It’s common knowledge that if any business is going to survive, let alone thrive, they must adapt to change. The energy industry in particular has always been at the forefront of evolving its practices for a multitude of reasons. Vapo Oy is one of Finland’s leading energy suppliers, and they are taking a head-on approach to how they deal with change. Between critical factors of sustainability, climate change, government regulations, and the ever-changing landscape of technology, Vapo must stay on top of these issues and evolve accordingly.
The need to change for the climate
February is usually Finland’s coldest month, with temperatures averaging from -22 to -3°C (-7.6 to 26.6°F). For communities Vapo serves, having reliable heat is critical – especially in Lapland, where winter temperatures can drop to a staggering -50°C.
One of the main fuel sources used in Finland is peat, a naturally occurring deposit resembling soil and mostly comprised of decaying organic material. Working with us, they have begun to see the benefits of a more sustainable business model by changing how they utilize peat.
As of 2019, the Finnish government has enacted stronger environmental laws to combat the climate crisis. To shrink their carbon footprint, Vapo is looking to use peat even after it has been burned. By turning it into activated charcoal, they can use this new material for both air and water purification. Which in turn, provides numerous benefits their business, the environment, and adhering to government regulations.
The future of the energy industry
Vapo began using IBM Planning Analytics powered by TM1. Thanks to the solution, they were able to build an entire sales and planning environment based around ever-changing customer needs, along with solution ops for Vapo’s different types of business that feed their planning models. Because of this, Vapo is able to move from a legacy model to a sustainability model.
The results? Planning Analytics has reduced the complexity of their old models in use. This new model has already had an immediate impact on their daily processes, as of 2019 they were able to cut their processes by 50 percent.
Another immediate benefit of using Planning Analytics was that Vapo is able to build a capable analytics console with powerful visual aspects that they can utilize for their endeavors with their AI team.
IBM Planning Analytics, powered by IBM TM1, is an integrated planning solution designed to promote collaboration across the organization and help keep pace with the speed of modern business. With a powerful calculation engine, this enterprise performance management solution helps users move beyond the limits of spreadsheets, automating the planning process to drive faster, more accurate results.
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