Customer service is a growing concern in the business world - important enough to merit a cover story in BusinessWeek last year - "Why Service Stinks." Or, as Michael Hammer recently wrote in Information Week, "The real new economy is all about the customerellipse For the last 20 years, we've witnessed a steady and inexorable slide of power from the producers of goods and services to their customers."
The water industry is no exception - customers want their water to be pure and delivered consistently, their bills to be prompt and accurate, and to be treated in a professional and courteous fashion when they call the water utility with questions or for information. Water utilities that fail to deliver good service may lose much-needed rate increases, as well as the invaluable good will of their customers.
Thanks to trends like this, the water industry is moving from a traditional "meters and properties" approach to a customer service focus - and so are the software and solutions serving this industry.
One company that has developed a software system to provide for customer service is Orcom Solutions, with its Enterprise Customer Information System (E-CIS).
E-CIS is an integrated, modular application designed to manage the many facets of water utility customer service and billing. It allows a utility to bill for multiple products and services, generate sophisticated statements, such as multi-account "landlord" bills, and manage credit and collections in an integrated, consistent fashion. The system also helps a utility better know and serve its customers on a variety of levels.
For example, one pet peeve of customer service is a lack of historic account knowledge. Customer "John Doe" calls in regarding an ongoing complaint, like a water leak or an erroneous bill. With each conversation, Mr. Doe encounters an entirely new customer service representative (CSR) who has no knowledge of his situation or his past history with the utility. He must reintroduce himself at the beginning of every conversation and each time explain anew the purpose behind his inquiry. He may even be transferred among several CSRs during a single call, which wastes his time and subsequently increases his irritation. Even if his complaint ultimately is resolved, John Doe probably won't have a good impression of his water provider.
To prevent these all-too-common annoyances, E-CIS is designed with a module for contact management. This includes a database of all customer contacts that enables a water utility employee or CSR to review a customer's entire history down to a particular issue. Customers spend less time on the phone, since CSRs already have access to their account background, and they do not feel like strangers when they call in.
Particularly when dealing with multiple modes of contact - email, phone and mail - customer complaints and even entire service orders can slip through the cracks. To help with this concern, the E-CIS includes a service order management module.
Regardless of how a service order is generated (a telephone call, the Internet, field crews or meter reading activity), the service order management module automatically sets off a chain of events, which the utility can define during implementation according to its own needs and business processes. These can include correspondence, notices, penalties, account maintenance and changes in account status. In this way the service order management module works with the contact management module to bring consistency, accuracy and faster response time to customer requests (which results in a cost savings to the water utility as well).
A water bill itself can be an important customer service tool. Above and beyond reflecting concise, accurate information - which is pretty much a given in today's marketplace - a billing statement can be used to communicate updates as to utility products and services, impart educational information like tips on water conservation, or to accommodate customers with more complex requirements, like a landlord handling water bills for a 200-unit apartment facility.
With this philosophy in mind, the billing module of E-CIS was designed to support a variety of customer-friendly features. For example, a water utility can tailor individual bills or groups of bills. Special messages, like product and service promotions, can be incorporated into the bill statement, whether this is a printed document or presented online. It can include client usage history graphs. A wide range of billing options are supported, including online bill image, summary billing, budget billing, and consolidated billing.
E-CIS also incorporates features to enhance call center efficiency. For example, has a CSR ever frustrated you by seeming to take forever to enter basic information? Or - you discover during your next call to the company - the CSR entered the information incompletely or erroneously. Orcom addressed this concern by developing Digital Dashboard, a custom-designed graphical user interface that gives CSRs one-stop access to multiple types of key customer account information on a single screen, and allows them to keep an unlimited amount of accounts open simultaneously for cross-checking and multi-tasking.
Digital Dashboard was developed with direct input from Orcom's own CSRs about which features would ensure faster responses to customer questions, more efficient workflow and overall improved customer service. One example is Digital Dashboard's "scratch pad," an on-screen notepad onto which CSRs can type notes while on a call, and then highlight and double click on these notes to add them directly into the account record. Additionally it offers a "type-ahead" feature that automatically translates pre-defined abbreviations into words - for example, "btw" automatically becomes "by the way."
In its first weeks of use at Orcom's Customer Service Center, average call handling time was reduced by 40 seconds.
Finally, E-CIS lays the groundwork for water utilities to offer web-enabled customer self-care applications. Orcom's Internet Access System (IAS) integrates with E-CIS, and with a client's own customer web site, so that utility customers can access account and usage information in easy-to-navigate screens. Through IAS, customers can e-mail comments, complaints or requests for service, which then are automatically routed to CSRs for further processing. Access is fully user- and password-secure to ensure customer privacy. IAS can be further leveraged by a water utility to market new products and services, as well as bill electronically.
With the Internet enabling new technologies such as these, and the business climate in general resulting in increasingly high standards for customer service, two things remain certain in the water industry. The first is change. The second is the time-honored adage: "The customer always comes first."
About the Author: David Erickson is Vice President of Marketing at Orcom Solutions.
