Why Utility Providers Must Provide an All-In-One Digital Solution for Multi-Homeowners

September 27, 2019

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Landlords and vacation rental owners are abundant in North America, and the necessity for these multi-homeowners to digitally connect with their electric, water and sewer, gas and multi-service utility providers is only growing.

In fact, it’s not just multi-homeowners either. A recent article from Toronto Life found a large number of Torontonians are giving up the “soul-crushing” search for an affordable home in the city and, instead, buying cottages further north that they can rent out when they aren’t there.

These homeowners are still living in rental properties in Toronto, but they are buying vacation homes further north that are more affordable than a full-time home – meaning they can rent the properties out during the summer months to make additional money.

It’s highly likely that your utility has customers that either own multiple homes or they own one property and rent it out for summer vacations. These customers live far away from the properties they own, meaning they need a convenient and seamless way to view, manage and pay for their utilities.

Homeowners now need to pay their bills from a different city

The customer experience (CX) is now an essential aspect of any business, and utility providers are no different. That’s why it’s essential for utility providers to ensure they meet the expectations of modern-day customers.

Property owners who don’t actually live in the buildings they own still need to access and manage their utility information, as well as their bills on time, but they simply don’t have the time to do those tasks over the phone.

Thankfully, new innovations in technology have given forward-thinking utility providers the opportunity to offer their utility customers everything they need in one easily-accessible digital platform.

What is an all-in-one digital solution?

Since customers now want to access all of their utility information on one device, from any location and at any time, it’s now crucial that your utility implements an all-in-one solution that reduces customer effort, increases self-service and enhances the customer experience.

That’s where a customer portal comes in.

A customer portal is an all-in-one solution that allows your utility’s customers to manage their entire account on one secure website or smartphone application. Your customer can access this account from anywhere, on any device, at any time of the day.

Minimizing the slow process of communicating with customers through paper bills or phone conversations, a customer portal allows your customer to access the entire account on one platform.

What a customer can access can be adapted to your utility’s specific needs through third-party integrations, but most customer portals will include features such as:

Multi-home owners are busy, and they do not have the time to sit around patiently waiting for paper bills or to wait on hold in the queue for your customer service department. A customer portal completely removes the need for either of these scenarios.

How can SilverBlaze help?

SilverBlaze has created the innovative, award-winning Customer Portal for Utilities, which completely changes the way customers interact with their utility providers.

Through the integration of third-party solutions such as smart metering, outage notifications, and many other solutions in one easy-to-use platform, the SilverBlaze Customer Portal is designed specifically for the needs of the utility industry.

By using SilverBlaze’s unique solution, your utility will empower its customers to update personal information, make payments, receive notifications and alerts, learn about their personal usage and much more – from any device, at any time of the day.

Want to learn more about how the SilverBlaze platform provides a one-stop-shop solution for a new generation of homeowners? Contact our team of experts today. We would be more than happy to answer any questions you have.

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It’s time to stop worrying about all the issues that come with low customer engagement, and instead, transform your operations to become the leading utility company in your area.

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