When it comes to selecting or upgrading a CX platform, many stand-alone point solutions claim the value of their platform comes from replacing multiple existing systems.
That can be a daunting prospect for an IT organization — both in terms of the switching costs as well as the timeline required for a multi-system migration.
Utility IT teams have already invested money, time, and resources in CIS systems, customer care and billing systems, CRM systems, digital self-service systems, and potentially even legacy customer experience solutions. Understandably, the idea of throwing all of that out and starting from scratch creates a significant barrier to entry.
By contrast, Bidgely’s perspective is that there’s no need to upend your organization in order to upgrade your CX platform.
If existing systems are performing well, there is no reason to replace them. Instead, the focus should be on supercharging existing platform capabilities and elevating the value of the entire IT infrastructure to get the most out of your investment.
A Single Source of Truth
Behind-the-meter energy intelligence derived from load disaggregation and non-intrusive load monitoring has the capacity to augment existing tech stacks to maximize performance. In essence, consumer energy use data becomes a single source of truth that informs and boosts the capabilities of technology platforms across utility operational areas. Household energy use data serves as the core building block for both the CX platform and the aggregate IT infrastructure.
With a uniform foundation of granular, highly accurate customer insights, energy providers can ensure that customers have a consistent experience across every touchpoint and channel in their utility customer journey, which boosts CX and lowers costs to serve.
Take CRMs for example. Call center agents answering calls from consumers typically have very little knowledge about what’s happening in a caller’s home. Instead, every call requires a discovery process.
Leveraging AI-based disaggregation technology, Bidgely is able to inject appliance-level insights about a customer’s usage into the call center system, equipping agents to quickly understand why the consumer might be calling, even before picking up the line. This energy intelligence leads to faster call resolution, reduced hold times, and more personalized customer experiences.
Beyond customer-facing technology applications, a smart meter data-informed CX platform can also better inform grid management and planning by making it possible for utilities to better understand what the load on the grid is today and is likely to be tomorrow. This intelligence is crucial to achieving transportation, home, and building electrification as well as distributed energy resource goals.
Seamless Technology Integration
Rather than introduce new technology systems, Bidgely’s CX Platform is a highly flexible solution that uses APIs and widgets to seamlessly infuse customer intelligence into the existing IT systems utility teams know well.
For example, our REST API Integration enhances a utility’s native mobile app with personalized energy insights. Our API Notification Integration enables a utility to send personalized insights via both email and SMS. Our widgets allow a utility to embed new CX features within existing web portals and call center systems to maximize customer personalization and relevance.
Seeking just this sort of flexible integration, Electric Ireland partnered with Bidgely to harness insights from its residential customer data to improve engagement across its existing digital channels. Bidgely’s insight tools were delivered as widgets that could be seamlessly integrated to improve email communications with tailored, customer-specific content and add personalized energy insights, individualized customer energy usage education, and recommendations to the energy retailer’s existing residential web portal. Nearly 33,000 customers accessed Bidgely widgets on the Electric Ireland residential portal during their first three months of availability, and Bidgely-informed email communications realized a 94.62% click-through rate, demonstrating customer enthusiasm for the deeper intelligence Electric Ireland was able to provide through its established channels.
Future-Ready Solutions
The utility business model is changing rapidly, and it’s essential that a CX platform is built to evolve in response to emerging expectations from digitally centric customers and the transformative impact beneficial electrification, distributed energy resources, and other new technologies are having on grid operations. As utility needs and goals evolve, so too must their CX platform. Rather than implementing a CX platform for today, utilities need a CX platform that is always primed to deliver for tomorrow.
Unlike many static point solutions, Bidgely’s CX platform was designed to be dynamic. Customer energy intelligence continues to be enriched over time to reflect evolving energy use habits, preferences, and values. In this way, a utility’s tech stack is always informed by the most relevant, actionable data, and IT system ROI is continuously maximized.
For example, as beneficial electrification scales, managing load to maintain grid resiliency will become increasingly mission-critical for energy providers worldwide. The accelerating adoption of EVs, electric appliances, and DERs is creating a new utility-consumer dynamic in which consumers play a more active role in reducing stress on the grid during periods of high demand through direct managed charging, virtual power plants, and more. To accommodate this shift in business model, utilities will need to leverage smart meter data insights to deepen customer engagement. A CX platform capable of enhancing organization-wide IT systems with customer intelligence will be crucial.
Getting Started
In a crowded industry, there are hundreds of CX solutions vying for utility attention and promising to deliver the best results. The best platforms will deliver meaningful value by boosting the tech stack rather than disrupting it.
To help utilities evaluate their options, we’ve developed a Building a CX Platform Playbook with 10 practical criteria utilities can use to inform CX platform comparison, including those presented in this blog and more:
- Criteria 1: Advanced Disaggregation for Meaningful Intelligence
- Criteria 2: Personalized Insights for Higher CSAT
- Criteria 3: Customer Empowerment to Enable Self-Service
- Criteria 4: Bill Insight and Analysis Tools to Improve Billing Understanding
- Criteria 5: Cross-Promotion to Increase Participation
- Criteria 6: Support for Customers’ Decarbonization & Electrification Transition
- Criteria 7: Digital Engagement to Reduce Cost to Serve
- Criteria 8: Seamless Technology Integration for Ease of Implementation
- Criteria 9: Call Center Support for CSRs Empowerment
- Criteria 10: Proven Track Record to Build Confidence