Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 17TH - 23RD MAY 2019 | 27 Customers nice friendly local accent, so should a robot sound the same?" This was a tricky one. While having a sassy, cool, character might make the experi- ence more fun – a bit like some of the more recent domestic robot assistants trying to help in our homes – there was also nervous- ness that such personality traits would be o• -putting. While a number of customers might • nd it amusing to speak to a 'charac- ter' robot, others would not. What came across as a golden rule was that retailers must not try to pull the wool over their customers' eyes. Instead, custom- ers should always be told if they are speak- ing or typing questions to a machine – as the technology advances, it will become less obvious. What about vulnerable customers? Concerns were inevitably raised about how greater automation might play out with vul- nerable and elderly customers. Again, there were seen to be pros and cons. On the plus side, it might be easier for a partially sighted person to ask their voice assistant to • nd their energy bill, pointed out one participant. But that's if they could be convinced to use it, said another, thus high- lighting the barriers to overcome. On another positive note, robots could be helpful to overcome language barriers and make it easier to engage customers whose • rst language may not be English. When is it the right time to roll out? "Technology exists to do some awesome stu• ," said one of the roundtable partici- pants, summing up. The comment re† ected the sentiment of the others. The big ques- tion, however, was how to decide where to invest – and achieve the best return on investment. Automation of customer engagement is just one of a number of priorities that are competing for time and money. Some felt that automation would have to sit alongside more structural changes and investment. "There's a lot to • x in utilities – it's a ques- tion of which job you do • rst," was a com- ment that seemed to sum up the conundrum they faced. Experts from Bold360 o• ered participants that were weighing up their options a guid- ing star to steer by: customers should never notice their level of service has reduced because their provider was trying to save money. Automation should boost the quality of service, free sta• from routine queries and give them more time to deal with those that are less straightforward. T E C H N O L O G Y D R I V E N T R A N S F O R M A T I O N Produced in association with Microsoft ISSUE 03 MAY/2019 Machine learning and the smart grid, chatbots and customers, and why AI is the answer to leakage PLUS: Northumbrian Water's CIO United Utilities' head of innovation Digital twins T h e A I e d i t i o n Agents and bots need to work in harmony Conversational chatbots and intelligent FAQs provide immediate answers to repetitive questions and perform automated tasks, freeing up agents to be available to help customers in the moments that matter, writes Sandra Schroeter. Customers can easily check their tari or balance, change their direct debit or submit a claim for a refund without the need to navigate the website. Achieving the right balance between automated and AI-assisted agent interactions is important. Customers should have the option to get in touch with a human agent, for example when the enquiry is more complex. AI can't do every- thing, but it is very good at some things. Harmony between agents and bots is a crucial element in delivering great customer experience while reducing cost to serve. Customer experience is the battleground that will decide winners and losers among energy suppliers over the next decade. Improv- ing CSAT, while simultaneously reducing CTS, is key. Companies will have-to € nd the right balance between automation and humanity to develop a sustainable customer engagement strategy. This requires a deep understanding of the customer journey as well as the right technology. This is an abbreviated version of an expert view by Sandra Schroeter, international head, customer engagement technologies, LogMeIn, the developer of Bold360. The full version appears in May's Flex. 25 ISSUE 03 MAY/2019 25 ISSUE 02 FEB/2019 E X P E R T V I E W Creating a sustainable customer experience Companies will have to find the right balance between automation and humanity to develop a sustainable customer engagement strategy, says Sandra Schroeter, International Head, Customer Engagement Technologies, LogMeIn Sometimes, a proven solution from one area of the business can help solve a problem in another area of the business. Just like focusing on sustainability is helping energy companies compete in our environmentally conscious world, focusing on customer sustainability can help energy companies compete in the business world. e hard truth is that the current customer engagement model is unsustainable. In a market where ten suppliers have gone out of business since January 2018, where the regulator has introduced the price cap, and where price aggregator sites encourage a race to the bottom, change is needed. Customer expectations and increasing pressure on margins have not made a happy mix for energy suppliers in the past few years. Affecting both established players and fast-growing independent challengers alike, unhappy customers are voting with their wallets with a record of 5.9 million households switching energy supplier in 2018. Companies that fail to deliver exceptional experiences consistently, struggle to compete on value and have to revert to competing on price. Sustainability is about doing more with less. Understanding the customer journey Companies first need to understand pain points throughout the various customer journeys. Where is the digital experience failing customers during key journeys such as billing enquiries, refunds, forgotten passwords, balance checks and moving home? A recent study 3 on customer experience revealed that 61 per cent of consumers felt it took too long for enquiries to be resolved. e survey found 35 per cent were frustrated at repeating themselves to different advisers, while 26 per cent experienced difficulty using a self-service option. e next step is to improve the customer journey employing technology where speed or scale is required. One lever to improve customer journeys is to optimise touchpoints. by integration with operations systems, systems of record, or data analytics. Customers can easily check their tariff or balance, change their direct debit or submit a claim for a refund without the need to navigate the website. Sustainability is also about harmony. Achieving the right balance between automated and AI-assisted agent interactions is important. Customers should have the option to get in touch with a human agent, for example when the enquiry is more complex. AI can't do everything, but it is very good at some things. Harmony between agents and bots is a crucial element in delivering great CX while reducing cost to serve. Intelligent and consistent CX CX is the battleground that will decide winners and losers among energy suppliers over the next decade. Improving CSAT, while simultaneously reducing CTS, is key. Companies will have to find the right balance between automation and humanity to develop a sustainable customer engagement strategy. is requires a deep understanding of the customer journey as well as the right technology. For more information, contact: info@bold360.com 1. Predictions 2019: Customer Experience, Harley Manning, Forrester, November 2018 2. Winning the cost battle: Success factors in digital transformations for energy retailers, Tiziano Bruno, Bruno Esgalhado, Blake Houghton and João Segorbe, McKinsey, June 2018 3. LogMeIn 2018 AI Customer Experience Report, 2018 w w w . b o l d 3 6 0 . c o m While some consumers prefer to call or email, others prefer chat or self-service. e survey found 74 per cent of consumers appreciate the benefits of interacting with an AI chatbot, including quicker resolution and easier access to support. Increasing loyalty with CX In "Predictions 2019: Customer Experience" 1 analyst firm Forrester suggest a correlation between price and customer experience: "Companies that despair of differentiating on the basis of CX will resort to price cuts to attract new customers." is implies that differentiation through CX may prevent destructive price wars. is is why companies would be wise to adopt a customer- centric approach to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. A recent McKinsey report 2 suggests that a 30 per cent increase in customer satisfaction (CSAT) and a 50 per cent reduction in cost to serve (CTS) is achievable by analysing various customer journeys and providing digital assistance to make them effortless. AI for customer engagement Conversational chatbots and intelligent FAQs provide immediate answers to repetitive questions and perform automated tasks, freeing up agents to be available to help customers in the moments that matter, improving CSAT and net promoter score (NPS) in key engagements. Use cases beyond a simple knowledge base can be covered 25 ISSUE 03 MAY/2019 We discuss in greater detail how utility rms are using AI to improve customer engagement in our latest issue of Flex, which is free withthis issue of Utility Week. Customers should always be told if they are speaking or typing questions to a machine – as the technology advances, it will become less obvious Brought to you in association with

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