We live in the age of the consumer. Technology is changing the way we live, shop and work. It has empowered people. In this world, customer loyalty is not quite dead, but it is changing. Now, customers do business with companies that don’t make things difficult. ‘Easy’ is the new loyalty. Learn more at www.bt.com/utilities
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1. Set up to serve? Why customer service is set to be a key
differentiator for water and energy providers
2. 78% buy more from companies that make it easier. 39% comment
on Facebook or Twitter about customer service. Customers finding it
easy are 40% less likely to churn. Weve improved productivity by
eight per cent for 14,000 engineers. 2
3. Executive summary We live in the age of the consumer.
Technology is changing the way we live, shop and work. It has
empowered people. In this world, customer loyalty is not quite
dead, but it is changing. Now, customers do business with companies
that dont make things difficult. Easy is the new loyalty. Making
things easy for customers and putting them at the heart of the
business means changing the way you do things. It means using new
technology and new ways of working. In large, complex organisations
this is a massive challenge. Often the way the business is
organised actively discourages putting the customer first because
an excellent customer experience depends upon everyone in the
organisation having a clear line of sight to the customer. Of
course, change is never easy, but improving the systems and
processes that underpin your approach to customer service will have
a positive knock-on effect right across the business. Meeting the
needs of a new generation of customers will mean working smarter
and more efficiently; it will mean reducing costs and being more
agile. It will be a transformation. This white paper outlines the
consumer and technology trends that are having an impact on
customer service, and introduces six areas to focus on that will
help the business reposition itself. It also highlights some of the
technology and tools available now and on the horizon that will
help meet these new customer expectations. 3
4. Easy is the new loyalty Loyalty is a difficult thing for
utilities. Customer contact is often restricted to billing and
complaints. People simply expect their water, gas and electricity
supplies to be there when they need them, so its hard to
differentiate on the basis of product which is why the customer
experience is so important. There has been a lot of talk in recent
years about the death of loyalty. Loyalty is not dead, but its
changing. Whats driving loyalty now is effort. Customers will go
back to companies who dont make their lives difficult. Easy is the
new loyalty. There are four main types of effort: 1. Cognitive the
amount of mental energy required to process something. Here, too
much choice can be a bad thing and good design makes a real impact.
2. Time how long it will take to wait, consume and transact. Queues
are the most visible. 3. Physical how much physical energy it takes
to do something (such as travel to buy or carry stuff home). 4.
Emotional how much negative versus positive energy is required. So
how do you make things easy for customers? Customers generally fall
into three camps: 1. Visionaries who are positive and goal
motivated. 2. Utilitarians who want to get something simple done,
quickly and easily. 3. Customers in crisis who want human channels
(phone or face-to-face). 4
5. In a multichannel world, customers will choose the most
appropriate channel based on their state of mind and what they want
to achieve. But that doesnt mean they will stay in just one channel
they will almost always hop across channels to get the result they
want as quickly as possible. 78% say I buy more from companies that
make it easier for me to do business. Easy plays a major part in
this. And whats easy these days when you wander about with a PC in
your pocket? Digital. Hard work Fair Easy Easy-o-meter Were seeing
a huge rise in the popularity of digital channels such as online
chat and social media. These are immediate and easy for customers,
certainly compared to the agony of email tennis and the
frustrations of voice prompts. Assuming, of course, that the agents
are empowered to deal with things there and then. 39% used their
smartphone to comment on Facebook or Twitter about customer service
just received. Why measure Easy? Asking customers to rate how easy
it was to get what they wanted helps: highlight areas of
frustration engage staff and make their lives easier too streamline
and improve processes drive advocacy, value for money and loyalty
Easy can be applied to all channels and lower effort also means
lower cost. Research shows customers finding it easy are 40% less
likely to churn. 5
6. How digital channels affect the contact centre Picking up
the phone is still the number one way for people to get in touch at
the moment. But there are signs that this is changing and the
trends were seeing will have a major impact on traditional contact
centre strategies. Our Autonomous Customer research found that 49%
of calls to contact centres are now more complex in nature. And 54%
of centre managers believe that contact centres will primarily deal
with complex calls and queries by 2020. What will be the Primary
Role of the Contact Centre in 2020? Complaint handling Proactive
outbound Cross sell/upsell Complex problem solving Inbound,
transactional Other 8 6 24 54 4 4 Social media 11 It seems
traditional contact centres, with a focus on call volumes, need to
