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Cognizant 20-20 InsightsEnergy & Utility PracticeEnhancing the Utility CustomerExperience: A Digital FrameworkTo deliver a mature digital customer experience, energy and utility companiesneed a strategic roadmap and strong platform that keeps customers loyal,happy and engaged. Here’s how to get started.Executive SummaryFollowing widespread industry deregulation, the utilitiesbusiness has become increasingly competitive. As theregulatory environment pushes this industry towardgreater transparency, increased efficiency and theadoption of smart grid technologies, many players areattempting to strike a balance between profitability andcustomer experience transformation.As balance sheet pressures rise from both cost andrevenue perspectives, utilities are pursuing alternativestrategies to improve their bottom lines. One meansof doing so is to identify and control customer churnJune 2019and more efficiently manage new means of marketexpansion. This could be by improving operationalefficiency or by bringing in new customers within thesame geography – or a mix of both. Building a moderndigital ecosystem is critical to attracting new customersand expanding the overall customer base.A digital ecosystem is an interdependent groupof enterprises, people and/or things that sharestandardized digital platforms for a mutually beneficialpurpose – such as commercial gain, innovation or othercommon interests. Digital ecosystems enable participants to

Cognizant 20-20 Insightsinteract with customers, partners, adjacentindustries — even the competition. Several playersacross industries have taken the initiative to create“best-in-class” customer experience transformationframeworks drawing from each other’s experiences.Customer journeys are being designed to keep theend user at the center.Thus far, most utility players haven’t fully capturedthe benefits of a digital ecosystem to engagetheir customers’ interactions. One way for themto move forward is to join hands with leadingdigital services providers with experience helpingconsumer-facing companies across industriesdeliver hyperpersonalized, omnichannel digital2 /experiences that anticipate customer needsand desires for superior cost savings andempowerment.This white paper offers a viable, unique frameworkthat addresses the needs of both utilities and theirend users. The framework helps utility playersassess their customer experience maturity; italso offers guidance on how to set up a strategicroadmap to become a mature digital customerexperience provider. Additionally, the paperprovides insights on user experience managementfrom multiple perspectives – customer, utility andthird-party intermediary – and identifies criticaldrivers for a successful digital ecosystem.Enhancing the Utility Customer Experience: A Digital Framework

Cognizant 20-20 InsightsUnderstanding the utility customer lifecycle and itsvarious touchpointsBy a rough estimate, in the utility retail space theaverage customer acquisition cost is high, retentioncost is low (perhaps a third as much), while theopportunity costs of customer loss can rangevery high (at least several times the acquisitioncost). This highlights the importance of ensuringcustomer stickiness. As markets get more and morederegulated, customers will get more demanding.In addition, research shows that customer service isa critical factor driving customer loyalty to a brand –and this holds true in the utilities industry as it doesfor every other field.Among the many benchmarks across industries forbest-in-class digital customer experience, mobilityranks high. In the banking industry, for example,mobile banking has transformed the customerexperience, with many users absolutely loving theuse of smartphones to carry out critical bankingactivities on the go. Retail, airlines and many otherindustries are now meeting customers at thechannels of their choice. Utilities must also adaptto ensure a seamless digital customer experiencewithin their business processes in a cost-effectivemanner yielding maximum end-user impact.What players need to realize is that though the ideaof going digital sounds very appealing, achievingit presents a plethora of options. Merely buyingattractive off-the-shelf products without a clearand personalized strategy can spell doom.Hence, utilities must move forward strategicallyto build an economically feasible digital customerexperience. A key strategic element is to focus onsolutions that provide significant value in resolvingcustomers’ pain points.To offer truly customer-centric service, utilityproviders must track key customer preferencessuch as channel of communication and modeof payment. They also need a single view of allcustomers across all channels in their system toensure consistency and to provide customerschoices and flexibility. Only once a utilityhas thoroughly analyzed customer journeys,segmentation and personalized communicationcan it effectively create and frame a digitalcustomer experience strategy.As a foundation, utility players must understandthe complete customer lifecycle with its associatedtouchpoints. It is useful to break down the lifecycleinto the following sequence: Preenrollment stage. Enrollment stage. Post-enrollment stage. After-sales service.Only once a utility has thoroughly analyzed customer journeys,segmentation and personalized communication can it effectivelycreate and frame a digital customer experience strategy.3/Enhancing the Utility Customer Experience: A Digital Framework

