Post on 24-Sep-2020
Copyright ©2020 Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. This report is the sole property of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced or redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print & digital form without express written consent of Gatepoint Research.
Summary Results | February 2020
Customer Experience
Trends in Utilities
Summary Results | February 2020
Copyright ©2020 Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. This report is the sole property of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced or redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print & digital form without express written consent of Gatepoint Research.
Survey Summary
▶ Between October 2019 and January 2020, Gatepoint Research invited selected contact center, operations,
sales and field service executives to participate in a survey themed Customer Experience Trends in Utilities.
▶ Candidates were invited via email and 99 executives have participated to date.
▶ Management levels represented are predominantly senior decision makers: 3% hold a CxO title, 30% are
VPs and 67% are Directors.
▶ Respondents work for firms with a wide range of revenue levels:
▪ 34% work in Fortune 1000 companies with revenues over $1.5 billion;
▪ 18% work in Large firms whose revenues are between $500 million and $1.5 billion;
▪ 12% work in Mid-Market firms with $250 million to $500 million in revenues;
▪ 36% work in Small companies with less than $250 million in revenues.
▶ 100% of respondents participated voluntarily.
Summary Results | February 2020
Copyright ©2020 Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. This report is the sole property of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced or redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print & digital form without express written consent of Gatepoint Research.
Executive OverviewCompanies facing tremendous competition in the market need enormous amounts of intelligence to
provide a high quality, consistent customer experience (CX). Customer loyalty all but depends on being
treated intimately with every engagement, and consistently across engagement channels. What do
organizations need to change to create the best possible CX?
This survey asks respondents to report:
▶ What does their current technical environment look like for sales and service? Is it automated,
manual, or both?
▶ How consistently do they deliver their customer experience (CX) across all channels?
▶ What challenges do they face in delivering a high quality, consistent CX?
▶ What would make a difference? What is the biggest opportunity for improvement?
▶ Are they close to making an investment in CX technology?
Summary Results | February 2020
Copyright ©2020 Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. This report is the sole property of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced or redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print & digital form without express written consent of Gatepoint Research.
Describe your technical environment for sales and service.
More respondents engage separate vendors with integrated systems than do separate vendors with nointegration (40% vs. 32%). The rest (28%) use a single vendor with a common platform for all systems.
One vendor with a
common platform for all
systems
28%
Separate vendors with
integrated systems
40%
Separate vendors with
no integration
32%
Summary Results | February 2020
Copyright ©2020 Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. This report is the sole property of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced or redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print & digital form without express written consent of Gatepoint Research.
Are your technical environments automated or manual?
Just 21% of respondents have a fully automated technical environment. Fewer (10%) have a fully manual system. Most of those surveyed (69%) employ a combined automated and manual environment, using one or the other, depending on the needs of the area.
Automated
21% Manual
10%
Both automated and
manual depending on
the area
69%
Summary Results | February 2020
Copyright ©2020 Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. This report is the sole property of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced or redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print & digital form without express written consent of Gatepoint Research.
How consistent is the customer experience (CX) you deliver
across channels? (Rate 1 to 5: 1 = not at all consistent, 5 = very consistent)
Just 13% of those surveyed can brag they are delivering a very consistent customer experience across channels. While 42% say CX leans toward consistency, 31% say their customers are not experiencing consistency across channels. Perhaps most surprising is the number of respondents who don’t know or can’t measure cross-channel CX consistency —13%!
Not at all consistent Very consistent
0% 4%
27%
42%
13% 13%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
1 2 3 4 5 6I don’t know
Summary Results | February 2020
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Do you have any of these challenges using customer data to enhance customer experience (CX)?
Three issues are nearly equally troubling for respondents, barring them from using customer data to enhance the customer experience: By a slight 1% edge, the number one problem is not being able to strategically use data in real-time. 36% can’t incorporate 2nd and 3rd party data, and nearly as many are unable to predict customer behavior (35%). Significantly fewer respondents —24% — can’t access all previous interactions.
37%
36%
35%
24%
6%
21%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
I'm unable to strategically apply data in real-time
I'm unable to incorporate 2nd and 3rd party data
I'm unable to use analytics to predict customer behavior
I don't have access to customers' previous interactions
Other
I don't have challenges using customer data to enhance CX
Summary Results | February 2020
Copyright ©2020 Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. This report is the sole property of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced or redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print & digital form without express written consent of Gatepoint Research.
