Shhhh. We won't tell if you don't

Further reading...

Election Help: Which Way Will You Vote?

Aren't we fortunate to have such great candidates to choose from? But which one are you…

Read More

Development Update – May 2024

This month we reluctantly said goodbye to the football season, and now we need…

Read More


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.

Built for: PRO CRMPORTAL

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.

Built for: PRO CRMBILL VAL

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

Heresss

  • 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...

Further reporting reading...

Nothing found.


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.

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.

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.

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?

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...

Election Help: Which Way Will You Vote?

Aren't we fortunate to have such great candidates to choose from? But which one are you…

Read More

Development Update – May 2024

This month we reluctantly said goodbye to the football season, and now we need…

Read More


Development Update - December 2021

As the team return from a restful Christmas break, we look back at everything we completed in the final month of 2021. It's fitting that we start the New Year with a clean slate and a new look to our flagship products. Over the last few months, the team have been creating a completely new design for our PRO CRM, BILL VAL and PORTAL products. We're extremely excited to show you the results.

We've also received positive feedback on our integration with Tickd. Up until very recently, we've encouraged our customers to forge their own direct supplier relationships but it's been clear that having an alternative offering, straight out the box, is also proving useful.

Read on to hear how you can utilise the new design, the Tickd integration, as well as other bits & bobs.

System Redesign

You may have seen back in October that we teased a ghostly glimpse of the new design and we've already rolled it out to a few willing participants. We'll be contacting all our customers shortly to see if you'd like to trial the new look within your system.

Tickd Expansion

When managing quotes within the PRO CRM, you can now choose to employ the (green) "Get Tickd Quotes" button and utilise the connections that Tickd have assembled (currently British Gas Lite, Scottish Power and TotalEnergies). If you'd like to utilise this optional feature and would like further guidance, please contact your account manager.

Built for: PRO CRM (UK ONLY)

Other bits and bobs...

We've also added the following other bits and bobs...

NEW Reporting On Activities

We've added a brand new dashboard focussed solely on Activities. You can now drill down to Activities completed by team members and specific customers as well as gain insight in to activities completed within a certain timeframe.

Built for: PRO CRM

Alert before marking an activity as done

We've added an optional feature that when enabled will offer the user a 'Yes' or 'No' alert when marking an activity as 'Done'. This can help avoid those costly accidents where a team member clears an activity before it has been actioned.

Built for: PRO CRM

EDF Energy Contract Submission

We've been working with EDF to give UtilityClick TPIs the ability to submit contracts directly to EDF, once a quote has been marked as accepted. If you have a relationship with EDF, please contact your account manager for more information.

Built for: PRO CRMPORTAL

Water commission percentage

When creating a bespoke tender for water supply, we've added the ability to set a commission percentage of the contract. Previously you could only select a £/m3.

Built for: PRO CRM (UK Only)

Auto-upload Unsigned LOA to Customer Section

When generating an LOA within the system, you can now choose 'Generate & Save' to automatically add the LOA to the Customer Details section.

Built for: PRO CRM

Oh Duck Screen Improvements

Everyone hates an error screen so we've tried to soften the blow of ours by giving you the chance to play a version of the 1984 hit Duck Hunt each time it appears.

Built for: PRO CRM

Bulk Uplift for Bespoke Tenders

Previously our system has allowed for a bulk uplift to be added for matrix tenders. We've now added this feature so that it's also available on bespoke tenders too.

Built for: PRO CRM

Quicker Reporting

We've introduced further speed enhancements to make our new reporting that little bit quicker.

Built for: PRO CRM

System Export Enhancements

Over the last 12 months, we've been rewriting the way our system exports data. This month we've adapted the commission module. Now your commission exports will be generated much faster.

Built for: PRO CRM

Customer Name Added To Detailed Quote Export

We've updated our 'Detailed Quote' export (found under Partner > Procurement > Input Prices > Quotes), so that it now includes parent and child customer information.

Built for: PRO CRM (UK Only)

Supplier Insights Dashboard

We've revolutionised the dashboards of our Supplier Insights product to include the same cutting-edge technology found within our PRO CRM product.

Built for: INSIGHTS

New Dashboard Improvements

We told you last month about the monumental upgrade we've been making to our reporting. We continue to refine these reports and have begun the process of switching these on for an initial select group of customers.

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!


Twas The Week Before Christmas

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    Sorry, This Offer Has Expired.

    If you would still like a free Starbucks gift card then book a demo with us below and mention the offer. Book a time & date that suits and you could sip your coffee whilst we show you around our software.

    We promise we won’t be latte. (Sorry!)

    Book A Demo

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