The New Year is here and many utility providers will be looking into ways that they can improve efficiencies and provide a better customer experience - that’s where smart forms and automated workflows come in.

For your customers to have a positive experience with your utility, it’s essential that you offer a world-class customer experience. This means it’s essential that your company meets ever-increasing customer expectations through the implementation of innovative technology. 

We are happy to share that Alectra Utilities, a SilverBlaze customer, is expanding again!

News Release from Alectra Utilities:

Guelph, Ont., January 2, 2019 – Guelph Hydro Electric Systems Inc. (Guelph Hydro) and Alectra Utilities Corporation (Alectra Utilities) completed the closing of an agreement Tuesday to merge their two electricity distribution utilities.

The constant evolution in digital channels and customer service technology is improving the customer experience across most industries, and this has led to increased customer demands when it comes to service providers.

To keep up with the digital age, many utility providers are now realizing the importance of implementing a self-service customer portal.

The digital economy and new technologies are changing the way utility providers must serve and engage with their customers, and those who keep up with new trends will not only realize significant benefits but will be in a position to offer a superior customer experience.

However, simply implementing a few modern technologies into your business does not drive innovation within the utility industry.

An important goal for any utility provider is to ensure that they have an ongoing strategy to reduce energy consumption and that it has a successful plan in place for managing conservation and demand.

Not only is this important for utility providers when it comes to saving money and becoming more efficient, but it’s also now an essential part of the customer experience.

Digital innovations are not only influencing customer expectations when it comes to business-to-consumer communication, but they are also changing the way businesses must operate if they are to deliver a service that makes a profit and satisfies the customer.

Due to a lack of competition within the market, the utility industry has largely lagged behind other sectors when it comes up adopting innovative new technologies and building a superior customer service. That’s all changing. 

New innovations in technology and the constant evolution of consumer expectations are forcing change across all industries, and the utility sector is no different. Utility providers must now use next-generation technology to satisfy their customers, or risk being left behind.

Utility businesses are constantly looking for ways to streamline operations, cut costs, save precious time and work more efficiently. But, did you know that going paperless through the implementation of a customer portal can help you achieve all of those with ease?

Technological advances have changed the way businesses run their day-to-day operations and engage their consumers. Many utility providers, however, are still relying on outdated methods that leave the consumer unsatisfied with the customer experience (CX). 

Utility providers that embrace changes in technology will realize significant benefits from a paperless approach, which both improves the customer experience and improves business efficiencies. 

In our last blog, titled “Utility Providers: Are You Ready to Implement a Customer Portal?”, we looked at some of the key motives that indicate a utility provider is ready for the implementation of a customer portal. Now that you’ve decided a customer portal is the right choice for your business, you probably have one question - Do you build it yourself or do you buy it?

Before we get into ”build vs buy”, let’s first recap some of the benefits of a successful customer portal and how it can completely revolutionize your customer experience (CX). 

Customer Portals provide significant benefits for utility providers. Not only do they vastly improve the customer experience and make business processes more efficient through automation, but they also give you valuable data that helps your utility understand its customers.

A customer portal is a great way to communicate with your customers and provide accessible information at the click of the button. This includes features that will make your customer experience superior to others within the industry, such as notifications and alerts, ebilling and outage notifications.