How do your challenges using customer data affect CX in your business?
Problems with capturing and reporting customer feedback affect CX for 43% of respondents. Slightly more than a third are unable to deliver proactive customer service, while 23% say they have trouble keeping up with consumer preferences. A small, but significant 16% say field employees are unable to upsell or renew contracts on-site.
43%
34%
23%
16%
4%
21%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Difficulty capturing and reporting customer feedback
Inability to deliver proactive customer service
Inability to keep up with changing consumer preferences
Impossible for field employees to offer
additional products/services or renew contracts on-site
Other
N/A, I don't have challenges using customer data
Summary Results | February 2020
Copyright ©2020 Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. This report is the sole property of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced or redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print & digital form without express written consent of Gatepoint Research.
What are your CX objectives in the next 12 to 18 months?
Across a variety of CX objectives, more than 40% of respondents say the top two are empowering customers with self-service options and acquiring and retaining customers. 30% have a goal of monetizing new areas of the utility value chain.
42%
41%
30%
21%
19%
17%
16%
3%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Empower customers with self-service options
Improve acquisition and retention
Monetize new areas of the utility value chain
Increase first-time fix rate
Improve on-time arrival
Ensure SLA attainment
Reduce net-effort score for the customer
Other
Summary Results | February 2020
Copyright ©2020 Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. This report is the sole property of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced or redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print & digital form without express written consent of Gatepoint Research.
What would help you meet your CX objectives?
Nearly half of respondents say continuous lifecycle engagement of customers would help them attain their CX objectives. Removing touchpoint friction (43%) and personalizing every interaction with relevant content and offers (40%) round out the top three objective-supporting actions respondents say they need to employ.
49%
43%
40%
29%
14%
11%
6%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Engaging continuously throughout the entire lifecycle
Frictionless customer experience at every touchpoint
Delivering personalized experiences with relevant content
and offers in every interaction
Implementing additional customer engagement channels
Using social profiles and/or social listening to improve
targeting
Deploying an automated chatbot to handle routine requests
or scheduling
Other
Summary Results | February 2020
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What is the top opportunity for improving CX in your organization?
Asked to cite one standout opportunity for improving CX, respondents voice a variety of ideas, but increased automation, from operations to self-service is most cited (35%). Other opportunities include using IoT in customer and field service areas of the business (23%), adaptive intelligence (21%), bots, and other emerging tech (10%), and embedded sales coaching (8%).
35%
23%
21%
10%
8%
3%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
Increased automation, from operations to self-service
Empowering customer and field service representatives with
IoT insights
Adaptive intelligence that recommends next-best actions
Leveraging emerging technology such as intelligent bots
Embedded contextual sales coaching
Other
Summary Results | February 2020
Copyright ©2020 Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. This report is the sole property of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced or redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print & digital form without express written consent of Gatepoint Research.
Where are you in regard to investing in better CX capabilities?
All but 39% (with “no specific plans”) are somewhere on the timeline of improving CX capabilities, from 8% who are “thinking about it” to 21% who are in the midst of discovering what they need, to having already engaged a consultant or vendor (22%).
8%
21%
4% 5%
22%
39%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Thinking about it,
not sure where
to start
Looking into
solutions now
Have issued an
RFI/RFP
Reviewing consultants/
vendors
Engaged an
consultant/
vendor
We have no specific
plans
Summary Results | February 2020
Copyright ©2020 Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. This report is the sole property of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced or redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print & digital form without express written consent of Gatepoint Research.
Profile of Responders:
Revenue
34% of those surveyed work in Fortune 1000 companies with revenues over $1.5 billion.
>$1.5billion
34%
$500 million -
$1.5 billion
18%
$250 -
500
million
12%
<$250 million
36%
Summary Results | February 2020
Copyright ©2020 Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. This report is the sole property of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced or redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print & digital form without express written consent of Gatepoint Research.
For Utilities Professionals, Oracle offers a cloud-based
integrated set of applications that spans the entire
customer lifecycle from marketing to sales to field
service, so you can meet and exceed customer
expectations.
Learn more at go.oracle.com/unforgettableUtilities