be re-thought. Complaint Customers handling Video who call tend 8 7
to have a more complex problem or be dealing Proactive with an
outbound Webchat emergency. For 6 everything else, theyre finding
it easier using other channels. And Email the one thats 4 really
catching on, for both agents and customers, is webchat. Phone 36
Other 2 What are the Core Channels that the Future Contact Centre
will be handling? 40 Cross sell/upsell Complex problem solving
Inbound, transactional Other 24 54 4 4 Social media Video Webchat
Email Phone Other 2 11 7 36 4 40 In a digital world, webchat is
easy. It has the potential to combine instant access with problem
resolution and it enables agents to engage with multiple chats
(though wed recommend 2-3 max at any one time!) 6
7. From contact centre to relationship hub In the next few
years, we expect to see the contact centre evolve into a
relationship hub in order to more intelligently and effectively
meet the needs of a new, more technologically sophisticated
audience. The current model, of processing calls quickly using
scripted assistance, is already being eroded. Contact centre staff
need to become empowered knowledge workers using the same tools and
technology and access to information as their smartphone wielding
customers. With these new powers, businesses can better manage
customer expectations they can use social media to proactively keep
customers informed and manage demand. And then theres the potential
of video. People are becoming used to video chats with far-flung
family and friends. For contact centres, you have the potential to
actually see problems and diagnose solutions to speed resolution
time. 7
8. Six key considerations for transforming the business... The
rise of social media and multichannel customer care is changing the
role of the contact centre. But thats just the tip of the iceberg.
To transform the customer experience, you need to change the whole
mindset of the organisation. BTs customer experience MD Andrew
Jones is currently heading a project that aims to transform how the
various lines of business in BT relate to one another to try and
get systems and processes to run along more natural lines and to
give everyone in the organisation a clear line of sight to the
customer. Andrew has the full backing of BT Groups CEO and they
meet weekly to discuss progress and outline the next steps. Its all
very well saying youll put the customer at the heart of everything,
he explains, but in big organisations like BT, thats not always so
easy to do in practice. Sometimes the way you are organised makes
it impossible to provide the level of service you want. Seeing your
organisation through your customers eyes forces you to reassess
your values and to talk differently to your team and your
colleagues. You discover, once you start on this journey, that its
not about one or two things making a difference. Its a sum of parts
experience and almost everything feeds into the process. Andrew
believes there are six key things businesses need to take into
consideration. Get CEO sponsorship and benchmark good service 1 Its
hugely important to get buy-in from the board. Part of the process
is benchmarking and defining what is good service. And the
financial impact of not getting things right will play a part in
getting everyone onside. Focus on things that are obviously broken
2 Having a vision is great, but you cant afford to focus too far
ahead on things that may currently be unachievable. Youll find it
more beneficial to customers and the business to focus your early
energy on things that you can fix right now. 8
9. ... and putting the customer at the heart of everything
Change the balance of power and align customer journeys 3 Most
power relationships in large organisations are top-down and siloed.
But customer journeys cut across these artificial divisions. The
difficulty here is getting objectives aligned across divisions and
that means getting the measures and tools in place to track
customers right across the business, so youre able to aggregate
call and click data and build a clearer picture of whats going on.
Invest in resources 4 The technology, connectivity and data we have
available to us opens the doors to almost limitless possibilities.
And its important to focus on the tools and innovations that
support your aims. So, for example, weather data analytics combined
with real-time tracking is helping BT get the right engineers in
the right place before theres a problem. Similarly, new tools are
flagging issues the moment a customer order is delayed or stopped
in the system. Track the emotional journey 5 How customers feel
about you affects how they do business with you. It all comes back
to making it easy. Social media listening tools, web analytics and
contact centre feedback will all help to plot an emotional journey
and highlight where and when customers are happy or not. Build in
recovery management 6 How do you get it right, when youve got it
wrong? Its important that you have the people in place to jump on
any issue before it spirals out of control and becomes a social
media disaster. Case management teams can pick up the complex
issues that fall between other teams to repair any damage, but root
cause analysis will help avoid it in the future. 9
10. Getting the right tools for the job In the energy and
utilities sector, perceptions of excellent service hinge on three
things: a charging structure thats considered reasonable; a
consistent supply; and how any supply interruptions are handled.
