Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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28 | 20TH - 26TH JANUARY 2017 | UTILITY WEEK Customers Market view T he growing importance of customer service for utility companies is begin- ning to highlight some shortcomings in terms of customer contact. As in most busi- nesses, the call centre is oen the first and primary point of contact for customers. Sadly, this is an area most companies struggle with because of outdated systems, ill-designed processes and a general lack of employee engagement. This could be extremely costly, with service a key consideration for custom- ers switching supplier (according to Ofgem figures six million domestic accounts were switched in 2015). It is essential the contact centre is seen not merely as a place where customer com- plaints and queries are resolved, but as a key source of business insight and a way of driving customer loyalty. To get the most out of the contact centre, it is essential that the right measures are in place and that they are used in the right way. Here are four of the most common myths about customer service metrics in contact centres: Myth 1: "We measure customer satisfaction (CSAT) and net promoter score (NPS), so we know how we're performing in terms of cus- tomer service." Measuring CSAT and NPS is a great place to start, but best-in-class businesses typically build upwards from these foundations. They have a holistic approach to measurement and also focus on metrics such as first call resolution, call abandonment rates, agent knowledge, employee engagement, contacts per day, training, and issue ownership. In addition to having these (and other) measures in place, taking the information and correlating it back to CSAT and NPS tells a whole new story. These can be used to cre- ate the right metrics and targets to not only drive improvement in CSAT, but also reduce costs, enhance employee engagement and focus training and development. It is also essential to benchmark these performance indicators to get a clear pic- ture of how you are performing compared to other utility companies, as well as busi- nesses outside the sector. By providing a clear outline of your performance compared to other operations, you can begin to create change. Before you start looking at customer experience from the outside, you need to know if the basics of your internal opera- tions performance is up to scratch. Only then can customer experience feedback be used to tweak performance levels. Myth 2: "We no longer measure average han- dle time on calls, and so provide a better ser- vice to our customers." One would assume that spending longer with customers means they automatically receive a higher level of service. In reality, spending longer on the phone costs the business more, and customers are getting "busier" and typi- cally expect a short wait time and the right answers first time. However, removing this metric is a good idea as long as it can be clearly correlated against customer satisfac- tion and other key performance indicators. The really smart strategy is to ensure that time is being spent handling calls that need to be handled by a human being. Let sim- ple queries be handled by interactive voice response and web solutions, so that feed- back incidents and problems can be directed to the relevant department, which frees time to handle incidents and problems in a more thorough way. Myth 3: "We want to be the best in class and improve our CSAT scores above the industry average." What a great target to have and many should pursue it. However, many are not aware of the financial and operational cost of doing so. Many companies are challenged with cost reduction, and simply putting "bums on seats" is not the answer. The best in the business look at three key areas; operations and benchmarking; employee engagement; and voice of the customer. By using all three and linking them to key performance indi- cators, a business is able to create the right goals and culture while creating a self-cor- recting organisation. This in itself is likely to improve CSAT and NPS at levels which are industry leading. Myth 4: "We have all the insight we need." Many businesses sit on a wealth of customer insight and data and more oen than not they have more than they will ever need. However, in most cases the data sits across different departments and different teams and in some cases on different systems. It becomes virtually impossible to drive change without collating the information and ensur- ing it is held in one central system. More importantly, it must be used on a daily basis and made accountable through feeding back results to staff in real time. The business should be able to draw insight auto- matically outside of the contact centre and this is where other tools such as automated text analytics could help. With the imminent opening of the water market already causing a stir, and Ofgem continually publishing figures on complaints and customer satisfaction in the energy sec- tor, these issues are not going away. Creating clear measurements and taking part in benchmarking exercises are a great start in creating a customer service strategy. In most cases, this provides a clear over- view of how the operation is actually per- forming, while also offering a roadmap for improvement. Simon Thorpe, sales and marketing director, Bright UK Effective customer contact For utilities, as for many large organisations, the customer contact centre is key. Simon Thorpe explodes four common myths about measuring call centre effectiveness. Key points The contact centre is not just a complaints resolution centre – it is a source of busi- ness insight. CSAT and NPS measures are not the be-all and end-all – they are just the start of the process. Longer call times do not automatically mean better call times. Measure the ef- fectiveness. Joined-up data across the organisation is a key enabler of customer service.