Onzo provides energy and water utilities with the tools that enable them to build more valuable relationships with their customers, dramatically enhancing their understanding of, and ability to influence, their customers’ behaviour.
Those tools include a comprehensive and engaging set of customer touchpoints (display, web, electronic media, printed report) and a data analytics platform. They improve customer acquisition and retention; improve the return on investment of smart grid, smart metering, and demand response programmes; can fulfil regulatory requirements; and provide a platform for value-added services.
Onzo’s Professional Services team helps utilities to shape projects in these areas, integrate with existing utility initiatives and maximise the potential of Onzo’s offerings within them.
Onzo – Live lighter. Live smarter.
Latest Press Releases
Invest in Consumer Tools To Save Energy, Says Onzo
London, 2nd July 2009
Onzo, the global provider of unique products and services that help utilities build strong customer relationships, has welcomed the recent report of the New Zealand Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, which recognises that smart meters, as they are generally being installed at the moment, have only limited benefit to consumers or to the environment. Onzo calls for energy retailers to supplement them with other tools.
Nick Lonie, Onzo’s Australia and New Zealand Director, explains, “The installation of smart meters is a good first stage in reducing energy usage and cutting carbon emissions. The next step requires effective customer engagement. Research shows that energy monitoring displays are one very effective tool for reducing consumption and shifting use from peak times. Work carried out by Onzo has found that the energy saved through the use of displays could amount to as much as 13 per cent of the total”.
Displays are not, however, the only way for retailers to provide information about energy use. Other means, such as web sites, printed reports, and messages sent to mobile telephones all have their part to play. Onzo believes it would be a mistake for the government to be too specific over how consumers acquire knowledge about energy. The company’s view is that the objective of providing information rather than how this is done should be stipulated. Leaving it to the retailers, rather than to the government, to decide how that objective should be met would encourage both innovation and competition.
According to Joel Hagan, Chief Executive of Onzo,” If energy retailers are to avoid the threat of intrusive regulation, now is the time for them to act by investing in consumer-orientated tools”.
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Onzo welcomes call for universal broadband
LONDON – 3rd JUNE 2009
Onzo, the makers of consumer-focussed monitoring systems for the home, today welcomes the findings of a panel of Government advisers, which show that UK consumers now believe that a broadband connection is as vital to their lives as electricity and water.
Almost three-quarters of UK consumers - 73% - questioned by the Communications Consumer Panel said that having a high-speed internet connection was as important as any other utility in their home.
For a long time Onzo has been calling for the universal provision of broadband and now hopes that the proposal will form part of Lord Carter’s Digital Britain review, which is due to be published later this month.
Onzo calls for the many tentative aspects of the draft report, in particular questions on how the universal provision of broadband will be paid for and what the timeframe will be, to be resolved in the final version.
Joel Hagan, Onzo’s Chief Executive, said: “It is important that these questions should be answered so that broadband provision can occur alongside the roll out of smart meters by 2020 to which the government is also committed.
“Smart meters have the potential to be part of a hub for the provision of a wide range of beneficial services, such as home healthcare, home security and water management, but this will not be realised without the general availability of more sophisticated ICT infrastructure.”
He added: “Smart meters and broadband must march hand in hand if the consumer is really to benefit from the technological revolution of the 21st Century”
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Good news for British business as eight UK companies win prestigious red dot product design awards
21st April 09
Eight UK companies have been awarded prestigious red dot product design awards in 2009.
According to the award's organisers the record breaking 3,231 entries received for the red dot award: product design 2009, from a total of 49 nations, is testimony to the significance given to design by international companies within the current climate: the design value of a company is becoming a decisive factor in weathering the economic crisis.
Representatives from all the winning UK companies will come together on Thursday 23rd April to celebrate and explain what winning means to them. During a private reception between 5 and 6pm at Colebrook Bosson Saunders' London showroom there will be the opportunity for members of the press to meet the eight winning companies, gather more information and ask questions.
The diversity of the winning products highlights not only the strength of product design in the UK and the value that UK companies place upon design, but also the breadth of expertise and success in diverse sectors of design and manufacturing. The British winners are:
- Robert Welch Designs for "Signature" kitchen knives and knife block with built-in sharpener
- Onzo with its "Smart Energy Kit" home energy monitoring system
- Andrew Actman for "Reykjavik Eyes" optical frame
- Dura with "Dura Integrated Workshop System" a modular range of steel furniture
- Colebrook Bosson Saunders with its "Rodney" monitor support arm
- Revo Technologies with "Revo BLOK" an iPod sound system
- Kenwood for "Kenwood FS620" food steamer
- Vertu for its "Vertu Signature" mobile phone
The red dot organisers firmly believe that design quality can be a way out of the current economic crisis, stating "the companies that offer the highest added value through design during the crisis also have much better chances of surviving, compared to their less creative competitors." Design expert and founder of the red dot design award Professor Dr. Peter Zec states "for those companies that take advantage of the red dot design award and face a tough international comparison it will also be easier to find suitable investors."
For the British winners of the red dot product design award the value is tangible: "it's a fantastic stamp of approval and recognition that we are able to compete in the international business arena with our new products. The red dot design award is recognised in almost every country in the world now as a sign of quality, creativity and success," says Colebrook Bosson Saunders Director Peter Bosson.
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Enquiries:
For further press information please contact Lucie Parkin by email press@cbsproducts.co.uk or telephone 0208 693 9884 / 07980 649 308
For all other enquiries contact Colebrook Bosson Saunders sales@cbsproducts.co.uk or telephone 020 7940 4266
Note to editors:
Colebrook Bosson Saunders (CBS Products) design and manufacture innovative and elegant solutions that create space and comfort for people in a wide range of application areas. As technology develops at an ever increasing rate, so too do the opportunities to create stylish products to make that technology more meaningful to people's lives.
CBS's award winning products bridge the gap between furniture and technology, giving people the space and freedom to live and work in an environment designed around them. Through extensive expertise in ergonomics CBS create adjustable work spaces that promote a healthy and productive working environment.
CBS has a truly global presence; with offices in Europe, the USA, Australia and Japan, supporting a world-wide network of manufacturers, dealers and distributors.
www.colebrookbossonsaunders.com
Red Dot Design Award
The red dot design award dates back to 1955. With around 11,000 entries from over 60 nations, the award is now the world's largest and most distinguished design competition. It breaks down into the three different disciplines "red dot award: product design", "red dot award: communication design" and "red dot award: design concept".
The UK ranks 16th in the world (with 8 British businesses winning awards for their products), this does not include the multitude of British designers and design consultancies that have created winning designs for international companies, such as PearsonLloyd and Foster and Partners. It also excludes International companies who have their origins in the UK but have made entries as German companies, such as Dyson, which won a plethora of awards as "Dyson GmbH". Other world famous names to have entered and won red dot product design awards this year include Apple for the "iPod nano"; Electrolux and Sony Corporation Tokyo, who picked up a mass of product design awards.
Facts about the red dot design award:
- The number of participating companies has increased by 16% in 2008/09
- 3,231 entries for red dot award for product design in 2009
- Entries received from 49 nations
- 17% of all awards went to Asia this year
