Fueling Digitalization for Solar Industry Leader: Case Study
The solar industry is both exciting and very challenging. While the market is steadily growing, the competition remains intense. The dynamics of the PV market are rapidly changing due to technological innovations, shifts in government policy, and fluctuations in raw material prices. We are pleased to partner with a global solar energy leader to enhance the user-friendliness of their products and services and give the company a competitive edge. Discover how we facilitated digital transformation and delivered an app that is a great addition to their high-quality products.
Table of contents
The Challenge
The client realized that their offerings and services lacked a digital approach for users as well as B2B options for their business partners, primarily PV solar installers. With no prior experience in product development, they approached us to fill this critical gap.
The company had built its expertise and market leadership position in solar primarily by focusing on hardware, thus there was no in-house capability or know-how for creating digital products.
Our contribution ensured that the client could launch a robust app, effectively complementing their hardware expertise with our digital execution.
Why Boldare
Company stakeholders decided to choose Boldare largely because of our previous experience in the solar and renewable industry. They were especially impressed by our work with other industry leaders, such as Sonnen, and the digital transformation we supported for them.
They also praised our skilled development teams and designers. We offered the capability to start work quickly and deliver initial results rapidly, thanks to our Agile approach and the Scrum framework we use.
Additionally, we conducted a Product Discovery Workshop for the client, which proved to be a very valuable event and a deciding factor in choosing Boldare for collaboration.
Collaboration
During the Product Discovery Workshop, we gathered all the necessary information regarding business and user needs and decided to start working on the first digital platform for the company.
Initially, the app was supposed to be dedicated only to the company’s infrastructure installers and primarily addressed their needs. The focus then shifted, and our team developed an app that initially catered to end-users and was later complemented by a version for installers, in line with the original plan.
This means that today, both end customers and the company’s partners who handle the installation of their devices use a single application—SunPower One.
The Application
The application dedicated to the company’s customers offers:
- Access on Android and iOS platforms.
- The ability to track the operation and efficiency of individual devices installed in a customer’s home (solar panels, batteries, and inverters).
- Information about the functioning of the EV charger.
- Data on energy consumption and savings.
- Information on how much energy has been produced, consumed, or returned to the power grid.
- The SunPower One version dedicated to installers is used to properly connect and configure all devices and ensure they function properly.
The app is currently available in Europe and Australia, but will soon be available in other key regions as well.
The Team
The team working for the client, through various phases, consisted of:
- Frontend developers working on the mobile and web application
- Backend developers
- DevOps specialist
- UX/UI Designers
- Scrum Master
- Delivery Lead
- Tech Lead
We worked closely with the client team, Product Owners, and Business Owner who were supporting our team with their extensive business knowledge.
Technology Stack
The scope of technologies used included server-side JavaScript for backend development, a framework for building cross-platform mobile applications, a library for creating user interfaces, a framework for server-rendered React applications, all hosted on a leading cloud service provider’s infrastructure.
Summary
Over two years of our partnership, we have helped this industry leader with their digitalization, allowing us to enhance the user experience surrounding their main products. Using our software development, UX/UI design, and Agile expertise, we helped the company create a robust product development environment. Our team is currently focused on improving the SunPower One app, providing the client with the capability to outpace competitors in the solar energy market by leveraging our industry expertise in creating future-proof products.
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