What do you think are the biggest opportunities today for energy companies as it relates to customer excellence?
Hands down it’s AI. In all my years in the industry I’ve seen a lot of changes, but nothing comes close to the wealth of opportunities that AI brings to the space. I believe that by harnessing customer data — with the proper safeguards, of course – AI holds the potential to absolutely transform the way we do business. This includes enrolment journey, product offering, risk management, seamless operational efficiencies all the way to customer experience.
How do you see your clients building the business case for customer engagement solutions?
In residential markets, there’s a real cost to acquiring new customers, which is why customer churn can be a major issue. As it’s a lot easier, and more cost effective, to keep the ones to you have than to replace the ones you lost.
One big way energy companies can boost their retention rates is by investing in new technology. Technology that leads to predictive analytics, and offers renewal and retention products tailored-made to increase customer satisfaction while also cutting costs and combating fraud.
On the commercial side of things, energy companies could use this kind of new tech to capture key customer data – like load profiles, ICAP, NITS, etc. – to customize their products in a way that would ultimately lead to not just increased brand awareness and margins, but also a more elevated, overall customer experience.
What do you say when you were convincing people to take customer engagement seriously?
Times have changed. We are living in a digital world where customers have a lot more power through social media. With so many online platforms, communities, bloggers and forums, your customers now have a voice. Active customer engagement can lead to addressing customer concerns. When customers feel heard and that their concerns shall be taken care of, they are then way more likely to recommend your brand.
What are the challenges of digitization and integration retailers are facing?
When it comes to challenges two main things come to mind. First, how to stand out as a brand in a crowded and complex digital landscape. Customers are bombarded online with targeted messaging so it’s crucial to find a way to be creative and with a message that not only reaches them, but resonates.
Furthermore, as an energy company balance is key when it comes to consuming vast amounts of data, and securing it in a way that ensures an integrative workflow, that allows all internal systems to not only operate seamlessly, but also simultaneously in a way that translates to real, meaningful customer action.
As a recent example, last year a state’s power grid operator paid a crypto mining company over $30 million in energy credits — or roughly $22 million more than the value of the bitcoin it mined that month — to cut its energy consumption during a record-breaking heat wave.
In your opinion, what innovations will have the biggest impact on the power sector in the next 30 years?
We’re at a pivotal moment in our industry. The convergence of climate change, EV adoption, crypto mining, renewable energy generation, and battery storage is reshaping how we plan, connect, and invest in the grid. This underscores the critical need for the power sector to pivot towards a more forward-thinking approach to anticipate unforeseen challenges. Given the multitude of factors in flux, preparedness has never been more vital.
What do you think attendees gained from your session at CHARGE 2024?
They heard first-hand insights from a REP, an energy transition company, and a utility about what their customers are saying. We also delved into how to utilize feedback, discuss the product launches and shared the hurdles encountered during implementation.
There is nothing Ananda loves more than finding new ways to approach different aspects of our business, processes and products with a radically new prospective. This challenges him to come up with new solutions and fundamentally accelerates changes in our industry.
A good example of this would be an energy transition company looking to install batteries for homeowner at a lower price point and then working with them to not only save the homeowner money now but also changing their usage behaviour over the long term.
Another example would be for an energy transition company coming up with a custom EV plan based on a homeowner’s driving and charging patterns.
