With all the data points residing in a single platform, BLACKSTART provides unprecedented levels of accuracy and detail

The firm has also worked hard to ensure that any ESCO can easily run their entire book of business through their application without the need for external tools. “Nevertheless, should an ESCO still want to use external applications, our platform is built utilizing a web-service architecture, allowing easy integration with third party applications like Salesforce,” states Cho. In addition, BLACKSTART is built to handle both internal and external agencies and brokers, making commissions easy to track. “For companies looking to restrict user access, we have multiple fine-tuned levels of user permissions, along with historical user tracking to improve accountability,” affirms Cho.

With over a decade of experience as a Database Administrator, Cho assures that the platform is built with speed, stability, and scalability in mind. In one instance, an Ende client was “flying in the dark” due to the lack of data accuracy and transparency when trying to hedge their wholesale purchasing. Their previous applications’ stability was a constant issue with crippling slow-downs and crashes. Additionally, many of their daily pricing updates required manual updates by software developers, causing significant delays in being able to work with the latest data. BLACKSTART not only relieved them of these challenges, but also unearthed a huge number of data integrity issues throughout their entire electric and gas systems.

Forging ahead, “We have plans to release a broker and agency portal, allowing brokers and agencies to view all their customers and contracts and to sign/renew new contracts easily and quickly,” says Cho. “This will be followed up with a customer portal, allowing existing customers to view their usage in near real-time and manage their respective accounts.