Ijenko is a young company majoring home-based energy management. It offers an individual consumption optimization with a full solution including a box, connected objects and a web platform. Its white-label products and services are available, to operator partners (energy providers, distribution network managers, access providers…), through a SaaS platform. Ijenko entrusted af83 to design the assistance module for the box and sensors setup, and integrate it within the existing web platform.

CHALLENGES

Controlling their power consumption without sacrificing their comfort is a challenge for the individuals who want to cut their costs while keeping the same life quality, but also for the providers: they want to predict their clients’ needs to smooth their production and offer relevant services. Offering an intelligent remote heater, which allows money savings without comfort loss, is a flagship service from an operator to its clients.

In this fast-growing industry keeps, new competitors and offers keep surging, but they remain quite complex, especially for the everyday tools use. Ijenko differentiates itself from its competitors thanks to innovating, intuitive and user-friendly services.

We faced several challenges:

• Reducing the setup complexity;
• Accompanying the user not only in the handling, but also in the duration, in order to ensure a stable follow-up;
• Integrating the new module in the actual online account, while revamping the interface to make it more modular allow future evolutions.
• Designing a module available on various devices: computer, tablet and smartphones.

METHODOLOGY AND OUTPUTS

The collaboration with Ijenko’s technical team has been very tight to make sure about the considered solutions feasibility. The interaction design took into account the way we use each device, and whether it’s tactile or not.

To answer the system complexity, we put our focus on breaking down the setup into steps and structuring the interfaces and information. We took a linear approach for the setup process, strengthened by many marking elements (breadcrumb, steps display, progress, etc.). The online account evolved to integrate the module and new services related to heating.

RESULTS

The module easily guides the user, even in the most complicated setup cases. The project has also been the opportunity to optimize the online account, the navigation system and the homepage.