EC Go aims to be the industry's best app for building control

"The goal is for the app to be so good and so easy to use that customers come to us just because of the app," says Henriette Schjelderup.

From "homemade" to PRO
EC Go is Energy Control's app for controlling buildings. It launched two years ago and has since gone through several updates and stages of development. Today it gathers insight from every building where Energy Control's sensors are installed. It is also used to control a large number of buildings. This spring, Henriette was hired as product manager to develop the app further.
"When it comes to content, there's no doubt the app is and has been very good. It solves the problems it was built to solve, but it has probably felt a bit homemade. So we've started an ambitious development process to make the app more professional and better on every front," says Schjelderup.
Since she joined, EC Go has had major upgrades and is now better than ever.
"Many people might not notice, but the app has a more user-friendly design. It also has more features and an easier menu. We're on the right track," Henriette says with a smile.

Young super talent
She has a master's degree in interaction design, and her master's thesis was recently published at a prestigious conference in Barcelona.
"Of course I'm proud," Henriette smiles.
In short, the published thesis looks at how AI-generated images affect users' preferences and trust in websites, and whether those preferences and that trust change depending on whether the use of AI-generated images is disclosed. This is actually the second time her student work has been published.
"The first time was about the so-called 'uncanny valley' phenomenon, where eye-tracking was used to see how people react to images of human figures at different levels of realism," says Henriette, and explains:
"In short, the 'uncanny valley' is about how we as humans experience something that is almost human." 

Click here to read Henriette's master's thesis.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3772363.3798849

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3715669.3723121

‍A good start
‍For Energy Control, this is very important expertise in the work to develop and improve the EC Go app.
"Many of the improvements I'm working on now will be almost impossible for most people to spot. But if you saw the before and after, you'd probably notice it clearly," says Henriette.
She explains that it's basically about making the user experience better.
"The app shouldn't just have lots of good content. It should be easy to find, easy to use and easy to understand. That's where the big job is, and where the real potential for improvement lies," says Schjelderup.

Tommy Hagenes, CEO and founder of Energy Control, praises the work Henriette has done on EC Go.
"She brings us very important, critical expertise. The EC Go app plays a central role in our future development. So the app working perfectly isn't just important for our users, it's important for our growth ambitions," says Hagenes, adding:
"In just a few months, the app has been through a small revolution. It hasn't just become much better, it also looks better. So I'm very happy with the progress," says Tommy.