Key takeaways
- Legacy systems are a hidden CX liability: Ageing and disconnected infrastructure limits channel options, restricts self-service capabilities, and makes it difficult to gain a holistic view of the customer, creating friction that drives dissatisfaction and churn.
- Unified data is the foundation of CX transformation: Consolidating fragmented data sources unlocks the customer journey visibility needed to pinpoint friction points, perform root cause analysis, and prioritize the improvements that deliver the most immediate value.
- Strategic partnerships unlock more than operational efficiency: Reframing a CX provider relationship from service delivery to true strategic partnership gives utilities access to the expertise, insights, and continuous improvement capabilities needed to drive lasting transformation.
- Data-driven improvements deliver measurable, tangible results: From a 78% reduction in customer effort to cutting a 24-day process down to an 11-minute phone call, targeted, insight-led initiatives can rapidly and significantly elevate CX quality and operational performance.
European utilities providers are navigating an environment shaped by complex infrastructure, regulatory demands, and growing competition triggered by market liberalization. As well as competition, moving away from monopolies has fueled innovation and made it easier than ever for consumers to switch from one provider to another. All of which means delivering a reliable, high-quality CX for utilities has become the key to customer retention and growth in this highly competitive, price-sensitive sector.
The challenges of legacy systems
The pace of liberalization and rising customer expectations often outstrips the capabilities of legacy systems and traditional processes still used by many utilities. This gap can lead to friction in everyday customer journeys, limited options for communication through preferred channels, and restricted self-service or automated capabilities. What’s more, ageing or disconnected systems can make it challenging to gain a holistic view of the customer, identify journey bottlenecks, or recognize processes in need of optimization or redesign.
- 29% of U.K. utilities customers believe technology is helping to improve the consistency of their CX across different channels
- 34% of dissatisfied utilities customers point to long resolution times as the reason for their dissatisfaction
Harnessing customer data offers utilities the opportunity to not only simplify processes and operations but also to develop products and services that truly reflect the needs of their B2B and B2C customers. But even in this respect, many organizations face challenges in knowing where to begin. With competing priorities and ongoing cost pressures, it can be difficult to identify which improvements will deliver the most immediate value and establish the strategic and cultural momentum and ROI to drive lasting transformation and benefits.
Identifying a partner to identify the solution
Identifying and engaging with the right data, analytics, and CX experts is key to understanding these challenges, gaining the necessary insights and plotting a path towards a more customer-centric delivery model.
And, in many cases, utilities providers are already working with these types of businesses. However, because they are engaged as service providers, rather than as true strategic partners, they are merely capable of providing cost-effective CX delivery within the current operational setup.
Recognizing this potential for enacting long-term CX change through redefining the working relationship is how one U.K.-based utilities provider recently transformed its operations.
Unlocking data-driven value
Working with its existing CX partner’s data, reporting insights, and continuous improvement teams, it was able to quickly bring together its disparate customer and operational data sources and, in doing so, pinpoint key friction points on existing customer journeys, perform a root cause analysis and develop a series of improvement initiatives. These initiatives included:
- Optimization of its IVR design to minimize customer effort and abandonment rates
- Implementation of standardized email templates for consistency and clarity of communication
- Redesign of several time-consuming multistep processes, such as verifying an electricity meter reading
Thanks to the implementation of real-time dashboards connected to the unified data model, the progress of each initiative could be tracked and refined against critical metrics.
Insights and improvements
The IVR redesign lowered customer effort by 78% and reduced average time spent navigating the system by 100 seconds.
Adopting email templates led to a 21.5% reduction in repeat communications, and the reworking of critical processes cut the time it took a customer to verify or provide an electric meter reading from 24 days and multiple contacts and touchpoints to a single 11-minute phone call.
Through embracing data-driven insights and a true partnership approach, this utilities provider moved beyond legacy limitations and now delivers seamless, customer-centric experiences that build loyalty and drive long-term success in an ever-evolving market.
Read the success story in full and understand how taking a strategic partnership approach with a CX expert can lead to long-term success through a culture of continuous improvement.