Customer service is the front line as pressures for utilities mount
As customers worry about paying their bills, utility companies must step up their customer service by making it efficient AND empathetic.
Utilities are under constant pressure on multiple fronts: The energy crisis, changing customer requirements, ambitious sustainability goals, and more. These have been challenges for the industry in some shape or form for more than 10 years.
At the same time, customer experience in utilities remains very much a work in progress. Energy companies still tend to take a passive approach to this topic. They say they have a customer-centric strategy, but don’t take the steps required to make it a reality.
The lack of a holistic approach that combines processes, people, and technology is the biggest mistake utilities make when it comes to customer experience.
The state of customer experience in utilities
In their customer experience strategy, most utilities say they put the customer first, but in many cases, it’s more words than real action.
Only a few companies have established and shaped their internal- and external-facing operations to be really customer focused for optimal experiences.
Moreover, there are numerous companies in the energy sector that assume implementing technology solves the problem. They install a CRM or a set of CX solutions, but don’t take into account the complementary processes and people needed to support the technology and make it effective.
It’s the comprehensive approach — processes, employees, and software solutions — that form a true customer-focused strategy.
What is customer experience management, and why does it matter?
Customer experience management can make or break your business. So what is customer experience management? And how can you use it?
People and processes in CX
The 360-degree customer view, usually part of a customer-centric strategy, isn’t anything new. The concept of a comprehensive customer profile has been around since the early days of CRM and remains important. But without a comprehensive approach to customer experience, it’s unrealistic for utilities or any company.
Who should have this 360-degree view and for what purpose? Whether it’s the service agent or a marketing person accessing the complete profile, organizations need to consider the various data and underlying processes required to make customer 360 helpful to employees in their daily work.
The other part of the equation – the CX technology – that enables this is now equipped with artificial intelligence that boosts performance and efficiency.
These advanced solutions create unified data models and integrate with backend processes to provide service agents and other front office employees with the information they need to work efficiently and effectively.
For example, a service agent could access inventory or delivery status in order to provide customers with the most updated and accurate information to increase customer satisfaction.
Connected business benefits: Intelligent customer service, happy customers
Connected business benefits include happier customers and happier employees – that's the philosophy of intelligent customer service.
Zeroing in on the customer
As in a concert, all these components – people, process and technology – need to play together to serve the customer effectively.
With this holistic approach, a utility can deliver personalized customer experience that meets the needs of different customers, their varied priorities, and wide-ranging journeys.
A customer-centric approach is a good start. Energy companies take additional steps to scale, adapt and match the different dimensions – people, processes, technology, and of course the customer – can boost customer experience and achieve real results.
