There are companies that have come a long way over the years. And then there’s EDP Comercial. Since its founding almost 50 years ago, the company has gone from a small Portuguese utility to a global leader in managing the transition to clean energy.

How did it do it? There are many chapters to a decades-long story, of course. But one in particular stands out to Pedro Maia, Director of IT, Data, BI and Analytics.

It was the stage when EDP Comercial was growing at a rate that wasn’t sustainable with the systems it had in place. The company just couldn’t get its arms around all the data it was generating – which meant that employees were struggling to figure out where to start when trying to use data to make decisions.

“The main challenge we had was how to navigate through the whole ocean of data we had, and give business units the ability to trust that data,” Maia remembers. “We needed to ensure all our business units were aligned with the meanings and figures.”

Fast forward a few years and EDP Comercial – which now operates in 28 countries across three continents – is well beyond that key hurdle it needed to overcome to move at the pace leadership desired. It’s turned data into an asset, which has not only enabled it to modernise but also power toward its primary goal of making renewables the sole source of all the energy it generates by 2023.

Flipping the Switch

EDP Comercial’s turning point began in earnest when the executive team signed off on the IT department’s proposal to find and implement the best solution to its data problem.

After some digging and analysis, Maia and his fellow data experts chose Domo, a US-based software as a service company that specialises in helping organisations all over the world make more out of their data, resources, and people – which, in turn, enables them to drive better business outcomes.

It didn’t take long for Maia to realise EDP Comercial had selected the right partner. Domo’s team of consultants were quick to understand EDP Comercial’s key challenges, requirements and opportunities. And they were ready, willing, and able from day one to help EDP Comercial build the structure necessary to bring all of its data, from all of the various markets the team works in, into the Domo platform.

“We wanted to manage data as a corporate asset, and Domo was a good listener,” Maia says. “They helped us draw up a framework, an architecture and a governance model that helped us achieve that.”

Powering Insight

With such a strong foundation in place, EDP Comercial could then do what it always wanted to: democratise data across the entire organisation, which employs more than 12,000 people. It did this by eliminating the need to search multiple systems for information, and underwent training sessions aimed at getting business users up to speed on the Domo platform fast.

More than 500 people at EDP Comercial now use Domo daily – and that number is growing by the week. It is reliable, and it saves them time.

“Domo helped us avoid the spread of thousands of tools across the organisation while ensuring that data is certified,” Francesco Costigliola, Deputy Director of Business Intelligence and Advanced Analytics at EDP Comercial, says.

“That is something that changed how we work a lot. Instead of searching for data, extracting it and building their own analytics, users just access it directly from Domo for faster insight.”

Positive Energy

By improving its ability to leverage data in decision-making processes, EDP Comercial is now positioned to lead the way in delivering sustainable energy around the world for years to come. The team can respond to challenges quickly and with intelligence, and they can focus more on building and executing the kinds of projects that add value to the business.

They can do it themselves, too. But they’ll always have the support of Domo as they continue to evolve as a company and reshape the energy sector for the better.

“It has been a privilege to partner and work closely with such an innovative and forward-thinking institution,” says Amir Jamal-Hanjani, Regional Director, Iberia at Domo. “It is remarkable to see how EDP Comercial is transforming the way our world is working for the better.”