20 August 2019 – Adelaide, South Australia
Buddy Technologies Limited (“Company”) (ASX:BUD), a leader in IoT and cloud-based solutions for making spaces smarter, is pleased to announce that it has executed an agreement with Ireland-based Wattics Limited (“Wattics”) to integrate Wattics’ enhanced energy analytics and reporting into the Buddy Ohm platform, while introducing real-time monitoring and alerting to Wattics’ customers.
Wattics is a leading energy and business analytics software company with offices in Ireland and Germany that provides tools to energy consultants, utilities, energy service companies and facilities managers focused on managing energy consumption in commercial and industrial facilities. Wattics’ advanced analytics are trusted by companies such as the Dalata Hotel Group (Ireland’s largest), Dell, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, the Coats Group (multi-billion dollar industrial textiles company) and Bisagni Environmental Enterprise (energy managers for Burberry, Cisco, Prada, Panerai and Yves St. Laurent). This new partnership will seek to cost-effectively deliver on a commitment by Buddy to bring advanced energy and business analytics with powerful reporting capabilities to the Buddy Ohm platform. Further, this agreement provides Wattics with the ability to resell the Buddy Ohm real-time monitoring and alerting solution to their customer base of energy consultants and facilities managers.
The partnership with Wattics is governed by a master services agreement and is for an indefinite term, noting that either party can terminate this arrangement by giving thirty days’ notice. Deployment of the functionality contemplated by this arrangement is anticipated to assist the Company in delivering on its stated targets, in particular with selling into customers seeking regulatory and auditing/reporting assistance in the UK/EU markets (refer to the Company’s ASX announcements in respect to this being a sought after customer base).
Buddy and Wattics have agreed on a nominal per-customer fee to be paid by Buddy in exchange for a license to the Wattics analytics toolset which will be integrated into the Buddy Ohm web and mobile experience. Buddy will include this new offering within its Buddy Ohm software-as-a-service (SaaS) revenue model (which aside from the negotiated fee, will all remain with Buddy), and all existing customers will gain access to these new analytics upon first rollout. As with any SaaS product with a recurring revenue model, the product must be continually upgraded and improved. Buddy considers this partnership with Wattics provides the most cost effective (and shortest time to market) means for doing that.
The Wattics product contains highly tailored analytics tools such as the Formula Composer, machine-learning Sentinel Trends and customised Measurement and Verification (M&V) tools that are expected to advance the capabilities of Buddy Ohm, in particular for customers with reporting or regulatory compliance requirements. As markets such as the UK and EU introduce regulatory obligations around energy reporting and auditing, the application of hefty fines for non-compliance adds new urgency to customers seeking tools like Buddy Ohm with Wattics’ level of analytics.
“We are very excited about Buddy adopting our software to accelerate the usage of our energy analytics across the world and we look forward to what the future holds for our industry,'' said Antonio Ruzzelli, Wattics CEO. “Since day one, Wattics has believed that the companies of tomorrow are those that look closely at their energy performance, respect the environment and embrace sustainability today. It is great to see all of this taking shape."
Figure 1. Example analytics reports from Wattics to be integrated into Buddy Ohm
Figure 2. Reports developed by request from energy consultants by Wattics will now become a core component of the Buddy Ohm resource monitoring platform.
Figure 3. Analysis of energy consumption is now becoming a regulatory requirement in parts of the world. Integration of Wattics’ toolset is expected to greatly enhance the Buddy Ohm platform capabilities.
"We are always on the lookout for opportunities to bring world-class technology into the Buddy Ohm platform, and were delighted to discover the value and benefits of the analytics that the Wattics platform can bring to our customers,'' said Travis Gerber, CEO of Buddy’s Commercial Business. “Integrating this technology into our Buddy Ohm platform will provide customers with a whole new level of insight and capability that directly meets the growing needs of a nascent but evolving market”.
The partnership with Wattics is pursuant to a Master Services Agreement with an indefinite term, but which can be terminated by either party with thirty days notice. Deployment of the functionality contemplated by the agreement helps the Company to deliver upon its stated targets, in particular with selling into customers seeking regulatory and auditing/reporting assistance in the UK/EU markets (refer to the Company’s ASX announcements in respect to this being a sought after customer base). At this time however, the Company is unable to offer any guidance on revenue due to the implementation of the functionality contemplated by this agreement.
