Vodafone storm^® helps UK Power Networks reduce repeat callers by 50% during outages

Background

UK Power Networks is the nation’s biggest distribution network operator (DNO), delivering power to over 20 million people through more than 160,000km of cabling.

On this vast network spanning London, the South-East and East of England, supply interruptions are inevitable. When disruptions occur, a deluge of customer contacts places huge strain on contact centres, causing more frustration for customers.

Challenges

A limited number of advisers and technology unable to process tens of times the normal volume of customer interactions meant calls to UK Power Networks would often not get through or be dropped during outages. When callers did get through, advisers manually identified the caller’s location and, with many legacy systems, struggled to internally access the relevant data.

Through their own devices, UK Power Networks had little provision for omnichannel communications, with just three channels on offer. It also had limited resources available for proactive communications, which are crucial when providing mission-critical power to vulnerable customers, such as those on dialysis machines.

All DNOs are ranked in a league table of customer service by industry regulator, Ofgem, and these communications challenges significantly impacted UK Power Networks’ performance. With Ofgem able to issue penalties to those failing to provide satisfactory service levels, UK Power Networks had added incentive to optimise its frontline customer communications.

Service improvements were difficult to make with a sprawling enterprise communications estate improvised from multiple IT suppliers. This included five different Management Information systems, requiring a week to manually compile a holistic, and already outdated, report. This legacy equipment came with huge ongoing support and maintenance overheads.

Why Vodafone storm^®?

Vodafone storm^® lets customers reach you through web chat, email, social media, text and voice messages. They can switch between channels with ease, and advisers can view entire  conversations from a single app, enabling them to offer a more personalised experience.

The solution is fully customisable, letting you choose the functions you need to provide the best experience for your customers and advisers, and only pay for those you use.

Solutions

After the initial implementation, Vodafone integrated storm with ENMAC, UK Power Networks’ electricity monitoring system. This enables real-time data to feed into services, so customers can access automated voice prompts with up-to-date information on power statuses in their area.

The introduction of integrated omni-channel services, including an interface on the website, enables UK Power Networks to proactively engage with customers on their preferred channel. UK Power Networks uses storm SHOUT™ to send automated SMS updates during an outage - leading to a 50% reduction in repeat callers - and enables customers to speak to an adviser live on web chat.

For customers wanting to speak to an adviser, storm’s integration capabilities gather real-time information, such as known customer contact numbers. This is used to determine location, customer segments, and immediately route the call to the best available support.

Results

UK Power Networks has substantially improved its customer satisfaction levels and moved up the Ofgem leaderboard, avoiding penalties and qualifying for incentives.

Using storm’s reporting tool VIEW, UK Power Networks can see all relevant data about power outages and customer contacts in real time. This enables them to react to quickly changing circumstances, safeguarding vulnerable customers.

storm’s cloud delivery model means that these features can be accessed on a pay-per-use basis, avoiding large capital investments. This massively reduces ongoing support and maintenance costs, allowing UK Power Networks to drive down overheads while optimising its communications capabilities.

storm’s flexibility means that UK Power Networks can access additional features and integrations as and when required. This has supported the recent smart meter integration and the use of natural language processing in call routing and self-service.