At Enel, innovation is present in all our areas, motivating us to explore new ways of providing products and services in line with the technological advances that are developed both in our country and around the world.
In the framework of this crucial search for creative alternatives, the Innovation Hub program arose in 2016, an initiative that functions as a hotbed of start-ups and a platform for the development of innovative tools, that have allowed us to adapt to the constant changes in the environment, improve our services, and generate added value for our customers.
Based on this program, "#Pago" was developed, the Uanbai start-up that currently allows our customers to pay their electricity bill through social networks, transforming Enel into the first company in the world to offer this alternative. Founded by Francisco Troncoso and Iván Kruze, this company focuses on Disruptive Payments, hosting the payment process in direct Twitter and Facebook messages.
Through this program, Unabai found the impetus it needed to test their work capacity and apply their innovation together with Enel. "Working with Enel is huge for startups like Uanbai, since it not only forced us to work with the highest technical and safety standards, but, thanks to Enel, we obtained an important validation in the face of the Payment Media industry," commented Francisco.
Stories like Unabai have been repeated in time. Another example is Chattigo, a startup responsible for developing and implementing a "Bot", or virtual assistant, which helps the customer to report an electrical emergency or a power outage in his home, sector, or in street lighting, reducing by 80% the time required to report an incident and obtain a response in an expeditious and automatic manner. Ramcey Puigmarti, one of the developers of Chattigo, said that by applying their products to a company of Enel's size, puts to test the capacities of these projects: "The most important challenge for us was to meet the expectations that Enel had in the project, work with the innovation team of a large company, and be able to satisfactorily meet the defined deadlines."
Tireless in the quest to open up to new associations, Enel Santiago Innovation Hub continues to open its doors to ventures that make the world a smarter place in the use of energy, where through the challenge of Enel X we seek to "take advantage of the various points of interaction and contact with customers to simplify and improve the shopping experience in the Enel Store."
All interested start-ups can find information and apply to the Enel Santiago Innovation Hub by going to http://openstartup.uddventures.udd.cl/