Codensa: Crystallizing Its Social Commitment Through the Cloud
About CODENSA
Codensa is the #1 electric power company in Colombia and a member of the third largest international group in the industry, with 60 million customers worldwide. Its main purpose is to operate responsibly and in harmony with the environment through sustainable development
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Contact usCodensa came across an archeological site, which posed the challenge of having to disseminate public interest information digitally in less than a month.
Google Cloud results
- In just one week, Google Cloud's cybersecurity certification was approved in the audit conducted by the company.
- Thanks to Google Maps, the company has a historical record with 360° geolocalized images that allow it to perform an evolution analysis of its electrical infrastructure.
- Had Codensa used its own infrastructure to disseminate the archeological discovery, it would have been forced to make an investment of around USD50,000.
Codensa was able to implement a completely new project in only 15 days. With any other technology, it would have taken them between 6 months to one year.
Codensa is the #1 electric power company in Colombia and a member of the third largest international group in the industry, with 60 million customers worldwide. Its main purpose is to operate responsibly and in harmony with the environment through sustainable development. Based in Bogota, with over 40 customer service offices, the company supplies electric power to nearly 3 million customers in that city.
The company creates shared value with the communities, being a long-term ally in terms of sustainability so it is in the ongoing search for tools that enable its purpose, supported by one thousand employees and 6 thousand contractors.
Discovering New Solutions to New Needs
In 2017, Codensa came across an archeological discovery while working on an electric infrastructure development project in the municipality of Soacha, Nueva Esperanza, Colombia. This finding became the largest and most important of the century, being the first within the Republic of Colombia: 8 hectares with 30 tons of archeological remains that belong to a settlement of a community that preceded the Muisca people.
The archeological discovery posed an enormous technical challenge for Codensa as, given its social commitment, the company wanted to publicly announce the findings at a great scale and in a very short period of time. As a consequence of the discovery, research was done to find out how the community used to live and their habits, creating new, very valuable knowledge. The company wished to make this information available to the public through a virtual museum, a website and video games to supplement the physical museum that was opened in the town, so the information would have greater reach being in digital form. Codensa, however, had neither the infrastructure nor the capacity to mount such project on the architecture it had at the time.
Thus, Codensa needed to find a quick, reliable, easy-to-deploy solution observing the highest quality standards, as its reputation and the impact of the project depended on it. So, they decided to run the project using Google Cloud tools.
Crystallizing New Projects in No Time
Using Google Cloud tools, Codensa was able to disseminate the archeological discovery through a digital infrastructure in just 15 days. Had it used other technologies, the project would have come to life in 6 months or even a year.
Before extending the use of Google Cloud tools, Codensa held a cybersecurity audit to check that the server had the level of security necessary to deploy the project across the company. In just one week, the certification was approved with no objections and Google Cloud services were largely integrated with the company's architecture.
"Google Cloud was one of the most quickly approved applications in terms of security."
—Rodolfo García, Head of Innovation Observatory at Codensa Enel.Because of the high complexity of Google Cloud, Codensa was able to use several servers at the same time, expanding its possibilities and leveraging the best of each tool.
Through the Google Maps business license, the company knows the exact location of its entire electric infrastructure, that is, its power substations and transmission lines, and has access to a historical record with 360° images that allow it to run an evolution analysis of such infrastructure where they can pinpoint any easement violation or urban development.
"Google Maps offers us complete and precise information, available instantly in the cloud without the need for more training of the personnel that checks that information. If we didn't have these tools, the information we could gather would be very limited and would force our staff to physically visit the sites."
—Rodolfo García, Head of Innovation Observatory at Codensa Enel.Thanks to the speed at which the Google Cloud technology runs, Codensa's developers are able to conduct several tests and try pilot project solutions, exploring the different capabilities they might eventually create. An example of these pilot projects is the analysis of images through Machine Learning to determine when urban constructions get too close to power lines, posing a risk.
The Benefits of Google Cloud
Codensa managed to achieve greater speed in project execution, with high security standards. The project that arose as a result of the archeological discovery was implemented in just 15 days without the need to add personnel, thanks to accessible and easy-to-configure tools. The project's website currently has over 50,000 visits.
Another benefit achieved by the company was the improvement of tool efficiency, with massive reach, using digital methods to disseminate public interest knowledge, such as the archeological discovery, instead of using traditional methods that would also require working with external agents, such as government agencies. Had the company used its own infrastructure, it would have had to invest about USD50,000.
Generally speaking, all information management areas have been benefited by the deployment of Google Cloud. Through the Google Cloud, their processes are now easier and they have been able to determine with precision and a forward-looking approach which sites should be acquired and where to install infrastructure to better serve customers, avoiding any impact on the environment and public health.
Tell us your challenge. We're here to help.
Contact us
About CODENSA
Codensa is the #1 electric power company in Colombia and a member of the third largest international group in the industry, with 60 million customers worldwide. Its main purpose is to operate responsibly and in harmony with the environment through sustainable development