Customers, actually we as consumers in general, liked it so much that we wanted that same nice customer experience in basically everything we do in our private or professional lives.
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1. Your customers compare their experience with your utilty to the best E-commerce companies like Amazon, Apple, Nordstroms, Newegg, Overstock, Home Depot, T-Mobile, Netflix, Telefonica. Go ahead, enter your favorite online retailer or service provider here. |
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2. Utilities typically offer a variety of water, energy and related products, services, programs and information. So do companies in other industries. |
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3. People want solutions to better run their homes and businesses. Utilities provide these. So do companies in other industries. |
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4. Customers don’t care which service provider gives them the solution, the product, service or advice. They don’t care about utility regulations. Neither do companies in other industries. |
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5. Your customers want to easily see online what products and services their utility and partners can offer, read reviews, order and track the delivery. Finally, they want a consolidated invoice which they will pay with the payment form of their choice. This is what all e-commerce companies do offer. |
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6. Strong competition from outside the industry is gaining access to the utility customers with innovative and exciting products and services. It disrupts the traditional business model of the utility which is based on sales of their core product. That’s exactly what happened to retailers, the postal service, banks, telecommunication companies or cable TV providers within the last 20 years. |
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7. Utilities are not innovating their product and services quickly enough. The customers’ wants and needs are not at the center of everything they do. As a result, they become less relevant to people in general. This is what has been happening to many service providers. Who is still shopping at Sears? |
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8. People prefer engaging online self service experiences. Who doesn’t? |
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9. Utilities globally are developing long-term customer engagement strategies with e-commerce requirements in mind. So have companies in other industries for many years and many utilities for a while. |
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10. Already today, Utilities are delivering excellence in customer communication via multiple channels consistently like mobile, web, text, social, contact center. So do companies in other industries. |
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11. Already today, Utilities have strong expertise in serving hundreds of thousands and in many cases millions of customers simultaneously. So do companies in other industries. |
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12. Already today, the majority of utilities CEOs and CIOs strongly believe that customers’ needs and wants are having the biggest impact on how they do business today and in the future. So do companies in other industries. |
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13. Utilities operate online and retail outlets and partner with other service providers. They offer an energy marketplace of solutions to consumers. So have companies in other industries. |
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14. People demand better access to services while utilities struggle to overcome restrictions of their complex IT infrastructure, non-standardized business processes, and siloed organizations. This is what citizens experience with their government agencies at the moment. |
- Digital transformation and competition disrupts common ways utilities fund investments in general and how they pay for improving customer service in particular.
- Any utility can improve their customers’ experience by adopting E-Commerce principles proven over many years in other industries.
- Utilities have a unique advantage to better serve customers compared to the best E-Commerce players. Eyeballs on the monthly bill, a wealth of data (structured and unstructured, own and purchased AND TRUST!) – Thanks, Bill.
- SAP’s Customer Engagement & Commerce Platform and Solutions can help your utility explore the possibilities on the path of digital transformation.
