer of security to your UtilityClick account (together with all user accounts) by switching on 2-Factor-Authentication. When applied, you will be sent a code to a preregistered mobile device that you will need to use along with your normal password. This feature will be rolled out over the coming weeks and we strongly recommend deploying it for added peace of mind.
Send System Emails With Your Microsoft Account
Email notifications sent from within the system can now be sent from a user's email address, instead of from your central company email address. When switched on, this feature will allow you to log in using your Microsoft credentials and then have notifications (such as tenders or LOAs) come directly from your email. Please contact your account manager to have this activated within your account.
Other bits and bobs...
We've also added the following other bits and bobs...
Force Microsoft Authentication On Your Account
We've been integrated with Microsoft authentication services for some time (allowing users to use their Microsoft 365 credentials as well as their UtilityClick one) but this recent update allows admin users to force ALL account users to only use their Microsoft credentials.
The Ability To Edit Or Delete Activity Notes
We've overhauled the notes section within the Activities component. You can now edit or delete notes as you see fit. Note that only Super Admin users have the ability to edit or delete notes that were not created by them.
Built for: PRO CRM
Support for Multiple Commission Rates
This is an optional feature that allows for different commission levels to be set for different meter rates. E.g. If you require a different commission set for meters with a varying day and night rate. This optional feature is only available when adding manual bespoke quotes and is available upon request.
Built for: PRO CRM
Vendor Agreements Linked to Customer References
It was already possible for vendor agreements to be linked to Sites/Locations, Meters/Accounts, Contacts, and Contracts. This latest update now makes it possible to also link vendor agreements to Customer References.
Built for: PRO CRM
Quick Access to Supplier Products When Reviewing Quotes
We've added a handy link to quickly view supplier product details when reviewing quotes within the Procurement component. From the quote results screen, simply click "Go" and "View Product".
Built for: PRO CRM
Parent Company Added To Portfolio Export
Within the Analytics component, when exporting Portfolio data, we've added a new column where you can now see 'Parent Company' information.
Built for: PRO CRM
Multi-Select for Export Data
Previously, when exporting data through the Analytics module, you've been able to select precise singular criteria of which data to include. For example, you could export Accounts that were managed by one particular account manager but you were unable to select multiple managers (without exporting all the data at once). We've added multi-select fields to many of our data export screens, so you can now quickly select multiple configurations within each export.
Built for: PRO CRM
Total Cost and Total Annual Cost Added At Meter Level For Tender Export
When exporting tender information (via the Tenders - Export Data screen), the Total Cost and Total Annual Cost is now included within the export on a per meter basis.
Built for: PRO CRM
Checkbox Added To Skip Redirect After A Data Import
When importing data into the system, you're helpfully redirected to the upload results screen after each successful import. There are instances where it's preferable to stay within the data import screen post upload. As such, we've added a checkbox so you can choose whether to remain on the data import page or move on to review the results.
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!
Bill Val 2.0 With Advanced Validation
What does it do?
(and who are William & Valerie?)
William & Valerie (or Bill & Val for those just catching on) is the nickname for our latest fantastic product – BILL VAL. With it, you can upload batch data files directly from suppliers straight into our system.
Once uploaded our system systematically examines each entry to ensure it’s correct. Upon completion, results are broken down and summarised, enabling succinct reporting back to your customers.
Key Features
Instant Imports
Raw format imports for EDI/XLS/CSV.
Beautiful Presentation
Analyse pass/fails in a clear, understandable format.
Custom Thresholds
Set your own pass tolerances at customer or global level.
The Best Reporting
Stop sending emails to your clients. Present all types of reports within your very own white-labelled customer portals.
Instant Usage Analysis
Import day Day+1 HH / AMR data straight from the Data Collector.
Customer Portal
Present data to your clients with ease. Allow them to submit meter reads for instant validation.
Why do you need this?
As an energy broker, you know that the world is changing and you need to offer your customers more than just ‘the best price’. You’ve seen the evolution in our sector; your customers now demand more than procurement only services.
Did you know?
"...as many as 1 in 5 utility bills contain errors that cause the recipient to overpay."
* Source: www.energylivenews.com
This all sounds expensive?
For all of this functionality it’s not as much as you would think. And no other system offers more ‘value’ than our Bill Val product. Unlike other systems, we do not price per meter/invoice validation, which can become incredibly expensive. With BILL VAL by UtilityClick you pay one set monthly fee, no matter if you validate one thousand bills or one million.
Free UK support
It doesn’t matter how good our software is if you don’t know how to use it. We’ll get you started by talking to you and your team in a language they understand. What’s more we offer phone support FREE with every subscription, should you need prompting down the line.
Is there anything it doesn't do?
Possibly! But we’re confident we’ve built a bill validation product that is better than anything that’s come before it. If there is a useful feature that doesn’t exist and is integral to your workflow, there’s a very good chance we’ll build it… And the good news is we build fast, really fast (take a look at our monthly updates from the development team to see how much we add, every single month).
Development Update - February 2022
This month:
There's been an undeniable air of excitement in the dev team this month. I can't recall a time when we've had so much R&D work in progress with so much potential to make a huge impact.
One project in particular will give you the option to 'boost' your dashboards. With it, you'll be able to create your very own graphs, tables and reports. For instance: Need to create a dashboard specific to Dan in Sales so he can see what's important in his pipeline? No problem.
