As fossil fuel giant Shell Energy looks to pivot its business to hit 2050 net-zero targets, the firm has been rolling out an innovative new platform centred on alternative energies. The innovative retail energy offering was supported by Coeus Consulting.
Historically operating within oil and gas, Shell needed to launch a new, renewable energy business for the retail market as part of their transformation into a carbon-neutral organisation by 2050. In order to do this, while winning customers via a competitively priced renewable offering, the company needed to build a new business in just nine months.
This would also require the use of leading technology in a highly competitive, digital marketplace, however. Since Shell had limited knowledge of the global retail market, customer requirements and digital technology, it sought the help of external experts. Shell engaged advisory firm Coeus to help with its technology transformation.
According to a release from Coeus, the UK-based consultancy team helped Shell Energy in the Netherlands to “deliver a new, digital consumer offering, within aggressive time frames and a tight client budget”. This involved the firm delivering strategy and software vendor sourcing, as well as running the project and launching the new business.
The successful delivery of the project enabled Shell to launch a new retail energy business within the Netherlands. As the platform is rolled out globally, this is expected to lead to up to $100 million in revenue, and 2 million extra retail energy customers. That is not to say the initiative came without difficulties, however.
At times the project was so challenging that Shell had “C-Level talks around stopping the build”, Coeus’ statement noted. Without the consultancy team driving the project, it added, it is highly likely “the business would not have been launched within the timeframe – or may have been abandoned.” In the end, though, Coeus was not only successful in delivering on time, the consultancy even persuaded Shell and its global vendors to collaborate to create a combination of multiple SaaS products, delivering differentiated, affordable solutions for future innovation.
Awards nod
The project was deemed so impressive that it has since been shortlisted for the Management Consultancies Association’s 2022 MCA Awards. Coeus made the shortlist drawn up by an independent panel of judges for the highly prestigious Technology Transformation category.
A release from the MCA said the judges shortlisted projects due to, “demonstration of a successful consulting project which has delivered a fundamental technology transformation for a client with clear sustainable benefits delivered for the organisation and using innovative techniques.”
Ben Barry, Director, Coeus Consulting, said of the news, “When we founded Coeus in 2013, our mission was to disrupt the dominance of the established players in the management consultancy industry. Being shortlisted for this award, with such a prestigious client, confirms that we are well on our way to achieving this goal.”