Cognizant 20-20 InsightsFigure 1 displays the utility customer experiencelandscape, showing the key customer journeysand associated touchpoints throughout thefour stages. An effective customer experiencemanagement (CXM) digital strategy will not attemptto address individual touchpoints but instead focuson a holistic picture of the entire landscape. Thegoal is to make sure the utility player can meetcustomers’ needs and resolve their queries at theircommunication channel of choice – delighting themwith a simple but thorough process. For example,utility players often tend to focus on individualcustomer touchpoints, such as the payment of thebill, and not look holistically at the utility customer’sjourney, which in this case is Consume & Pay (seeFigure 1). If the attention paid to the touchpointincludes rethinking and redesigning the customerexperience, that could create inconsistencies forconsumers in what they expect from their utilityproviders. This in turn might cause them to losefaith in their provider. In our opinion, utility providersare always better off rethinking the customerjourney as a whole, for a true customer experiencetransformation, rather than focusing on transformingindividual touchpoints.Stages, journeys and touchpoints of digital customer experienceJoin Offer/Quote Generation Product Selection Credit Check Move-InsEnrollment StageAwareness Research Recognition MarketingCampaignsPreenrollmentStageConsume & Pay Billings & Payments Reads ManagementPost-EnrollmentStageChange ofService Renewals/Terminations Transfers Move-OutsContact &Inform Raise Incident/Query Report Incident View Incident StatusAfter-SalesServiceService QueryManagement Field VisitManagement FeedbackTrackingFigure 1A framework for defining superior customer experienceFigure 2 (next page) presents a frameworkthat allows utility players to assess their digitalcustomer-experience maturity.Omnichannel customer experienceOmnichannel is the quintessential element ofcustomer service throughout many industries,including utilities. With the advent of newtechnologies in the space of IoT, big data andchanging business models accompanied by the4/gradual shift in customer needs, it has becomeimperative for utilities to align with changingindustry dynamics. Nowadays, customers want tointeract with their utility via multiple channels andwant more control over how they are contacted.Thus, it is crucial for utilities to offer omnichannelcustomer service delivery.The essential elements for delivering a consistentlysatisfying omnichannel customer experience are depictedin Figure 3 (next page), from four different perspectives.Enhancing the Utility Customer Experience: A Digital Framework

Cognizant 20-20 InsightsElements of exceptional digital customer experienceOmnichannelexperienceIntegration ofsocial mediaAdoptionof latesttechnologiesDigitaloperationsDigital governanceinnovationFigure 2By understanding the needs of each stakeholderin the customer service ecosystem, a utility canbring all stakeholders together and develop anomnichannel strategy that proactively identifiesand meets customer needs holistically. By doingthis, a utility will both capitalize on an opportunityto differentiate itself in an increasingly competitivemarket and also foster positive change for theindustry as a whole.To begin, utilities must tackle the essential task forproviding omnichannel customer experience –integrating all customer-facing channels thatoperate in silos. This is crucial both to provide aseamless customer experience and also to yieldvalue for internal stakeholders.Utilities also should focus on internal capabilities,the transactional environment and the practices inplace to alleviate the affiliated risks to achieve theoverall strategic objectives of the organization.(To better understand how a utility can transformand overhaul its operations, please read “RegionalUtility Reboots Customer Satisfaction byReshaping the Digital Customer Experience.” )The multiple drivers & benefits of omnichannel digital customer experienceFour perspectives on omnichannel platformStakeholderNeed/voice of the stakeholderBenefits to the stakeholder Multiple channels to interact with utilities. First contact query resolution. Cross-channel customer journeys. Nonrepetitive information request as per channel. Quick query resolution. Seamless customer journeys. Higher satisfaction levels. 360-degree view of customer across channels. Rationalize queries from different channels. Personalized and contextual interaction with prospects. Different skill sets for different channels. Greater customer insights. Maximize agent productivity. More bandwidth for agents. Avoid agent attrition.Operations Higher costs for query resolution. Low customer lifetime value. Revenue loss due to high customer churn rate. Stress on profitability due to process inefficiencies. Ineffective capital decisions. Save costs on call centers. Enhance customer retention rate. Efficient workforce sizing. Optimize internal process lead times.Leadership Enhance brand value. Commit to service excellence. Lead with customer focus. Cross-functional collaboration. Right marketing campaign. Enhanced ure 35/Enhancing the Utility Customer Experience: A Digital Framework