Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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UtILItY WeeK | 7th - 13th November 2014 | 27 Customers Market view U tilities today face a challenging oper- ating environment. Customers, politi- cians and regulators are pushing for improved service levels, and investors want efficiency and innovation to defend or grow market share. Staff, used to having the latest commu- nications on their own mobile devices, now expect the same experience via their work- place devices, with access to video-confer- encing, instant messaging and collaboration tools. Moreover, some insist on using their own smartphone or tablet at work, believing that older, corporate technologies slow them down and stifle collaboration. BT is constantly being asked by its enter- prise customers from the banking, retail and public sectors, as well as utilities, to help them respond to similar challenges. The importance of the network underpin- ning collaboration technology should not be underestimated. A common issue faced by businesses is that their IT infrastructure is a patchwork of outsourced, in-house and various vendors' kit. So although many utili- ties are aware of the potential of new com- munications and collaboration technologies, deploying them uniformly across legacy IT infrastructures is a challenge. This is where cloud-based collaboration solutions can help. They reduce up-front capital cost in IT infrastructure, help remove risk, and flexibly manage operating costs. Of course, utility companies have large numbers of staff in the field. Providing them with the capability to collaborate is crucial, especially when under pressure during a crisis. Applications that provide tracking and real-time reporting help inform staff in contact centres on the progress of jobs in the field, allowing them to give more accurate and timely information to customers. There are many corporate collaboration tools that can help boost responsiveness and productivity. But the importance of an intel- ligent, future-proofed, resilient and secure network in connecting them should not be forgotten. Simon Ormston, head of utilities, BT Global Services Don't Panic In a world of multiple communications channels and rising customer expectations, how should utilities prepare for crisis situations? Simon Ormston gives his advice. A ten-step guide to crisis management 1. Plan for the worst case scenario High call volumes come at times of crisis. At these times it is imperative that utilities do not get caught short. 2. Plan to be flexible With so much variation in what utility companies may have to deal with, investing in fixed IT infrastructure is uneconomic. In this changeable environment, investing in flex- ible, cloud-hosted infrastructure, charged for on a pay-as-you-go basis, makes sense. 3. Be integrated It is important that the le hand knows what the right is doing. If something is hap- pening that is likely to cause a flood of calls to your contact centre, such as service downtime, this should be communicated to the customer service team in advance to help prepare a plan of action. 4. Be proactive. Pre-empt In times of crisis, do not sit and wait for calls to melt your contact centre. Be proactive. Avoid the need for customers to call in the first place. Push out service updates via social media or SMS or use an integrated emergency notification system with polling so you know the customer has received the message. Predictive analytics can help see which areas are susceptible to problems like flooding. Weather data can provide indicators of where problems are likely to arise too. Communicate with customers in advance of any issue in order to minimise impact. 5. Have better measure and control out in the field Collect more data to help your business stay on top of what's going on in the field. This data can be used to connect your business's eyes and ears, to forecast, plan and predict. 6. Bring that information back into your data centre To get the most from your data, bring it back to your data centre and analyse it for insight that is useful to your business. To gather data, you will need ubiquitous net- work connectivity – and mobility too. Your network will need to be flexible to deal with varying amounts of data, reliable and secure. It will need to carry information to and from your data centre; distributing information to relevant parts of the organisation, such as the customer contact centre, giving insight and helping your people collabo- rate, make decisions and communicate. 7. Make adjustments before things fail With legacy infrastructure, oen the first sign that there is a problem is total failure. There is no granularity of information gathered to help understand how any issues might be developing. Checking infrastructure oen and make adjustments. 8. Pool resources In times of crisis, non-frontline office staff can be used as virtual contact centre agents and given all the tools they need via a cloud contact centre solution. 9. Train Train those back-up contact centre staff so they are ready to support when there is a crisis. You will need to make sure communication is effective, that people are suffi- ciently trained and periodically refreshed and that they have regular practice. 10. Prioritise Prioritisation and organisation of staff is still essential to ensuring that key people are not being pulled off something more important. Engineers – or experts supporting them from the office – should not be answering calls instead of undertaking opera- tional tasks.