The boost will also provide a new dashboard that monitors matrix pricing trends over a period of time. With it, you'll be able to see which suppliers are pricing competitively on various types of meters and when. We'll be in touch again about Dashboard Boosts but if you'd like to get in front of the queue, please contact us or your account manager to signify your interest.
Read on to hear what else we've been up to in the month of February...
Bill Val Thresholds
When validating bills for customers, it's quite often the case that a few pence difference between the 'expected' and 'actual' isn't of vital importance. We've added the ability to set a tolerance threshold of just how far out you'll allow the difference to be, before receiving an alert.
This tolerance can be set individually over almost any aspect of the bill. What's more, you can alter this tolerance on a per-customer basis, should you have certain customers that require more stringent validation than others.
Built for: BILL VAL
Other bits and bobs...
We've also added the following other bits and bobs...
Improved Customer & Lead Snapshot
You can get a quick overview of all the important bits by visiting the Snapshot section within Leads or Customers. We've now added the company number (EIN for the USA) to the Leads and Customers Snapshot screens.
Built for: PRO CRM
Search and Filter Cloud Documents
Within our PRO CRM you can upload any documents that would be useful to store against a lead or customer. We've now added the ability to search through these documents either through their description or by date.
Built for: PRO CRM
New Lost Contract Reasons
When marking a contract as "Lost" you can select from a handful of useful reasons why that contract was lost. We've added more selectable options here to give you a more detailed analysis when reporting.
Built for: PRO CRM
Speedier Detailed Export
Our PRO CRM allows you to export procurement data in varying degrees of complexity. We've made speed improvements to the most "Detailed Export" so it completes much faster.
Built for: PRO CRM
Bill Val UI
As an addition to the threshold work described above, we've improved the user interface of Bill Val reporting so you can now clearly see the actual vs expected difference as a percentage.
Built for: BILL VAL
Approx Commission with Opportunity Exports
Previously when performing a tender export, an "Approx Commission" value would only appear if one had been set manually by the user. However, when viewing a new tender directly within the system, a user is helpfully shown the "Approx Commission" value, even if one has not been set (by using the partner's default broker fee). The process has now been updated so that exports now marry the information provided when viewing an opportunity within the system.
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!
Does Good Design Matter?
Precursor: In 2020 we wrote an article titled “Could A CRM Give You Pleasure?” which proved rather popular. We’ve also spent much of last year improving the UX of our software.
But WHY?
Does any of it really matter? Thankfully there have been numerous studies to answer this very question…
For example, in 2005 a group called The Design Council studied portfolios of companies that traded on the FTSE over the past 10 years. What they discovered was that the companies that put an emphasis on design outperformed the FTSE 100 index by 200%*.
More recently, in 2015 the National Endowment for the US Arts released a study that concluded that small businesses saw a 17.5% increase in average sales on improved goods and services when they invested in design**.
https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/NEAIndustrialDesignManufacturing-4.28.2017-rev.pdf
As Homer Simpson once said:
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!"
So let’s drill down into
Five reasons why design doesn't just matter for the energy sector, it's imperative:
Good design has the power to simplify the complex processes that you find in the energy sector.
If you were to create a piece of software that fulfilled every part of your job – that system would be complex to a point of chaos but good design can simplify it all into manageable chunks. If done right, the design can act as a translator, simplifying the complex language of your processes.
Good design can affect users emotions and can actually make your team happier.
It may seem trivial to focus on emotion when talking about software but companies are realising more and more that it’s possible to evoke a positive response from simple interactions, like a hover effect or a popup animation.
Firms such as Apple have built billion-dollar products around how good it can make a user feel, where everything is carefully crafted to give the user a positive experience.
A CRM is much like your phone. You’ll likely spend more time looking at it than you will your own family, so it’s only right that it should also invoke positivity for the user.
Good design can make your team more efficient
As humans, we have an inbuilt nature to take the perceived quickest route to a solution, especially if we’re unsure of the path ahead. When performing a complicated task, good design can provide useful tools precisely where and when they’re needed along a workflow. For instance, having an important button appear more prominent than other page elements can help guide users eyes on where they should go next.
Good design can help highlight your wins and losses
Presenting your data is all well and good but if its meaning is not clear, then it’s likely to be overlooked. This is even more apparent when reporting within the energy sector. Good design can help declutter and present important, actionable information whilst giving the option to drill down to the data that matters. Users can then focus clearly on the presented facts and adapt swiftly to the cause of their wins.
Good design can provide assurances of a high level of service.
If we hold two products side-by-side, we’ll invariably focus on the better-looking of the two. This is where the good design looks to assure us that “If they’ve spent this much effort perfecting how it looks, then the way it works must also be as equally well thought out”.
Although we know that doesn’t always hold true, it’s inbuilt within us and we still can’t help but use it as a base for commercial decisions. When providing completely re-brandable software like ours, it’s even more imperative that when your customers are using it, the way it looks matches the high level of service that you provide.
Summing It All Up
Investing in good design is superficial by its nature but the results will bleed into numerous positive areas, far and beyond aesthetics. Here at UtilityClick we care enormously about the software experiences our users will have, that’s why we invest so much in a design to convey that. We don’t believe any equivalent system can attest to that.
If you’d like to see how we’ve taken these 5 points above (and a few more) to transform our software, get in touch for a demo:


An interactive side-by-side of old Vs. new for our PRO CRM product.
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...
Goodbye Ugly Reporting
Hello Clarity! Welcome to reporting with a bit of “OH ME, OH MY!” Why are so many…