With a turnover of 8.5 million euros, UAB Energus is one of the fastest-growing energy efficiency providers in Lithuania. Following rapid business growth and a series of high-profile deals, the existing manual project management system proved inefficient and generated too much overhead. Energus decided to embark on a digital transformation journey. The company is gradually automating its processes using Microsoft Power Platform solutions Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI, together with Office 365, which has decreased manual work and enabled fast decision making.
Digital transformation can be overwhelming. Therefore, Energus decided to approach it one step at a time. The Lithuanian company turned to Acena, a trusted software integrator, to digitize its processes and gain greater control over project costs and execution. “Energus came to us with a single question, ‘How can we better track and optimize our projects’ profitability?’ They had a big business pain point, but when we started the discussion, it became clear that we should solve the problem in small steps,” says Marius Leščinskas, CEO at Acena.
Step-by-step digital transformation
The company selected several business areas to transform. First was invoice approval, which until now, had been entirely manual. “There were invoices everywhere; not all of them were coming to our finance department,” explains Gediminas Širvinskas, COO at UAB Energus. “We created an invoice registration system in SharePoint, so all documents are in one place, and the entire process is automated.” It is now easier to process and find invoices, and 20 percent less time is needed for invoice bookkeeping.
Next in line was timesheet tracking. “Before, workers filled in a huge Excel spreadsheet and sent it to the HR staff, who manually consolidated all data. It took about one week to complete,” says Širvinskas. “Now, the system takes care of everything. We collect all data through Power Apps and get reports and analytics through Power BI.” Thanks to Microsoft Power Automate, all information automatically feeds into the database, which helps the company save 30 percent of HR time.
Then came the integration of Microsoft Power BI reporting with the existing legacy accounting system, which provides managers with a single dashboard to investigate all project costs in real time. “We still use the old system, but connect all data to Power BI and analyze it there. We no longer have to ask the accountants every time we need a report. We just get it on our own in Power BI,” notes Širvinskas.
Streamlined processes, reinforced decision-making
Apart from cost-saving process automation, another key benefit of digital transformation for Energus is the ability to get timely project insights that enable nimble decision-making. “With Project Online, managers have visibility over projects every day and without much effort, so they can react immediately,” explains Leščinskas. “Now, we can see what happens in our company without delay, which allows us to make the right decisions at the right time,” adds Širvinskas.
The digital journey of Energus has just begun. Currently, the company is centralizing its communication and collaboration onto Microsoft Teams to support cross-company digitization even more, and is rolling out further transformation projects, all involving Power Platform solutions.
“Now, we can see what happens in our company without delay, which allows us to make the right decisions at the right time.”
Gediminas Širvinskas: COO, UAB Energus
Source: Energy efficiency company pursues digitization to enhance project delivery
