The changing industry

“Sabio offered all the key skills we needed for this project, providing a one-stop solution for the business, design and technical elements of our Meterline project.” Business Solutions Manager, Scottish & Southern Energy

The utilities sector has possibly experienced more change in the last 10 years than any other industry. With the deregulation of the utilities market came the inevitable challenges of increased competition and regulatory and shareholder pressures.

To be successful, companies had to look at ways of reducing costs, increasing profits, driving up standards of service and most importantly, acquiring and retaining new customers to build market share. Although this is a common theme for all of the major "players", their approaches to achieving these goals have been very different but primarily these fell into two categories - growth by acquisition, or "enticing" away customers from their competitors.

Using technology to increase market share

Historically utilities have been slow to embrace customer-facing technology. However, in a highly competitive market they have realised that to meet the customer requirements, and remain profitable, they must leverage technology to establish a smarter method of operating.

It is important for utilities to understand their customers and the services that they currently utilise. We are already seeing greater use of self-service voice and web solutions, the deployment of outbound diallers and improved multi media contact strategies. The utilisation of these systems is helping companies address the challenges associated with the ever-increasing customer demands for better services, increased hours of availability and cheaper tariffs.

Supporting change

Sabio has assisted a number of utilities to define their customer contact strategies, deploying technical solutions that have enabled them to retain and increase their customer base at a reduced cost of transaction.