Internal Process Improvements Yield Customer Contact Successes
• Denise Hutchinson, Manager, Customer Care Center, Arizona Public Service
1:00 PM Thursday, 10/27/11

With an emphasis on first contact resolution, Arizona Public Service (APS) has earned the SQM Service Quality Awards of Excellence customer satisfaction award in the energy industry the past two years. APS also has the highest employee satisfaction for three years running in the benchmarking study. To reach these accolades, a number of dedicated processes have been implemented, such as providing contact center leaders specific goals for spending quality coaching time with associates. APS also uses a balanced scorecard, which includes items such as customer satisfaction and cost management, allowing management to view each associate’s performance at a glance and evaluate how to best utilize coaching time. Hear more about the utility’s customer contact successes as well as plans for future customer care enhancements during this session.

• Denise Hutchinson, Manager, Customer Care Center, Arizona Public Service
Denise manages the Arizona Public Service (APS) Customer Care Center, a bilingual, inbound contact center servicing an average of  5.2 million calls annually. The Customer Care Center is staffed with 10 supervisors and approximately 225 customer care associates. Hutchinson joined APS in 1982 as an Administrative Assistant at the Cholla Power Plant in Joseph City. She was a credit representative at the Flagstaff Business Office from 1983 - 1984. In January 1985, she became a customer service trainer and moved to the Phoenix area. She was a trainer until 1990 when she became Supervisor of Customer Service Training. Denise became Manager of the Customer Care Center in October of 2005.  Under her management, the contact center has been the recipient of several prestigious industry awards related to customer and employee satisfaction.

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Mobile Applications: More than Just Small Websites
• Patrick Duffy, Manager, Customer Service, DTE Energy

DTE Energy has achieved a high rate of online adoption, with more than 53% of its 2011 inbound customer contacts conducted online by self-service customers. So when the utility decided to make the move into smartphone mobile applications, it realized it was not just a simple of matter of “more of the same.” DTE employed use case methodology to identify how to design its mobile applications. This approach considers not just what the customers wants, but asks the questions of: who, where, when and why? Other business considerations also factor in to a mobile application, such as the distribution mechanism, support and deciding which mobile platforms to pursue and which to avoid. Hear DTE’s current mobile strategy during this presentation, as well as plans for enhanced app functionality.

• Patrick Duffy, Manager, Customer Service, DTE Energy
Patrick is responsible for the transactional portions of the www.dteenergy.com website as well as the “myDTE” mobile applications. In his nearly 10-year customer service career at DTE Energy, he also completed a highly successful redesign of the DTE interactive voice response system, leading to a 16-point increase in customer satisfaction and increased automated call completions. He also implemented an objective, standards-based call center quality assurance program. The balance of his 23-year utility career has been spent in the nuclear engineering areas of DTE Energy. 

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The Next Generation of Going Social and Mobile
• Glen Thomas, Supervisor, Communications and Public Relations, MLGW
3:30 PM Thursday, 10/27/11

MLGW was one of the industry's first movers into the realm of social media. Ranging from YouTube to Facebook to Twitter and more, MLGW began a concentrated effort in early 2009 to test the waters with these channels and determine their place in the utility's communications strategy. The utility was also a pioneer in two-way social communications, understanding the need to be continuously interactive using these channels. MLGW is also launching an iPhone application to provide outage status information and more. For utilities looking to make social media and a mobile customer interaction key communications strategy components, this presentation will offer essential best practices and lessons learned.

• Glen Thomas, Supervisor, Communications and Public Relations, MLGW
Glen has been with MLGW since 1999 and has 19 years of experience in marketing communications and public relations for both private and public employers. He serves as Vice Chair for the Public Information Committee of AWWA's Kentucky-Tennessee section. Glen also serves on the board of directors for both the National Association of Government Communicators and Utility Communicators International

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Effectively Managing eCustomer Care
• Sonia McCollum, Supervisor, eServices Strategic Analyst, Georgia Power

Customers continue to migrate to the web and other digital channels in record numbers. While 100% transaction automation is ideal, it is not a current reality. As with other customer touch-points, the digital space sometimes drives customers to other, more costly channels such as the contact center. Learn some of the key questions that utilities need to consider when forming and maintain an eCustomer Care group including:  Should we created a dedicated team? How do we measure online customer care success? What is coming next for customer-focused web services? This presentation will offer examples of Georgia Power’s recent web initiatives and how its partnership with the eCare Team is helping to bring the voice of the customer to web enhancements.

