Smart Grids and Dumb Service: How AI is Transforming Customer Support in Utilities
Smart Grids and Dumb Service: How AI is Transforming Customer Support in Utilities
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Authors name: Jarrod Davis May 17, 2024
The utilities industry is surrounded by digital transformation on all sides, from smart grids, IoT technology, electric vehicles, and more. We could go into further detail but the truth is: there’s simply no future in which customer service becomes simpler, demand goes down and technology decreases. Whether it be meter readings, help at a charging station on the highway, or just contract changes, AI Agents are the only path forward to scaling customer service amid a changing and digitizing industry. Here’s why.
Why AI Now?
The utilities market continues the shift towards renewable energy, more efficient resource management, integrated technologies, and IoT for smart meters and grids and the electrification of transportation. All of these impact and complicate customer service operations. Utilities must now manage a more dynamic grid, handle vast amounts of data from connected devices, and address new customer issues related to EVs. This demands robust, scalable customer service solutions that can easily integrate with a range of information systems, provide real-time support, and continue to adapt to evolving customer needs. There is no single solution. But AI is part of any solution.
The Business Value of AI Agents in Service
AI Agents, based on a combination of Conversational and Generative AI, bring a unique blend of personalization and automation to both the customer and agent side of service. On a high level, here are some of the benefits AI delivers:
- Close the labor gap in contact centers
- Improve efficiency metrics
- Reduce labor costs from overhiring due to inefficient operations
- Increase customer satisfaction metrics
- Handle the same or rising inquiries with the same staff level
Use Cases For Customers
Customer Service for Smart Grids, IoT, and EVs
The tide of complexity is rising in the contact center, yet agents are still stuck with manual processes. Enter AI Agents, who can swoop in quickly gather up these manual processes. The best way to get started is to identify high-volume, low-complexity issues that can be automated. It’s not about starting with end-to-end but finding the low-hanging fruit that will deliver results.
This is why the key to sustainably unlocking both the power of AI and ROI is adopting an iterative approach. By tackling smaller, very narrow business cases, you can simultaneously get your first AI project off the ground and achieve business-changing results in a remarkably short amount of time. And one final tip before we get into use cases, it’s better to automate an existing channel than try to launch an additional one in a new project.
One Fortune 500 Insurer started by employing an AI Agent to do ID&V and routing only. This single AI Agent achieved a 95% automation rate handling 20+ million calls per year and reduced their average handling time by 27%. Another option is meter readings using a simple AI Agent who can help customers take a photo, receive the image, and read it via optical character recognition (OCR), then update their account accordingly. Whether it be billing issues, outage reports, or other common processes, AI Agents can dramatically reduce the workload on your agents, speed up resolutions for customers, and save money in the process.
Conclusion
Utilities are no less impacted by digitalization and rising customer expectations than any other industry and at the same time, are able to adapt and benefit from these changes. Amidst the complexity of smart grids, IoT, and EV tech, AI Agents are essential solutions to adapt to the present, scale for the future, and sustainably improve customer experiences in the long term. AI isn’t merely a technological upgrade but a strategic asset to navigate the future.