E.ON democratizes data analytics for 12,000 employees, generates key reports in minutes instead of days

E.ON provides networks and energy infrastructure to 48 million customers across Europe. This is a big responsibility, and the company needs up-to-date data to make strategic decisions. Since the second half of 2023, E.ON employees have been using Power BI for this purpose.

Power BI had a clear advantage over other tools in terms of interoperability with the Microsoft 365 platform. We face no obstacles in getting data to the right place. - Lars Hesse: Data Analyst, E.ON Energie Deutschland GmbH

Saving time and adapting to business needs

When he began his current role, Jan Finke, IT Service Owner, Business Intelligence and Visualization Technologies at E.ON Digital Technology GmbH, was tasked with advancing and scaling E.ON’s existing internal Power BI platform service. According to Finke, Power BI stood out as a great fit for a large, multifaceted company like E.ON and has since become the most in-demand data visualization product compared to the company’s alternative solutions. “Power BI is a particularly good match for us because we’re distributed across Europe but all share the same goal of developing our business,” explains Finke. “To do that, we need to make data-driven decisions.” Adds Lars Hesse, Data Analyst at E.ON Energie Deutschland GmbH, “Before, we had to present data either by showing it in Excel or creating a PowerPoint slide. And despite all our efforts gathering and compiling data, the reports didn’t always reflect the most up-to-date information.”

Hesse and his team also use the insights from Power BI to work more productively. “In the case of Power BI, the productivity comes with the automation,” he says. For example, to create monthly recurring reports, Hesse and his colleagues use a Power BI template that already includes E.ON branding and helps boost efficiency with automated updates to standard datasets. “This is a big change compared to how we did these reports in the past,” says Hesse. “It’s much more efficient to use Power BI to automatically update recurring reports with the latest data rather than manually creating those reports like we did in the past.” 

Working with Power BI to report content from within PowerPoint has proved to be another popular efficiency gain. “After we adopted Power BI, we discovered things we never dreamed of, such as the interoperability of the tool with PowerPoint,” recalls Hesse. “We now create PowerPoint presentations that incorporate live data. This was a major step toward becoming a leading-edge company that moves at the speed of business with the latest data always available.”

The centralized, flexible nature of Power BI suits E.ON well, especially considering that more than 65,000 employees use Teams as their go-to productivity platform. “Power BI had a clear advantage over other tools in terms of interoperability with the Microsoft 365 platform,” says Hesse. “We face no obstacles in getting data to the right place.”

Microsoft Teams appealed to E.ON decision-makers because they can adapt it to meet a variety of needs. “We have several hundred subsidiaries,” says Finke. “Depending on the business unit, technology requirements are quite different. We have very small units with just a few dozen employees who focus on innovation, and we have units with thousands of employees who operate on a totally different scale.”

E.ON uses Teams to balance standardization—an efficiency booster for any organization—with the level of customization that helps individual business units achieve their specific goals. Iury Fillies Santos, IT Service Owner, Collaboration Services at E.ON Digital Technology GmbH, says, “When it comes to making certain functionality available in Teams, like the ability to record a meeting, we can be precisely scoped and deliver services or features for just one segment of users. This helps us deliver the business value for local units while maintaining a centralized approach and overarching outlook as a service owner.” 

Sharing the benefits of data analytics with thousands of employees

Adopting Power BI inspired Hesse and his colleagues to launch a new data democratization effort at E.ON. “A big focus for my team is preparing datasets for internal audiences and training colleagues how to use Power BI to dive deeper into relevant data,” says Hesse. Today, the E.ON group has more than 1,400 active Power BI Premium workspaces, and enthusiasm for the solution is gaining momentum. Hesse continues, “It’s quite easy for employees of all experience levels to create a report in Power BI once they know a few basics.” He and his team also use the personalize visuals feature to create user-friendly reports that allow for a manageable level of customization. “We use the personalize visuals feature in Power BI to help focus on certain areas of interest and work more efficiently with a curated view of the data,” he says.

Most of the employees’ Power BI training takes place within the Teams platform. “For the E.ON Energie Deutschland GmbH segment of the business, we set up a team called ‘Self BI Hub’ where anyone with knowledge of or interest in Power BI can gather to learn more,” says Hesse. “We now see more and more people joining this journey and using Teams to share their success stories. It’s no longer just individuals looking for solutions to their use cases, it’s a community learning from each other.”

It’s quite easy for employees of all experience levels to create a report in Power BI once they know a few basics. - Lars Hesse: Data Analyst, E.ON Energie Deutschland GmbH

Combining Microsoft 365 tools for a highly interoperable, efficient experience

By combining Teams and Power BI, E.ON has created a richly interoperable, efficient experience for colleagues collaborating around data insights. “Using Power BI and Teams together brings even more value,” says Finke. “Teams helps connect the right people in our business while Power BI is the tool they use to support the right decisions.” E.ON employees save time by working on data visualization from within the Teams platform. They no longer need to switch between applications. “We find it’s easiest to use the Power BI app in Teams and begin collaborating with colleagues right within that window,” says Hesse.

Working together in the Teams platform also makes it easy to maintain a high standard of security. “We use Microsoft Entra ID groups to manage who has access to certain teams in the platform, and by default, we use that same method to control who has access to Power BI reports within Teams. It’s much easier than maintaining permissions some other way,” notes Hesse.

Using Power BI and Teams together brings even more value. Teams helps connect the right people in our business while Power BI is the tool they use to support the right decisions. - Jan Finke: IT Service Owner, Business Intelligence and Visualization Technologies, E.ON Digital Technology GmbH

Powering a more sustainable business with timely data

E.ON’s sustainability goals are directly tied to the company’s ambition to become more data driven. Finke explains, “The energy business is changing. We have a much more decentralized energy production that requires the energy network to adapt and learn how to use our grids effectively.” It comes down to making choices grounded in reliable insights and using data to conserve resources. “Making decisions based on timely data is a powerful way to reduce waste,” Finke continues. “We use Power BI to focus our resources in the right direction and deliver a positive business impact.”

After employees’ initial success with Power BI and Teams, E.ON is incorporating even more apps into the Teams platform and continuing to promote a culture of data-driven decision-making. “We see usage of the Power BI app in Teams increasing every day,” says Fillies Santos. “We also have a huge app catalog, and employees spreading the word about the benefits of adding applications to the Teams environment.” Whether it’s using data to allocate resources more thoughtfully, empowering employees with insights into their unique business areas, or collaborating more efficiently, E.ON has embraced a new way of working that matches the future-focused nature of the business. “We now see Power BI and Teams ase essential to how we work today,” says Finke. 

We use Power BI to focus our resources in the right direction and deliver a positive business impact. - Jan Finke: IT Service Owner, Business Intelligence and Visualization Technologie, E.ON Digital Technology GmbH

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