Customer service: Invest in people, not tech alone

Technology alone cannot resolve customer service challenges, the chief executive of the energy ombudsman has said, as he urged companies to invest in the human element as well as technology platforms.

Speaking at Utility Week’s consumer vulnerability and debt conference, Matthew Vickers stressed that companies should invest in customer service.

Acknowledging the difficult trading conditions for retailers, Vickers said investing in customer support agents would help consumers through the transition that utilities are on. He added that building trust requires legitimacy and credibility to bring all consumers on the journey. He said this would require “a different kind of skill set, different support and different leadership”.

Vickers said the watchdog would be closely watching how effective tech-led customer service platforms can be as they are adopted widely by more suppliers.

“They were often developed for a particular customer base of tech-savvy, enabled, engaged consumers in the market,” Vickers said. “Now they are being adopted by companies with a larger legacy base, which is interesting because it’s the first time some of these platforms will be reaching a different type of customer base.”

He explained it will be “a real pivotal issue” in the next few years to assess how well emerging platforms and systems will cope with legacy consumers.

Vickers added there would be “no magic bullet” for implementing technologies. “The lessons we can learn from very successful new entrants that use technology is that it’s as much about what sat around the technology, the human-side, the conversations it has allowed.”

He said from a strategic viewpoint the investment is not made to reduce opex and cost to serve, but to look at different type of engagement with a longer-term view.

“There’s a question for regulators to be considering what level do they allow companies to invest in customer service, in trust, in that future,” he added.

Speaking about the opportunities technology could bring to improve service for vulnerable customers, Emma Clancy, chief executive of Consumer Council for Water (CCW) urged utility companies to proactively look at changes in usage and contact customers to offer help early to avoid it affecting people’s mental health.

Vickers stressed that predictive technology alone “was not the answer”. He said companies using technology such as smart meters to anticipate when consumers are in need of additional support should then use that information to start a conversation to avoid bill shocks.

This would, Vickers suggested, keep cost to serve low by addressing issues as soon as they arise.