Hancock Software: Integrated Mobile App for Utility Field Personnel

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Lily Li, Founder & CEO, Hancock SoftwareLily Li, Founder & CEO
Lily Li may be small in stature, but she’s mighty when it comes to the mobile apps her company provides. In an arena where electric and gas utilities are forced to become innovative with their customer offerings, Lily, founder and CEO of Hancock Software Inc., is there to meet the challenge.

Utilities struggle to provide quality data, leading them to seek out new software platforms. According to Lily, scaling energy efficiency operations in the digital era is not just about shifting to a new software platform. It’s about revamping the entire business process and operating models. Constantly reforming to meet technological and social trends, the utility field services arena is going through a profound transformation, and it’s an exciting time for Hancock Software to be selected in the Top 10 Field Service Solution Providers.

Hancock Software develops mobile apps for building energy audits. The apps are integrated into cloud solutions, enabling utilities to add mobile to their already mature software suite. The major challenge for energy efficiency providers, is that energy efficiency evaluation of buildings involves auditors armed with pen and paper, who walk around the facility as they assess and research ways to save energy. It is up to the auditors to come up with an offering that is site-specific, which will include multiple improvements that are unique to that facility.

Therefore, it’s typical that these types of retrofit projects are characterized by an extensive onsite energy assessment and analysis. This conventional approach makes the process of auditing drawn-out and costly. Scanning large portfolios of buildings turns auditing more complicated as the accuracy of data collected during the inspection is questionable. Moreover, this process is characterized by trailing paperwork and fails to provide an in-depth analysis. In order to derive economic gains, finding a solution to the inefficient use of energy, maintaining the assets, and controlling operating expenses are imperative. To this end, Hancock Software offers software solutions that recommend energy upgrades, quantify savings, and automate incentives and retrofit reimbursements. Boasting an industry experience of over fifteen years, Hancock Software has a clientele that includes utility companies, weatherization state government grantees, energy efficiency providers, and contractors.

Hancock Software’s Mint app is the only mobile application in the market that supports ASHRAE Level 2 audits and proposals offline.

The Mint mobile field app makes a complex energy efficiency process seem simple. Step into the building, identifying what’s there, and let the technology tell you what improvement to make. The data aggregation, analysis, it’s all at your fingertips

“The Mint mobile field app makes a complex energy efficiency process seem simple. Step into the building, identifying what’s there, and let the technology tell you what improvements to make. The data aggregation, analysis, it’s all at your fingertips,” says Lily. Mint can be accessed by almost all smart tablets including Apple, Android and Windows platforms. The mobile app is pre-populated with thousands of library items and proposes energy savings recommendations using an advanced algorithm developed by the company. Hancock Software permits using the app in offline mode in addition to tailoring it per the needs of the customer. Lily explains that personalization of the application is essential because of a range of different customer necessities as energy consumption varies from building to building. “We collect structured data rather than gathering piecemeal information of a building,” states Lily. Once the data is collected offline, the user can upload it to Hancock Software’s Energy Efficiency Cloud, which gives them the data analysis and quality of data they want.

The system replaces paper forms and excel data entry with advanced software while enhancing client education in regard to achieving energy efficiency. Facilities that participate in a utility’s energy efficiency rebate program know it to be a drawn-out process for incentives to be approved and verified. Hancock Software’s cloud services take the struggle away from the utility with validating and approving incentives. Hancock’s solution can be used to verify and approve incentives on the go, reducing complications.

Lily, a veteran CEO, recounts the story of the State of Louisiana, a customer of Hancock that deployed a solution to manage the state’s federal LIHEAP and weatherization programs. In the years leading up to then, the government institution was gathering information by hand to then enter into locally developed systems. These data collection systems offered only limited client-data analysis, had no provision for understanding the demographics of the population served, and could not report historical trends. Hancock Software completed the project on time enabling the client to shorten the delay from the client’s application to payment.

The mobile app recently introduced new features such as site sketching and drawing. The process to integrate voice commands and controls is on the way. It’s easy to tell Lily and her company, Hancock Software Inc., are focused on the future of energy efficiency.