Engie uses voice calling to optimise maintenance monitoring on its wind turbines

Engie Belgium is part of Engie, a multinational utility company in low-carbon energy and services. Engie Belgium decided to call on RingRing and Proximus for the implementation of a tailor-made application to optimise the management of their wind farms. Discover how the implementation of a tailor-made application went in this use case.

Engie strives to accelerate the transition towards a carbon-neutral economy, through the development of renewable energy production, reduced energy consumption and more environmentally-friendly solutions. The purpose brings together the company, its employees, its clients and its shareholders, and reconciles economic performance with a positive impact on people and the planet. To continue improving their impact and services, Engie decided to call RingRing to create a customised web interface into their system. They needed a customised interface and an automated voice calling system for their wind turbine maintenance service. 

How to improve processes when working with several stakeholders?

Engie has a control centre that manages all the wind turbines on site. Previously, the maintenance management system for wind turbines within Engie was not optimised. The basic system did not allow for an optimal follow-up of the interventions and efficient communication between technicians and control centre managers.

Engie worked with external technicians who called the control centre to give information about the maintenance of a particular wind turbine.

There were two necessary parts to the voice calling app: an inbound part where the technicians can call the control centre. An outbound part where the control centre can call back the technicians to get more information.

Indeed, control centre agents sometimes get a voice mailbox where information could be missing. This made data sharing more complex and time-consuming. That’s why Engie asked Proximus and RingRing for an optimal solution to resolve these issues.

Improve monitoring via a customised voice calling app 

To keep track of the status of the technician’s interventions on wind turbines and integrate everything into a clear database that is accessible to both technicians and Engie’s control centre agents, we used a voice calling app.

As Engie works with external agents that intervene on the wind turbine site, technicians must be able to inform the control centre of the various interventions that have been carried out. They must be able to provide all the necessary information every time and from everywhere. Engie also needs to have a precise follow-up of the actions carried out or being aware of the absence of the technicians for example.

Thanks to the customised voice calling app, Engie has a history of all the telephone conversations. If necessary, the control centre agents can listen to a conversation again to obtain the necessary information. In the case of an agent switch in the control centre, this call and intervention history is very useful.

Outbound voice calling, automated SMS and updated database

« We knew where we wanted to go and how we wanted to proceed but thanks to the workshops with the RingRing team, we got a real boost. We got help to see all the possibilities, advice on how to optimise the call flow etc. » Sven Van Proeyen, CIO Renewable Energy at Engie Belgium.

The biggest part of the process in a project like this is the workshops. « RingRing really challenged us to understand our needs and to find the solution that would meet all our requirements » says Sven, CIO Renewable Energy at Engie Belgium.

Hand in hand with the client, we have gone quite far in setting up the application:

One of the requests was that, depending on the technician’s intervention, certain information concerning the technical intervention can be linked to another. This makes it possible to obtain the entire history of interventions on the same wind turbine, for example. Even if several technicians have intervened on a single wind turbine.

Only the agents in the Engie control centre have access to the customised voice calling app. The connection is very secure thanks to the multi-factor authentication and the connection is simplified for the Engie agents thanks to the link between their Engie accounts and the platform. The little extra for the agents? it is possible to go on duty from their smartphone.

Dispatchers have 24/7 access to the platform to connect and be available for technicians. In case no dispatcher is reachable, the call will be indicated in “missed outbound call” on the interface. Agents can then easily sort out the missed calls and replay them or call the technician back if needed.

Finally, the SMS channel has been added. Technicians can send an SMS to the control centre instead of calling if needed. An automatic SMS system from the wind turbines has also been implemented. Automatic alerts from the wind turbines connected to the system send automatic SMS messages in case of technical problems.

Regarding the implementation, the development itself was quite short. The time spent on the project was appreciated
and allowed an efficient implementation. « RingRing understood our needs and worked with a qualified team that really knows its subject » says Sven CIO Renewable Energy at Engie Belgium.

An easy-to-use and flexible voice calling interface

The plus of the customised web interface created by RingRing is to offer a tool that allows easy access and transfer to the right contact person at Engie. The data and history of the wind turbines should ideally also be linked to other information.

The purpose of this custom dashboard was really to combine relevant data in an instantaneous way. Moreover, thanks to the flexibility of the interface, during very busy periods, it is possible to connect several people in the Engie control centre.

Quick and effective results with a custom voice calling solution

Previously, some incoming calls from technicians were missed. Now, with this new platform, everything is logged and the calls are in a detailed history. The content of the maintenance operations carried out on the wind turbines is also recorded on this platform and the information is updated live.

Engie’s request was to have standardised data to avoid errors and to have correct and up-to-date information. Thanks to this new voice calling app, all this data can be easily found. The dispatchers have access 7 days a week 24/24 to the platform to login and be available for the technicians. On their side, the technicians can also call at any time and will normally get an answer. Thanks to that system, no more calls are lost! « The great advantage of RingRing is the combination of IVR flow with customised application » says Sven Van Proeyen.

Have you ever thought about maximising your internal processes and improving communication with your stakeholders? Do not hesitate to contact our team of experts to analyse your needs.