Sorgenia, dematerialization to accelerate time-to-market

In every company’s history there are moments when business growth calls for a review of internal procedures, in order to make certain work stages more efficient, faster or automated, or to facilitate the exchange of data from one area to another. This is the case of Sorgenia, a leading player in the energy & utilities market that produces and sells gas and electricity on the free market. The company turned to Intesa in search of a solution that would accelerate its time-to-market. Here is how Sorgenia was able to transform its processes by leveraging digital technology.

Sorgenia’s objective

Sorgenia first identified an important area for optimization: the management of contracts with agencies located across the territory, which mainly handle supply for business customers. Sending and exchanging contracts between these agencies and the head office always took place on paper. Since this involved around 10,000 to 20,000 contracts a year, this procedure required many hours of staff time to fill in and sign all the documentation, plus the use of economic resources to send them by registered mail.

«This process meant, for us, a huge amount of manual management and little efficiency in terms of time-to-market, since we weren’t always able to close all the contracts on time» said Alessandro Bertoli, ICT Director at Sorgenia.

From creation to compliant archiving

The solution implemented with Intesa to digitize the exchange of documents with agencies across the territory allows Sorgenia’s operators to exchange contracts directly in digital format. The signer’s identity is verified by sending an OTP (One Time Password) code, which enables the Advanced Electronic Signature (AES) on a portal customized for Sorgenia.

«We moved from processes that were highly manual and needed to be accelerated, to digital tools that automate the processes, make them safer, more controlled, and guarantee our time-to-market» added Alessandro Bertoli.

As required under the regulations of the Codice dell’Amministrazione Digitale (CAD, Italy’s Digital Administration Code), once signed, each contract becomes immutable: the integrity of the information is guaranteed, and the document is archived and stored in compliance with regulations.

«The service allowed us first of all to achieve automation of this process, and subsequently to become autonomous and to be able to customize the procedures according to changing business needs, which in our sector start to change from month to month».

One solution, many benefits

While improving time-to-market is Sorgenia’s main objective, the solution provided by Intesa brings many other benefits with it: the significant reduction in paper consumption saves economic resources, but it also means the company’s environmental impact improves considerably. Digital management of contracts not only speeds up the exchange between headquarters and agencies, but also allows documentation to be accessed from mobile devices and reduces the chance of manual errors or lost documents. Finally, the use of an AES and of compliant contract archiving results in an overall increase in regulatory compliance for the company.

«We have experienced, and continue to experience, the digitalization of processes not so much as a finish line, but as a starting point. Tools like these enable continuous evolution and transformation, so that they become ever more aligned with business objectives and needs» concluded Alessandro Bertoli.