As the world entered the 2020s, no one knew what was in store, including utilities. Within a year, extreme events such as the pandemic, wildfires and other climate emergencies, pushed the imagination of every utility executive. And this decade has just begun!
The utility industry—known for rising to challenges, kicking off contingency plans, and ensuring the seamless delivery of must-have services to every home and business—learned a lot of lessons. Certainly, one lesson has been the importance of digital CX (customer experience) transformation.
While progress toward customer experience excellence was already underway among utilities, the global pandemic—along with other disruptive market shifts—has made investments in CX acceleration imperative. The impact of COVID-19 on customer behavior has been immediate across countries and demographics, bringing a widespread change in their decision-making and buying behavior. The pandemic shaped the need for easy access to products, services, and information. Customers are now comfortable using online channels to connect with businesses, and we see a growing usage of chat technologies and social media communication. The increased experience and sophistication among customers has driven the need for utilities to deliver better, safer, and more seamless interactions at lower costs, requiring them to invest in new digital methods to minimize customer effort and create frictionless processes.
COVID-19 amplified the significance of using segmentation and personalization to drive an emotional connection with customers. For example, while cost savings on utility bills is a priority for some customers, for others, it might be tackling sustainability concerns.
Utilities need to provide strongly tailored experiences to individuals to make them feel valued and put them in control.
Creating traction with modular solutions has become essential by integrating e-mobility, smart home technology, marketplace, community solar, etc., to modernize customer relationships. Utilities across the globe have increased technology adoptions in the last year in the cloud, IoT, and AI technologies to automate processes, provide customized offerings, and improve customer experience.
Many utilities are accelerating and augmenting their CX initiatives. Let’s look at a few:
To replicate these successes or become another CX trendsetter, utilities require super-charged, cost-effective digital CX solutions that drive business outcomes at lightning speed. Some essential elements help energy and water providers make faster progress in building superior customer experience:
What else should utilities do? First, the key is getting comfortable with change, getting comfortable with technology, and getting comfortable with keeping the customer at the center of business operations.
And it requires planning, action, and execution. All today.
It is about revamping the IT architecture, making room for more innovations and agility. Traditional IT processes with siloed applications will always hold off innovation. We are looking at the migration to a cloud-native microservices-based IT foundation with an agile development approach- one that is flexible, scalable, modular, and secure for future developments. One that leverages the power of AI, IoT, NLP, ML technologies, because that's where the future is. That's how utilities will survive in a world characterized by constant change and complexity.
And this new energy-water world is approaching faster than it seemed yesterday. The last two years have taught us that.
To learn more about the art of perfecting your utility’s digital CX journey, connect with us by clicking HERE.
Utegration and Smart Energy Water, together, help global utilities connect with their people and build superior digital customer and workforce experiences. Connect with us and find out how we can help you become future-ready!