Customer service in the water sector? SIMples

Mathew Beech reports on the insights into SIM revealed by a Utility Week Live roundtable discussion last month.

At Utility Week Live a roundtable debate explored the role of the service incentive mechanism (SIM) as a driver for improving customer service. The introduction of SIM in 2010 has coincided with an improvement in the level of customer satisfaction with water companies, but was SIM responsible?

The Utility Week Intelligence report Secrets of SIM shows that the previous customer service model, the overall performance assessment (OPI) had “plateaued in terms of the level of improvement” in 2009. Since then, SIM has recorded a 0.39 point improvement in customer satisfaction, up to 4.49 out of 5.

The roundtable discussion examined whether SIM was responsible, and the two three points were:

•    SIM was not the game changer. The general consensus of the group, which featured representatives from Ofwat and water companies, was that while SIM was a catalyst for change, improvement momentum can be attributed to other factors.

Among the other factors companies felt had spurred improvement was cash and the realisation that, as Wessex Water’s chief executive Colin Skellett put it in a Utility Week Live keynote presentation, “delivering crap services costs money”.

• SIM needs leadership. Maintaining momentum, after the kick-start to customer service improvements SIM provided, required good leadership, delegates agreed. If the top brass of a water company listens to feedback – from customers and staff – and acts on it, culture change and improved customer service will ensue. It “empowers staff to deal with issues”, said one attendee.

The group also agreed that this would help staff become brand ambassadors, in the way Andrew McMillan, former head of customer service at John Lewis, had portrayed in an earlier presentation.

The leaders of the water companies also said it was time for a more proactive approach to customer service, “sometimes letting them know of a problem before they can tell us”.

•    Market opening will drive services. The final point, and one that was acknowledged as a growing influence over customer service, was the looming introduction of non-domestic retail competition.

The monopoly status of water companies removes competitive motivations. And while regulation is meant to ape the competitive element and keep the companies on their toes, the introduction of real competition, albeit in just one segment of the market, is expected to have a positive impact on customer service as a whole.

The debate stated that, with customer service set to be the main differential for business customers, the ethos of good customer service will “filter through” to the domestic retail arm as well.