A new perspective on utilities complaint management

Transcription

1 A new perspective on utilities complaint management An EXL whitepaper Written by EXL Utilities

2 Resolving customer complaints is an unavoidable challenge in the energy and utilities industries. Consumers take issue with products, services, policies, customer service, and the complaint resolution process itself. While minimizing the amount of complaints is an important goal for utilities providers, ensuring complaints are resolved in a manner that results in positive customer experiences is equally important. Every complaint is a potential opportunity to transform an unhappy customer into a loyal advocate. Failure to adequately address customer complaints can also have serious repercussions, such as violating regulatory guidelines or attracting negative media attention. redress package, following the supplier s billing and complaint handling failings.1 The provider was also fined 2m by the energy regulator for failing to handle complaints properly. In 2014, a different energy company was fined 3 million following an Ofgem investigation into the company s handling of complaints. 3 It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience. Understanding Customers by Ruby Newell-Legner There have been multiple examples where energy and utilities companies had to face the wrath of regulatory bodies for not managing customer complaints effectively. In 2013, Ofgem required one energy provider to pay 26m as a consumer The increasingly competitive utilities market provides customers with more choices for providers than ever before. Energy suppliers must make substantial ExlService Holdings, Inc.

3 Resolve a complaint in the customer's favor and they will do business with you again 70% of the time. Lee Resources quickly and satisfactorily, while also generating insights which can be used to prevent future complaints. This requires implementing a holistic framework utilizing systems, people, processes, analytics and governance. changes across a variety of policies, procedures and systems to ensure their complaint resolution process allows them to retain and grow their customer base. Managing complaints the right way While ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements is a necessity when managing complaints, implementing measures such as keeping a record of complaints is not the same as resolving a complaint. A robust complaint management process should focus both on providing real-time solutions effectively, ExlService Holdings, Inc. 1. Technology 2. Process Deploy robust Complaints Management System (CMS) Complaints data aggregation from all sources Alerts and reminders Automated letter-management system Real-time customer insights to complaints handler Customized business and regulatory reporting Real-time performance management 3. Analytics Complaints profiling and segmentation Analyze existing complaints behavior Root cause analysis Probability of repeat complaints Speech and text analytics Sentiment analysis for satisfaction/dissatisfaction Propensity to complaint and action segmentation Model development and mitigation insights 5. Governance Specialized complaints team Synergies between Front office and Back office Corrective actions - Feedback, coaching and refresher trainings Closed looped feedback to other processes Continuous improvement 4. People Clearly defined KPIs Customized training to identify high-risk complaints Customer experience management Mentoring and coaching Empower employees to resolve customer complaints Incentive programs to encourage right behavior

4 1. Complaints Management System Organizations must shift from tracking complaints on spreadsheets to robust complaints management system (CMS) that can manage the complaints life cycle end-toend. An effective CMS should have the following features: a. Complaint capture and maintenance Records complaints efficiently across multiple sources including s, phone calls, or through forms on a company website b. Configurable and flexible workflow Intelligent skill-based routing based on severity, impact, complaint type, business area, etc. to ensure right complaint is allocated to complaint handler with right skill set c. Alerts and reminders Helps customer service representatives follow-up at the right time and avoid any delay in complaint resolution d. Automated letter management system Complies with regulatory bodies on resolution time and reduces time spent on letter creation e. Real-time customer insights to complaints handler Provide information to complaints handler about customers historical interactions and activities with the organisation along with predicting customers probability for a repeat complaint and propensity of moving to regulator EXL worked closely with a U.K.-based energy and home service provider to implement Complaints 360 o In a period of three months, Complaints 360 o achieved the following results: 90% 44% 15% 31% increase in complaints resolution improvement in regulatory compliance reduction in open complaints improvement in overall process compliance f. Built-in analytics engine for root cause analysis Perform root cause analysis to identify process and service improvement areas and prioritize change initiatives ExlService Holdings, Inc.

