Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 25TH - 31ST OCTOBER 2019 | 29 Customers Utility Week's customer engagement series is supported by Content Guru. Q&A Sam Fuller, UK Power Networks Do you always respond to social media, even when negative? We're really proud of our social media, and we're proud to be leading the way with response times. Our response time across all channels – 24/7 – is under four minutes. But we've also developed proactive searches. So, for example, on social media if someone were to write "power outage, London", they might not have done that on our channels, or used our hashtags, but if we can find them proactively. It will be delivered to our agents, and they'll go back out to that customer and say: "Oh by the way, we're UK Power Net- works, here's some information for you." It's about anticipating need, that's the point. Do you use chatbots? No. We have explored that, and it's some- thing we'd look at for giving us scalability in some of our busier times, but currently everything we do is a human responding. What are you doing to improve engage- ment with vulnerable customers? When I joined in 2012, we had 300,000 cus- tomers on our priority services register; now through better data mapping and identify- ing the different ways that could render a customer more vulnerable, we've got over 1.8 million. It's a hugely important area for us to make sure we get right. We put all of our teams and customer-fac- ing staff through "sensory training", which we've developed with a number of charities. In the training, staff wear glasses that simu- late different eye conditions, or wear gloves that simulate arthritis, or put on boots that simulate movement trouble perhaps. And we then say: "Now, try and use our services." Because that's the experience that some of our customers go through. It helps our staff develop empathy and understanding of the different needs of our customers. That approach is how we now look at all new development services. Engaging with deaf customers through British sign language is another great example. We talk a lot about being an inclusive service, and we're proud that we've got the BSI inclusiv- ity standard award, but we asked ourselves: "What does that really mean for groups such as the deaf and hard of hearing?" When we looked at that group, and worked with some specialist organisations in that community, we found that they don't speak standard English. British sign language and standard English are not the same language. So we have partnered with leading British sign language interpreter pro- viders Sign Live and Interpreter Now, where customers can opt for Facetime, in effect, through an interpreter, so they can converse using British sign language. The interpreter then liaises with our team. What are the big challenges? One of our three visions is about staying cost efficient, which means being the lowest cost network operator in the UK. On average, it's just over £75 a year per domestic bill. One of the biggest challenges is balanc- ing the need to continue to offer value, be agile and get things live, but making sure what you do provide enhances your service, and doesn't detract from it. To help us do this we put in place, three years ago now, a customer group that helps us co-design new product services and solutions. And we've got just over 500 customers on that now. That help us. That challenges us. Last year we developed a new fault map where customers could track their power cut. It's taking what we all use on a daily basis with delivery companies, where you track your package, and then asking ourselves, how do we take that concept and allow customers to track their power cut and understand the stages we go through. When we first developed this solution with customers, we tested the satisfaction scores and we got just over 7 out of 10. We're very clear that unless something delivers a 9 out of 10, we do not put it live. And although that means going back to the drawing board sometimes, we take our time and we do it properly. We went through four different iterations before customers scored it just over 9, and then we put it live. What is the next big thing for you? You hear a lot around AI and natural lan- guage and we are looking at those things, but again we have to look at how these services fit what we do, and sit within our industry. For example, we wouldn't neces- sarily be looking at investing in smart speak- ers in homes, because in a power outage, those things aren't going to work. We've just become the first electricity company in the UK to put live what3words, an app developed by a UK organisation who've mapped every single point across the world on a 3m x 3m grid. And each of 3m squared grids across the world have three words associated with them. So that could be "future, human, foster", for example. You can then put those three words into this solution, and it gives you the exact location of where that is on the globe. In an extreme weather event, we might get a call from somebody who is driving along and will say "I can see that a line has come down, in a field," and we then start going through the process of finding out where they are. That's a really difficult challenge. We're trying to move at speed, because public safety is obviously a priority, but when we're trying to locate them, all of that takes time. So what we've been able to do with this new solution is we can instantly send the customer a text saying 'please click on this,' and by clicking on it, it gives us three words, we can then put that in our solution, and we know exactly where they are. This is a real innovation that will help keep customers safe, and also enable us to keep our network working. Our customer engagement report can be downloaded at: https://bit.ly/2PcztAL mation on power status in their area. storm's communications integration feeds information, such as known customer contact numbers to determine location, and immediately routes the call to the best agent available to handle the enquiry. With enormous surges in customer demand during power outages, storm's enormous capacity ensures that UK Power Net- works' communications infrastructure remains active on a 24 hour basis. Using customer feedback, employee ideas and cutting-edge technology, UK Power Networks has attained best-in-class customer satisfaction scores year on year, and regularly earns revenue incentives from industry regula- tor Ofgem. It is working with Content Guru to further develop the customer journey, one that is responsive to the evolving needs of customers.

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