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UTILITY WEEK | OCTOBER 2020 | 33 Customers in the past few months. England's small- est water-only company had already put in place a new website in January, as part of a two-phase programme of work. Greater func- tionality will come later in the year where customers can do far more self-serving, "sim- ilar to what you'd get with mainstream banks and other utilities," says Dan Lamb, head of retail services at SES Water. "We are probably a bit behind the curve on that front, given that other mainstream brands have had it for some years, and we recognise that, which is why the programme is very much in full flight at the moment. "Beyond that, in response to Covid-19, we recognised that not all of our employees would have the right environment to take home calls from customers – oen the most vulnerable with the highest need of support. We felt that we needed to limit that, so we could service our priority customers as best as possible without delay, and also keep a new channel available to more business as usual customer enquiries as best we could. "So we deployed the chatbot solution on our new website, which we delivered within a week. We've been developing that on a daily basis ever since, so that we continue to make sure it can answer customers' queries automatically, better and better. "In the first rollout, it was very focused on answering basic questions, things such as if anyone feels they've lost their supply. But the other main focus when deploying it was to support our customers who are transitioning into a position of financial hardship and vul- nerability, and to describe the options and what we can do for them, which included a new payment holiday that we introduced in response to Covid," he explains. Lamb says that putting in a new channel at such fast pace has not been without its challenges, but feedback has been positive. "And that's enabled us to make sure we've got reserve resources, people who are calling out to our most vulnerable customers from our priority services register, all day every day. And that again has been met with some really positive and heart-warming feedback from customers, many telling us that we're the only company that they've heard from." Denise Chevin, intelligence editor, Utility Week Expert view Integrated technology personalises customer journeys John Hoggard explains the benefits to utilities of centralised communications hubs. P ersonalisation of messaging to suit changing needs has long been a goal, which has come to the fore in the last few months as utilities have responded quickly to Covid-19. Alongside this, the current circumstances and the financial dif- ficulties that will come in the wake of the global lockdown, from increased bad debt and reduced energy demand, will only serve to make efficiencies in the way utilities operate ever more vital. How companies decide to invest in the new technology in a bid to harness efficiencies and reduce costs to serve are crucial decisions. As an engineer who has spent some 20 years working in the energy sector before moving to Quadient, I know that the vast array of systems and the ever-increasing pace of technology development makes the challenges harder. Utility companies, like all business sectors,are increasingly looking to move from traditional communication media to more digital engagement. Though this has been going on for some time, the unprec- edented circumstances we find ourselves in would seem to be quickening the pace of this transition. A number of those utili- ties that have contributed to this report observe, for example, how more customers are looking to self-serve, set up online accounts and have put in place, or are putting in place, capabili- ties to make this as easy and smooth as possible. The technology is there to provide customers to on board,or close accounts for example, in real time, pay their bills or even track their water or energy usage. Tracking, managing and integrating these communica- tions in centralised systems has become essential as part of the move to omnichannel engagement. Customer communications management(CCM) is an important soware tool that enables companies to manage customer communications across a wide range of media including but not limited to printed documents, email, web pages and text messages. Quadient's Inspire soware suite delivers agile and automated processes that involve not only the delivery of communications but also the segmenta- tion of messages according to different customer profiles and contexts. Inspire helps companies around the world design,manage and deliver personalised, accurate and compliant communica- tions across all channels, from one centralised platform. Many companies operate on systems that have grown organically, and most importantly, can be used to integrate data and information from legacy platforms, without having to start again. As they adapt to meet the challenges ahead,utilities will cer- tainly be looking to provide greater support to their customers. Centralised communications hubs give utilities the mechanism they need to enable them to do this. John Hoggard, global utilities principal, Quadient For more details contact: j.hoggard@quadient.com; www.quadient.co.uk This is an extract from a Utility Week Insight report produced in association with Quadient, Communications for the 'New Norm' - How Harnessing Communications Technology Can Deliver More Agile Customer Response. The full report can be downloaded at utilityweek.co.uk/article-type/download/ "Every time we communicate with a customer we're intruding in their personal lives. So it's important that when we do engage, we do so in a channel that is right for them and with purpose and relevance." ALEXANDER CONSTANTI, COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR, SHELL ENERGY RETAIL