We're excited to announce the release of Ecologic 3.0, the second major update of our mass market energy audit and retrofit platform.
One of the enduring realities of web-based technology is it's rapid rate of change. Technologies that are leading edge in one year are outdated the next and products that were once considered innovative rapidly become the norm.
Ecologic is no exception so we're excited to release a major update of our audit and retrofit platform.
Key improvements include:
- an upgraded web app that is quicker to download, more responsive, and reliable even with intermittent internet access
- enhanced scalability to allow energy advice and retrofits to be delivered at an unprecedented scale
- enhanced security including multi-factor authentication and federated identity and access management
Upgraded web app
People love the responsiveness, reliability and rich experience of mobile apps and web apps should be no different. However to provide a similar experience to mobile apps a new paradigm of web app has emerged, so-called 'progressive web apps'. Where traditional apps require a reliable web connection to service customers, progressive web apps can be loaded regardless of whether a web connection is available. To achieve this, progressive web apps store the app and its data locally on your device, with any local or external updates synchronised automatically when an internet connection is available.
The new progressive web app can now be installed on your home screen just like a mobile app.
- To install the app on an iOS device, click the 'share' button on the Safari browser and click 'Add to Home Screen'.
- To install the app on an Android device, click 'Add to Home Screen' on the prompt at the bottom of the app when loaded.
- To install the app on a desktop using Chrome, simply click the 'plus' button on the right of the navigation bar.
One advantage of a progressive web app over a mobile app is automatic background updates. If an update is available it will be automatically loaded in the background. You will then receive a notification in the bottom left corner of the app to switch over to the new version of the app.
The new app also provides support for push notifications, providing a new way to be updated when events of interest occur across the platform including new guides, tips, offers, or team member updates.
In combination our new progressive web app provides the same rich experience of a native mobile app without the hassle of downloading and updating the app via an app store.
Enhanced scalability
Our software was always designed as a mass market tool but is increasingly adopted by large clients with millions of customers. This increased scale requires us to keep pace with the latest advances in web technology. Most recently we completed a major upgrade of our cloud platform toward a 'micro services architecture' to provide maximum flexibility and scalability. Whereas in traditional applications most of the application logic takes place in a central web application, the app has been progressively split into a set of more specialised 'micro services', each communicating over the network independently. In addition to providing enhanced scalability, this architecture unlocks a range of exciting new features, particularly for partners seeking to use modular components of our capability.
Enhanced security
We have made several enhancements to our security features in the past year as we receive growing interest from large corporate clients.
Earlier in the year we rolled out support for multi factor authentication for all partners to provide an extra layer of security when signing into the tool. When activated, team members receive a prompt to enrol in an extra layer of security, using either a push notification, a one-time password or a text message.
We have also added support for federated identity and access management to better integrate with existing corporate security systems. We can now support a wide range of federated identity providers including Active Directory, ADFS, Azure Active Directory, Google Apps, LDAP, SAML-P, Sharepoint, IP Address and Office 365.
Our security has since been verified through an independent security assessment and penetration test, with a similar level of security to most major banks.
This means your private and confidential data is secured using best practice controls and procedures.