Utility Week

26 | SEPTEMBER 2021 | UTILITY WEEK Customers Event Can utilities marry a drive for innovation in customer service with the need for ruthless effi ciency in the way it is delivered? This was the crux of debate at arecent Utility Week roundtable debate. T he outlook for customer service in the utilities sec- tor is characterised by increasing complexity. With decarbonisation, utilities are being called on to sup- port, advise and in uence consumers towards more sus- tainable, as well as a ordable, modes of consumption. Rising e ectively to these expectations comes with potential commercial bene• ts, especially in the energy sector, where new ranges of green products and services o er suppliers an exciting route out of the homogenous commodity market they inhabit today. But developing a customer service strategy to support this is not straightforward, as a group of customer opera- tions and strategy leaders at a recent discussion, hosted by Utility Week in association with WNS, found. A key consideration for success, they suggested, will be the ability of • rms to e ectively segment what di er- ent customer groups want in terms of net zero messaging and engagement. While some will be highly motivated by a "green" agenda and have the • nancial means to adopt a range of new technologies to optimise their energy or water consumption, others will not. Traditional customer pro• les and segmentations may not help utilities engage current or prospective customers. Furthermore, assuming utilities can create useful new customer personas, equipping customer service agents to use these e ectively will be a major challenge, said our group. Di† culties will arise, for example, in training sta on the relative merits and applicability of a widen- ing set of products and services for an individual. This could shi‡ dramatically depending on factors like their • nancial stability, family situation or domestic environ- ment. And with training delivered, agents will also need to be constantly supported with accurate, real-time data about a customer's consumption habits and their current engagement with other products or services in a utilities' portfolio so that inappropriate cross-selling or double selling is avoided at all costs. Getting this unity of customer information in place and upskilling agents will come at no small cost, our event participants unanimously agreed. And in a utili- ties market where pro• ts are hard to come by and the pressure on bills is extreme, there was concern that this could sti e innovation in customer service. Jane Gray, content director in association with A t WNS we see innova- tion as a characteristic of what we do, a cultural ethos embedded throughout the organisation and embodied in our vision of "co-creation". When we ask ourselves "how could this be better?" we look at it through the lens of the customer – what is easy, what is e ortless? What our customers are tell- ing us through various feedback formats really helps us and our utility clients pinpoint the things which cause irritation and drive unnecessary contact. But it's also essential to listen to what our agents are telling us. We believe that time spent with our frontline is o‡ en more informative than all the data in the world. If we can make con- tact handling easier for agents by removing unnecessary steps, simplifying systems and giving greater access to relevant data then this will help the customer. Most people don't really want to contact their utility provider at all. They typically do so because of a problem (incorrect bill, supply issues, etc) or neces- sity (moving home, change of name or other details, etc). A sig- ni• cant focus of innovation has therefore rightly been on how certain activities or tasks can be undertaken through self-service online or using smartphone apps. These innovations get better each year as the quality of the design and the use of the available technology improves. Despite this, there is still a high volume of contact into customer centres, driving a fur- ther stage of innovation around smart ways of de ecting custom- ers to automated bots or other more e† cient channels such as webchat. A‡ er this, remain- ing contacts are dealt with by human agents who, over time, will by default begin to handle a higher percentage of complex enquiries because the simple and easy have been removed. This, in itself, brings chal- lenges as arguably handling simple contacts as part of a mix with complex one provides a natural break for agents and avoids them becoming worn out. Creating e† ciency within customer services can be used in di erent ways – to reduce the cost of service; create time to upsell, attract or retain custom- ers; talk about water e† ciency and how to become greener in the home or to reinvest in agent training. The strategic ques- tion is how to use this time or capacity. Ultimately, the answer will be a mixed one, balancing multiple business needs, but as the range and complexity of energy products in particular grows, it is likely that a growing emphasis will need to be placed on releasing time for service agent to advise customers on their best options for improving their sustainability. In conclusion, we believe e† - ciency is an important outcome of innovation and should not be allowed to inhibit creativ- ity aimed at improving overall service. James Towner, senior vice president – energy and utilities, WNS James Towner of WNS attended this industry debate and here o ers his re ections on the tension between drivers for service innovation and the need for e ciency. Rising challenges incustomer service

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