Our shared history helps E.ON shape the future

Technology has helped make E.ON a global force in the power and gas markets. But as the applications that power its business have become increasingly sophisticated, so has the demand from users for more help.

Consequently, E.ON Sweden has built a strong working relationship with Logica to provide the application support they need. With a proven reputation for managing complex application support, Logica was the natural partner to create a dedicated support centre operated by an expert team.

The business challenge

E.ON's ambition is to be the world's leading power and gas supplier. In order to maintain its competitive edge in the challenging markets it operates in, the company is increasingly investing in advanced information technology.

For E.ON in Sweden this led to a major investment in SAP solutions across many of its front and back office functions. Initially, their own IT development staff provided support and dealt with any user queries or training.

Consequently, in 2003, E.ON decided to outsource application support to a company that could provide a more responsive, efficient service that would also improve business processes.

" Logica has nearly 40 years experience in the energy and utilities sector and has delivered several of the world’s largest integrated SAP solutions. A trusted partner for E.ON over the course of a 15-year business relationship, Logica has established a solid reputation for excellence in delivering services operation and production management. Consequently, Logica was chosen as the ideal partner to create and develop the new support centre."

The solution

Under the initial five-year-long contract Logica took over support for a number of SAP and third-party applications. These covered critical business processes from customer service to invoicing, debiting, metering and maintenance. Several of these applications had been heavily customised and the documentation to support them was of variable quality.

For the first year there was a transitional phase, during which Logica used a well-proven methodology to ensure the transition was managed successfully. It included transferring knowledge as well as a systematic hand-over of the application and documentation, using an existing shell of best practice processes based on ITIL. The shell was completed with routines, escalation procedures, KPIs and reporting.

The result

Through a series of reviews - covering day-today operations as well as tactical and strategic service reviews - E.ON has been able to regularly monitor the success of the SAP Application Centre.
It has consistently exceeded the tough targets it has been set, and delivered:

• Greater efficiency and reduced costs  
  Through innovative service delivery processes. Over five years, support costs have dropped 28% as the increasingly skilled support team solve problems faster and more efficiently. At the same time the challenges they are faced with are becoming ever more complex over time.
• Better customer support
  Reflected in the regular surveys of customer satisfaction among E.ON's super-users. These regularly exceed the 70% target. With the number of satisfied users growing over the years, the latest series of figures give an average user appreciation of 90%.
• Continued service improvement
  To ensure that best practice support systems are in place to provide the highest quality support for existing applications as well as those in development.