No going back: the pandemic year that shook up utility customer services

18 March 2021

The pandemic ushered in a huge change in utility customer services culture at a pace which could not have been predicted. The new Insight Report from Utility Week uncovers the short-term tactics that companies deployed and considers how these can be honed into longer-term strategies to improve customers’ experience and company efficiency.

The report, ‘No going back: the pandemic year that shook up utility customer services,’ covers the story including:

The astonishing pivot to digital with utilities servicing huge growth in volumes of web chat, introducing WhatsApp capabilities, and hastening market launches of new apps and in-app features.

Ben Blake chief executive, OVO Energy and Smart Home, on the power of web chat, the acquisition of SSE, and observations on utilities versus the travel sector where he formerly ran Hotels.com.

Strategies for overcoming challenges with legacy systems at speed, including how cloud infrastructure showed what it can do.

Scottish Power’s innovative one-click payment process and its option for direct debit customers which let them self-serve to temporarily lower monthly payments.