Charging structures are largely a matter for the relevant
regulatory bodies but using technology to weave agility into the
structure of such businesses is an ideal way to support a
consistent supply. Putting in place the right workforce
optimisation technologies, so that the people on the ground can
work as efficiently and effectively as possible, makes sure any
supply issues can be tackled before they become significant
problems. Openreach, a BT business, is charged with maintaining the
BT local access network across the UK on behalf of its customers
the UKs communications providers. Openreach has 30,000+ engineers,
managers, admin support and contact centre staff maintaining the
network on a daily basis. The organisation deals with about
150-170,000 individual jobs every week. Traditionally engineers
were organised by geographic patches and had very localised ways of
working not helped by disjointed processes. Now, smart technology
and access to real-time data through new business apps means the
business can plan, react and respond more intelligently. The use of
an all-in-one field tool increases the efficiency of the
14,000-strong mobile workforce and provides the ability to track
jobs, communicate with each other and pass new benefits on to the
customer straight away. Mobile device management technology means
new apps and updates to existing apps can be pushed out to the
smartphones, keeping everyone operating at maximum efficiency.
Similarly, Openreach can speed time to market for new products
because the necessary information can be sent to engineers mobile
devices. You can read the full case study on
www.globalservices.bt.com/casestudy/openreach 10
11. Standout apps for field engineers 35 smartphone apps have
been developed and are being used, including: My Jobs transmits new
jobs to field engineers the moment theyre assigned and allows
individual engineers to quickly report job progress and tests
conducted throughout the working day. It also incorporates barcode
reading to track materials used in specific jobs, and signature
capture enabling customers to sign-off on job completion. View My
Team enables local managers to see where each team member is in the
field and how they are progressing with individual jobs in real
time and as the day moves on. Managers use in-built satnav and GPS
data to locate engineers and organise visits if required. Field
Quality Check allows managers to ensure that each job meets quality
and safety standards and compliance. Prove It enables field
engineers to quickly deal with incidents encountered on the job,
including accidents. Engineers take photos, make notes, and date
and time-stamp the incident as part of a single report thats
transmitted quickly back to the office. Swap My Shift does exactly
what it says on the tin. If a field engineer wants to swap a shift
with a colleague they can use the application to see where team
members are located, what skills each has, and their availability.
The swap request is sent to the colleague, as well as the manager,
to ensure coverage. Weve improved productivity by eight per cent
for 14,000 engineers. That means Openreach is completing tens of
thousands more jobs every single week. Peter Bowden, business
engagement and change delivery manager, Openreach 11
12. Innovation, technology, customer experience and the bottom
line Weve seen how technology and consumer trends are putting
pressure on traditional contact centre models. And weve looked at
the importance of gearing up the whole business to put the customer
experience front and centre. Arming your frontline troops with
better information and the right tools is a major part of this, but
technology innovation can boost the customer experience in a whole
host of ways. Anticipating problems Fibre optic technology can
transform the way you assess problems as it can squeeze into small
spaces and sense leaks by their sound. Fibre Sensing can help you
save large amounts of money by accurately pinpointing the site of
an excavation to repair a leak and it can even predict an equipment
failure. In the same way, low-cost sensors on remote devices mean
engineers dont need to be deployed to check equipment. All kinds of
information can be gathered almost instantly and then analysed to
see what needs to be done before it affects the business. 12
13. Predictive analysis Analytics tools that use artificial
intelligence can make sense of huge amounts of data by identifying
patterns and predicting how an incident might develop. Combining
this information with expertise and experience means you can carry
out effective contingency planning. Predictive analytics can also
follow the information flow in the contact centre, and identify
problems in the process, to help you get the customer experience
right, first time. And by monitoring social media, you can quickly
respond to and manage feedback. You can use big data tools to help
interpret all kinds of customer information, as well as keeping a
close eye on the competition. Proactive crisis management
Prevention is better than cure but if something does go wrong, its