5 g. Customizable business and regulatory reporting Investigate data to produce scheduled or demand reports to allow for increased management oversight and improved transparency for effective decision making. Tool should facilitate reporting to adhere to regulatory requirements like publishing complaints data with 'top 5' reasons for complaints on required frequency h. Real-time performance management Interactive dashboards for managers to identify stalled cases or bottlenecks delaying complaint resolution 2. Process Organizations must clearly define complaint management processes to ensure consistent, positive customer experiences. Siloed approaches to resolving individual issues on a customer account or a lack of ownership in handoffs between the front office and back office can result in into ineffective complaints handling and lead to fractured customer experience, with a high probability of repeat complaints. Building synergies between front- and back-office teams through a hub and spoke model to manage handoffs between front office and back office based on their priority can result in faster complaint resolution and avoid repeat complaints. Insights gained from handling complaints should be leveraged through feedback loops between the teams handling complaints and the other departments. 3. Analytics Due to the availability of data at each stage of the customer life cycle, the role analytics plays in managing and reducing complaints has grown significantly. Analytics can be used to identify customers likely to complain, allowing their consumer transactions to be given priority and ensure their satisfaction. The data-driven insights provided by analytics can also be leveraged to help resolve complaints faster ExlService Holdings, Inc.

6 Analytics can provide key information including: Complaints and customer profiling to identify pain areas Customer journey maps and tracking probable events that trigger complaints Utilizing speech and text data to find underlying patterns in the ways customers express Ascertain impact on NPS/CSAT Utilizing past complaints data to examine how resolutions were reached, and what optimized resolution mechanism could be applied to specific complaints Predict the time it will take to resolve various types of complaints Predict customers likely to complain in the next 30 days based on the RCA and drivers analysis, then develop action segments and gauge effectiveness Develop proactive strategies for managing complaints that cannot be eliminated Provide Next Best Actions, or changes in operation processes to eliminate root causes of complaints 4. People A robust workforce strategy is instrumental for laying a foundation for an effective complaints management process. Utilities companies should focus on the following to enable employees to resolve complaints effectively: Adequate training on handling customer complaints effectively during onboarding, training programs with hands-on skill development as well as collaborative learnings Robust training need analysis to ensure consistent service delivery through specific and timely training interventions Leverage complaints for coaching and mentoring employees Define KPIs with clear linkages to performance in resolving complaints Empower employees with right tools and resources to resolve customer complaints Incentivize and reward right behavior ExlService Holdings, Inc.

7 5. Governance Strong governance mechanisms must be set up to track the effectiveness of the complaints management process. Doing so ensures any challenges impacting the complaint resolution processes are handled pro-actively. Structured governance and review mechanism at strategic and tactical level should be set-up to allow seamless communication, continuous monitoring and high transparency on complaints performance among all associated stakeholders. While strategic reviews should ensure that the organisation is meeting all regulatory, policy and reporting requirements while removing any roadblocks impacting complaints performance. Objectives for the tactical reviews should be to review complaints service delivery, focus on areas for improvement, discuss challenges, and approve changes. Conclusion An effective complaints management process goes beyond tracking and resolving complaints in real time. It utilizes technology, processes, people, analytics and governance to ensure positive customer experiences when resolving complaints, and generates insights that can be used in reducing the amount of future complaints. A strong complaints management process delivers measurable impacts such as improved customer experience, reduced cost of operations, revenue protection and compliance to regulatory requirements. References 1. BBC: Provider to pay 26m over billing and complaint failures 2. Provider fined 2m by Ofgem for mishandling complaints - BBC News 3. Energy company fined 3m over mishandling complaints ExlService Holdings, Inc.

8 EXL (NASDAQ: EXLS) is a leading operations management and analytics company that helps businesses enhance growth and profitability in the face of relentless competition and continuous disruption. Using our proprietary, award-winning Business EXLerator Framework, which integrates analytics, automation, benchmarking, BPO, consulting, industry best practices and technology platforms, we look deeper to help companies improve global operations, enhance data-driven insights, increase customer satisfaction, and manage risk and compliance. EXL serves the insurance, healthcare, banking and financial services, utilities, travel, transportation and logistics industries. Headquartered in New York, EXL has more than 24,000 professionals in locations throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America, Australia and South Africa ExlService Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved. For more information, see us: lookdeeper@exlservice.com On the web: EXLservice.com GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS 280 Park Avenue, 38th Floor, New York, NY T: F: United States United Kingdom Czech Republic Romania Bulgaria India Philippines Colombia South Africa