Learn more about how integrating Bidgely analytics with Salesforce improves customer satisfaction and unlocks enhanced operational workflows: watch the fireside chat featuring Salesforce and Bidgely from Bidgely Engage 2020.
Utilities are investing in information technology at higher rates than ever before as the pressures to accelerate the pace of digital transformation and unify technology systems to reduce redundancies continue to increase. With the escalating spend comes an imperative to maximize technology ROI by optimizing and extending their technology stack to ensure it delivers enhanced operational workflows utility-wide.
In keeping with this goal, many of our recent conversations with utility partners have centered upon how to embed Bidgely’s smart-meter-derived consumer energy insights within existing technology systems to create a true data ecosystem that yields greater business benefit from IT expenditures.
Bidgely + Salesforce
That’s why Bidgely introduced Energy Insights Widgets on the Salesforce AppExchange to provide a powerful new tool to the more than 500 utilities and other energy services businesses worldwide who rely on Salesforce to drive their contact centers, sales and engagement departments, middle office functions and field work.
Using Energy Insights Widgets, utilities are able to bring Bidgely’s consumption-level insights into their existing CRM system to create a more robust 360-degree customer view while leveraging their most precious asset – DATA. This integration solves a critical pain point for utility system integrators by consolidating customer data into a single platform.
Bidgely + Salesforce makes it possible to unlock a greater level of digital-first personalized service from CRM technology investments and incorporate AI-powered insights into a wide range of fundamental operational systems.
Transforming Call Center Performance
Consider, for example, how Bidgely insights improve call center experiences by enriching each customer’s account analysis and the tools available to customer service representatives. When equipped with personalized customer insights on a consolidated platform, CSRs are able to provide better service, improve customer satisfaction, resolve issues more quickly (often at first contact), and more effectively cross-sell utility programs.
Bidgely energy analytics transform CSRs into trusted advisors by providing them with hyper-personalized energy insights and recommendations at their fingertips as they respond to customer inquiries.
Historically, CSRs may have been able to review messages that have been exchanged between the utility and the customer, cases that have been opened and closed, bills that have been presented to the customer and/or bills that perhaps still remain unpaid. Now, using Energy Insights Widgets, Bidgely energy analytics are embedded within the Salesforce Service Cloud dashboard to enrich each customer account analysis. This empowers CSRs with a far more comprehensive 360-degree view of utility-customer interactions and deeper level of personalized insights including:
- Bill Analyzer that reveals whether a variation in appliance consumption, weather event or other specific factor is responsible for bill changes;
- Bill Projections that leverage usage patterns to predict end-of-month costs;
- Load Disaggregation to pinpoint where and how a customer is using the most energy; and
- Activity Map to determine if usage on specific days or at certain times is contributing to high billing.
Energy Insights Widgets for Salesforce also enable highly targeted product and service recommendations, rate analysis to ensure each customer is on the most advantageous rate plan, home profiles and more. These energy insights help the CSR at every stage of their diagnostic and troubleshooting processes.
Energy Insights Widgets for Salesforce in Practice: High Bill Call Resolution
To understand these tools in practice, let’s look at how Bidgely Energy Insights Widgets for Salesforce transform high bill calls.
When a CSR receives a call from a customer who is angry about a high bill and demanding an explanation, Bidgely’s Energy Insights Widgets for Salesforce make the interaction between the CSR and customer smoother and more effective throughout the course of the customer interaction.
First, using the Bill Analyzer widget, the CSR is able to see immediately that $75 of the bill increase is due to an increase in heating use. Furthermore, the widget reveals that most of that increase can be explained by the fact that temperatures during the billing cycle dropped by nearly 20° F.
These insights alone fact provide the caller with a reasonable explanation as to why the bill went up. But to de-escalate the situation and provide optimal customer service, it’s also incumbent upon the CSR to also offer suggestions to help the customer better manage billing. Using Bidgely’s Rate Analysis widget, the CSR can quickly assess whether the customer might benefit from enrollment in an alternate rate plan or tariff based on actual time of use patterns.
The CSR can then click over to the Recommendation and Product Rebates widget to find a list of AI-generated personalized saving opportunities based on the customer’s latest usage patterns, the season and more. Recommendations may include rebates, special discounts, demand response behavioral tips or special assistance programs.
Recommendations may also include product suggestions for potential appliance or home infrastructure upgrades that could provide additional savings.
In only minutes, the CSR is able to accurately explain the reason for a high bill and offer up a comprehensive set of specific, personally relevant suggestions that demonstrates that the utility understands the customer’s situation and cares about improving their energy experience. Not only is the customer happier, it is likely that the call resolution time has decreased as well.
Enterprise Software That Is More Flexible, Scalable, Cost-Effective and High Performing
Bidgely Energy Insights Widgets transform Salesforce into an even more flexible, scalable, cost-effective and high performing application within a utility’s enterprise software portfolio.
Utilities who are already using both Salesforce and Bidgely can easily integrate the two solutions into one configurable ecosystem. Those utilities that are looking to add AI-powered insights to their existing Salesforce Service account can download Bidgely’s Energy Insights Widgets from the Salesforce AppExchange and work with Bidgely on implementation. Bidgely’s Energy Insights Widgets can be embedded within existing service cloud tabs or added as a new tab set. In the future, Bidgely’s Energy Insights can be used to enrich content for marketing campaigns, DSM program offers, TOU rate tips, personalized chatbot messaging, and digital self-service tools.
To learn more about how integrating Bidgely analytics with Salesforce improves customer satisfaction and unlocks enhanced operational workflows, watch the fireside chat featuring Salesforce and Bidgely from Bidgely Engage 2020, or watch a video walkthrough of how about how Bidgely Enhances the Utility IT Stack.