• Sonia McCollum, Supervisor, eServices Strategic Analyst, Georgia Power
Sonia has been with Southern Company for nearly 14 years and has 11 years of experience in a variety of roles dealing with the digital channel including Project Manager, Strategist and eCare Supervisor. She also served in the eBusiness department at Florida Power & Light for one year. Sonia is passionate about the online space, and channeled this passion into the formation of the Energy eBusiness Consortium.

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Intelligent Call Channel Management Delivers Operational and Customer Benefits
• Dave Tomlinson, Manager, Contact Center Operations, Progress Energy
10:30 AM Friday, 10/28/11

Customers across the globe continue to engage in a love/hate relationship with technology. While some customers prefer to utilize technology to fulfill their customer service requests, others prefer to avoid such options. Progress Energy began a detailed study after determining that nearly 17% of callers opted not to select an option in the utility’s Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system when prompted.  In 2009, the Progress Energy Contact Center Operations (CCO) team was given the challenge of implementing a system to maximize the effectiveness of the utility’s Intelligent Call Channel Management initiative – all while increasing overall customer satisfaction and maintaining a high level of one call resolution. In effect, the team was asked to figure out why the customer was calling, even if the caller simply pressed zero or nothing at all in the IVR system. Progress Energy’s strategy is clear – send the caller to the right channel, every time.  The CCO Team began with a detailed analysis of 2.5 million ‘mystery calls.’ In the end, findings were clear - the system has delivered! Intelligent Call Channel Management has generated considerable savings and effective call routing. In addition, redirects or transferred calls have held steady, proof that the system is working as designed. This presentation will provide a detailed look at more findings to-date, as well as detail the utility’s future plans for channel management.

• Dave Tomlinson, Manager, Contact Center Operations, Progress Energy
Dave is responsible for planning and leading the staff forecasting, technology implementation and daily balancing of calls between Progress Energy’s three call centers and one outsourcer. Progress Energy receives more than 14 million inbound calls per year and has successfully implemented a variety of tools and software to assist in matching the customer need with the most effective and cost-efficient channel. Dave has 28 years of electric utility experience and has served on numerous national committees including chair of the Edison Electric Institute Customer Services Committee and Southeastern Electric Exchange. 

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Smart Grid will Require Smart Call Centers
• Becky Merritt, Director, Customer Care, Dominion Virginia Power

As Dominion Virginia Power gets ready for its impending implementation of smart meters, officials realized the coming technology will change the customer communications dynamic and impact the skill sets necessary for customer service agents to be effective in the new smart grid era. In preparation, Dominion Virginia Power implemented a unique strategy in which the utility outsourced many of its baseline calls – calls to start/transfer service, etc. – and collections work while focusing its in-house customer care agents on becoming energy advisors. Dominion call center agents now undergo extra training and are prepared to talk customers through high-bill complaints, answer questions about their smart meters and handle customers’ energy efficiency needs or inquiries about pricing programs. This presentation will provide insight into Dominion Virginia Power’s strategic vision, how it has been implemented, relations with outside call center vendors and early results.

• Becky Merritt, Director, Customer Care, Dominion Virginia Power
Becky serves in Dominion Virginia Power’s Customer Service Operations department as the Director of Customer Care. She is responsible for the customer contact experience of more than 2.4 million customers who generate in excess of seven million annual calls and 60,000 emails/faxes. She has been with Dominion for more than 25 years and previously served in management roles within the utility’s customer billing and payment as well as Customer credit services departments. While serving in customer credit services, she became certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt and incorporates these methodologies in her business strategies.