The enPORTAL managing directors Clemens Graf von Wedel and Rainer Otto report on the successful business year 2018 and look ahead to 2019.

The 2018 financial year was extremely successful for enPORTAL. What is the secret of the strong growth?

Rainer Otto: Prices on the energy exchange have risen sharply since spring 2018. This led to panic among many energy buyers from the industrial and commercial sectors, as they were unable to react as quickly to the changes offline. With our successful online marketplace, an online tender for electricity and gas can be implemented in no time. Uploading and depositing the relevant energy data as well as the entire tendering process can be completed quickly thanks to the support of an individual account manager. Many new customers have recognised this and taken the opportunity to convert their energy purchasing process completely digitally with us - with immense savings in time and costs. Our secret is therefore to offer digital, highly automated services with personal customer support and maximum competition among 620 suppliers.

Are you planning numerous innovations to the online portal? What developments will there be?

Clemens Graf von Wedel:  enPORTAL is one of the first providers of fully digital energy procurement of electricity and gas in the B2B sector. We have been on the market for 11 years and would like to remain a pioneer with our offer in the future. We therefore see it as necessary to constantly optimise our online portal as well as the work steps behind it. On the one hand, the online portal is getting a new, stylish look. The design is a bit outdated and will therefore be modernised. In recent years, we have developed many additional tools to our core business, which cannot be perfectly represented in our old structure. This will also change the usability: it will be even clearer, more intuitive and the entire process can then also be controlled from mobile devices. This is important for buyers who are often on the road and do not always have their laptops at hand. Since all details of each delivery point are stored in the cloud in our portal, our customers have always been able to access them from anywhere at any time, and in future they will also be able to process them via smartphone and tablet. The developments thus increase customer benefit, but also make it easier for our customer service team and suppliers to work in the online portal.

With the "enPORTAL market leader" you are planning a novelty for suppliers. What exactly will you be offering in the future?

Clemens Graf von Wedel: The total of 620 energy supply companies and municipal utilities in our portal diligently participate in numerous tenders every year. In future, you will be able to evaluate the results and prices anonymously and thus optimise your sales. We offer a detailed overview of market events with numerous evaluation options, which can be booked for a fee in various versions. The market launch is planned for the second quarter of 2019, when we will provide more detailed information.

With what result and what goals are you looking forward to 2019?

Rainer Otto: Our result is in the double-digit percentage range and, as in previous years, is a guarantee for high investments, steady growth and the expansion of our pioneering role as an energy purchasing platform for industrial and commercial customers. We are therefore optimistic and full of energy for the new business year.