Energy

Octopus Energy's Tentacles of Innovation

Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Technology Stack: Next.js, AWS OpenSearch, in-house tech platform Kraken

2 weeks build For retail website
2/3↓ requests for engineer support
5 minutes to release new website versions

Managing content and delivering energy to 8 markets can be quite similar to the vast ocean - full of challenges, but rich with opportunities. Octopus Energy chose Storyblok as a compass and they are no longer swimming against the tide. Streamlined content operations, reduced developer intervention, lightning-fast launches, and smoother customer experiences - Octopus Energy powers innovation in renewable energy!

Storyblok's Visual Editor empowers our content editors to click on the content they want to change and see the results in real-time. This enabled us to roll out Storyblok at speed with zero training, and our teams around the world have taken to it like ducks to water.

Aaron Cawte Senior Front-end Developer at Octopus Energy

Peak performance for global website roll-outs

Empowering teams and accelerating results: Octopus Energy has a new content creation structure with Storyblok. Publishing time has been cut by 1-2 days, with simple updates being delivered instantly. Developers are no longer disrupted with content tweaks and are now free to focus on strategic innovations.
Faster time-to-market: With website build time reduced to 2 weeks by Storyblok’s atomic design, marketers are in control of their end-to-end editing experience. They can react to market shifts, customer needs, and regulatory changes by quickly building pages from pre-built templates.
Joyful website launches: In just two weeks, Octopus Energy launched a fully functional retail website. Incremental content followed over two months, proving that with Storyblok, you don’t just meet tight deadlines — you crush them.
Less development hurdles: Octopus Energy has seen a reduction in support requests from engineers by two-thirds. Engineers love it, marketers swear by it, and customers feel the impact.

Visual Editor
Roles
Storyblok API
Components

Storyblok features supercharging content operations

Visual Editor for omnichannel experiences: Manage content all in one place at the touch of a button. Pairing the Visual Editor’s form layout and Storyblok’s powerful API empowers marketers to push new content, campaigns, events, and more independently to their iOS and Android global mobile app
Granular roles and permission: Storyblok’s precise roles and permissions give teams control over who accesses what, ensuring security and efficiency.
Storyblok API: A single source of truth. Storyblok’s robust API lets Octopus Energy maintain cohesive content across platforms, simplifying updates and enhancing consistency.
Composable Components: Storyblok's Component Library integrates perfectly with Octopus Energy’s Coral Design System. The latter is designed in Figma, with a matching component library in code, via an NPM package (a package manager for the JavaScript programming language).

Octopus Energy’s future-proof tech stack

As Octopus Energy expanded into other countries and required customer-facing features, they transitioned to a React tech stack and now use Next.js, TypeScript, and various modern JavaScript tools and libraries. Today, Octopus Energy has rolled out Storyblok in 8 markets: Italian, Japanese, British, American, French, Spanish, New Zealand, and German.

Growing pains: The challenges of an archaic system

Octopus Energy previously used a Django website (Python framework) alongside an open-source CMS called Wagtail and content written in code. Unfortunately, this meant delayed deployments, developer bottlenecks, and rigid workflows were the norm:

A patchwork content management setup: The previous system had decentralized content management. Add that to the bottlenecks within workflows and Octopus Energy had the perfect storm for inefficiency and choppy collaboration.
High dependency on developers: Editors had their hands tied and couldn’t make any changes on their own
Limited flexibility and customization options: The CMS wasn’t flexible enough to support Octopus Energy’s rapid growth and dynamic content requirements.
Slow deployment pipelines: The legacy system was not built for speed, leading to slower deployment and a longer time-to-market for new content and features.

From growing pains to game-changer

Octopus Energy implemented Storyblok for many reasons, but beyond its flexibility and powerful APIs, the solutions Storyblok provided include:

User Roles for a multi-team setup and cross-function usage: Storyblok is used by 19 teams across 6 business functions in 8 countries. Now that’s what you call a global content powerplay.
The ability to integrate with internal tools: Storyblok’s integration capabilities have proven invaluable for internal projects including the in-house energy tech platform, Kraken. Accessed via the content and management APIs, the app’s home screen presents news content showcasing current campaigns, events, and more.
Ultra-efficient deployments and content migration are now the norm: New website versions can go live in just 5 minutes.
A best-of-breed selection with AWS: Octopus Energy's web stack is built for speed and flexibility, using Storyblok on a Next.js base. Thanks to its integration with AWS OpenSearch via API, customers can quickly and easily find what they need. Billing Storyblok through AWS Marketplace adds even more efficiency to their operations.

Energizing the future

Octopus Energy isn’t stopping here! The company plans to continue leveraging Storyblok for various projects, migrating over 1,000 pages from a legacy CMS and expanding its mobile app content. With the power of Storyblok and by integrating with Octopus Energy’s tech stack, the company has the tools to spearhead renewable energy innovation.