Tech-savvy consumers are demanding that their energy suppliers deliver a better customer experience using digital channels.
This is among the findings in IDC Energy Insights research “CXIT and Social Survey 2014” on energy supplier trends and expectations regarding customer experience (CX). The objective of the study was to understand CX decision makers’ key challenges, priorities, strategies, social business-related activities, and CXIT future expectations (including new technologies such as cloud, mobile technologies, big data/analytics, and social media tools for business purposes).
“Energy suppliers are learning to cater to a new generation of digital-savvy customers,” says Gaia Gallotti, research manager of IDC Energy Insights. “Driving company presence across many communication channels is believed to be the most important factor to achieving superior customer experience.
“Today, the top three customer communication channels for ensuring a superior and unified customer experience are web sites/portals (53%), emails (33%), and social networks (33%). However, it is noteworthy that mobile apps are significantly more preferred in the energy supply industry than in other industries. IDC Energy Insights believes mobile apps will have a more significant role in communication channels in the near future.”
Additional key findings include:
* For energy supply companies, customer experience (CX) is predominantly in the hands of the chief marketing officer (CMO) or the CEO. Energy suppliers are twice as likely than other industries to have CMO-led marketing strategy goals.
* A third of respondents said they expect their customer-facing IT spend to increase over the next 12 months, considering that 53% of them believe IT has been a steady contributor to ongoing operational effectiveness and 40% think IT has been a significant source of competitive advantage.
* CXIT investments will be made primarily in new technologies or services aimed at driving revenue growth — especially in mobile technologies, which 40% of respondents believe can positively transform customer experience.
