fDigitalization resonates more and more in the energy and utility segment. However, most companies in our country lack greater experience in this area, and know-how must therefore be sought abroad, where these transformation cycles have already been carried out. How to proceed with digital transformation in Energo & Utility? What will it bring to the company, what impact does it have on customers or sales representatives? Where to get inspiration from?
Digitalization in Europe
One of the pioneers in the field of digitalization of processes chinese overseas british database in utilities was the Italian company Engie, which implemented new CRM systems. At the time of digitalization, this company, trading in electricity and gas, employed 2,600 people and had 50 offices, serving approximately one million customers. Since then, digitalization has become a common practice and has spread to many other European countries. We are slowly seeing this change manifest itself in the Czech Republic, where some companies are starting to actively engage in digitalization projects to improve services and increase the efficiency of their operations. This trend wave shows how the utility sector in Europe is changing under the influence of modern technologies and digitalization.
Why are the energy and utilities segments approaching digitalization and automation of processes and what is their goal?
The customer is the focus.
The first and indisputable goal of digitization and automation of processes. Whether in the B2B or B2C sector. The goal is to make the customer satisfied and loyal. Only such a person will be more interested in the services and will become a source of higher income.
Increasing the company’s efficiency, and thus ROI indicators.
In the context of a company’s digital transformation, savings are a basic prerequisite, which occur mainly through simplifying the architecture, increasing employee productivity, faster customer service, and their move to the digital space.
New business model
All of the above factors can result in a new business model. Every however, we will try to derive general guidelines utility company is thinking about changing its business model because it wants to increase its revenue. The condition for this step is to have a platform that is flexible, innovative, proven and reliable. Ideally, it should be able to integrate into an older, existing system and should not be expensive.
Satisfied employees
Creating a user-friendly and intuitive environment for employees is another goal of digital transformation and at the same time a clear condition for success. The employee environment must be friendly and bring the company the planned savings resulting from increasing the efficiency of its employees. Therefore, it is important to involve employees in the entire process.
How to proceed?
It is advisable to plan the implementation of a new CRM platform in small steps, with each additional product being added quickly. In fact, it involves the migration of users and data to a new CRM/application platform that is friendly to process management and the work of the user himself. The change uses the already established integration infrastructure and data interfaces, and therefore it can be carried out gradually and without jeopardizing the functioning of the entire organization. Additional tools are then added to the new platform, such as customer self-service applications, customer web environments or communication channels, which in total brings full digitalization.
Specific benefits
Experience from implementing cloud CRM in European countries thailand data shows that switching to a new system allows companies from the energy and utilities segment to:
reducing the average time to serve one customer (in the contact center),
an increase in the number of customers who make a decision immediately after the first phone call,
increase in cross-sale campaigns.
New business of model
Other benefits include improved customer self-service capabilities , an increase in paperless forms of customer communication, and last but not least, customer satisfaction.
Thanks to the new application, up to 55% of customers can serve themselves. Easier and more frequent digital contact reduces the number of salespeople and at the same time the customer is in contact whenever he needs it. The use of AI also plays an important role here.
The figures from the implemented implementations also show an increase in paperless communication with customers of approximately 15%. This naturally means less paper and fewer mailings.
Digital transformation of the industry from a marketer’s perspective
When contacting a customer, the salesperson now has all the important information visualized on one screen.