how you react to it that counts. Cloud services can help a contact
centre manage unprecedented demand without going into meltdown. For
example, engaging people on social media means you can manage
expectations, push updates out and keep customers in the picture so
they dont need to call. You can also use innovations like
personalised video content or send voice, text, and email messages
to a group with one click, to help reduce the volume of calls that
come in during an emergency. If people do call, you can set your
IVR to keep customers up to date with automatic messages. And there
are tools which allow smart phone users to view all of the IVR
options, see images that explain what to do, or to take a
photograph to help get a faster diagnosis. Smarter working You can
reduce costs and increase efficiency right across the business by
being smart with technology. Weve already looked at how technology
can help those out in the field by transforming the way jobs are
allocated, engineers are deployed and equipment is distributed. But
in the same way, remote cameras mean that the experts no longer
have to travel to every major incident. Instead, experts using
video calls can be networked with colleagues at the scene and gain
up to date information on the issue and provide timely advice. And
all of this depends on having a secure, reliable joined-up platform
underpinning the business. 13
14. Case study snapshot: Western Power From mission impossible
to award-winning customer service centre Western Power is
responsible for the safe, reliable, and efficient distribution and
transmission of electricity in the south-west region of Western
Australia. Its electricity network is the largest interconnected
power network in the state 88,000 kilometres of power lines provide
electricity to one million homes, businesses and public buildings,
as well as to 150,000 streetlights. But unpredictable weather
patterns played havoc with Western Powers customer service
operations as calls shot up from 2,000 to 260,000 a day.
Previously, the tactic was to rope in everyone they could, which
meant admin people, office and metering staff and even executives
all had to pitch in to help deal with the massive spikes in call
volumes. How technology can be a real game changer A cloud-based
contact centre solution now helps Western Power react faster. It
can deal with hundreds of thousands of calls and, by introducing a
multichannel approach, the company can be much more proactive. It
now uses social media to inform customers and reduce the need for
them to call and its IVR messages automatically update in near
real-time, by postcode. Since getting the new cloud based
omni-channel contact centre platform in place, Western Power has
seen an increase in staff retention and customer satisfaction
(while dealing with over a million calls a year). With 87.5 per
cent of calls answered within 30 seconds its recorded the best
service levels in the history of the organisation. Bronze Medal:
Best Medium Sized Contact Centre - Contact Center World (CCW)
Awards 2012 Gold Medal: Best Medium Sized Contact Centre in Asia
Pacific APAC - Contact Center World (CCW) Awards 2012 Gold Medal:
National Customer Service Excellence Awards (Medium) - Customer
Service Council (CSC) 2012 14
15. About the author Simon Ormston is head of utilities at BT
Global Services and has the exciting role of bringing the best of
BT to customers in the utilities sector. He is an experienced
strategy, transformation and marketing director, has worked as a
management consultant and has held senior positions in the
technology and financial services sectors. Simon holds an MBA, MSC
(Marketing Management), is a Chartered Marketer and qualified
programme and project manager. You can email Simon at
[email protected], call him on 07918 748 999 or contact him via
LinkedIn. Sources and further reading The Autonomous Customer
BT/Avaya research papers (Davies Hickman 2013) Its good to chat:
Webchat and the contact centre (2013) Customer Effort: Help or
Hype? Professor Moira Clark and Andrew Bryan, The Henley Centre for
Customer Management, April 2013 Super Agent 2020: What will the
contact centre of the future look like? Dr Nicola J. Millard &
Dr Tanya Alcock What Matters Most: The expectations of a new
generation of water and energy consumers BT (2013) You can download
the reports and research referenced in this white paper on:
www.globalservices.bt.com 15
16. Visit www.bt.com/utilities for information about BT for
Utilities Offices worldwide The telecommunications services
described in this publication are subject to availability and may
be modified from time to time. Services and equipment are provided
subject to British Telecommunications plcs respective standard
conditions of contract. Nothing in this publication forms any part
of any contract. British Telecommunications plc 2014 Registered
office: 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ Registered in England
No: 1800000 Designed by Westhill.co.uk Printed in England PHME
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