Exploring the benefits of the cloud for utilities communications and billing
2020 was a year of rapid change in the utilities industry, and this change continued into 2021, as utilities took more of their business online than ever before. Now, as the most acute phase of the pandemic fades into the background, these organizations are considering how further investments in digital solutions can solve critical business problems, improve customer experience, and turbocharge billing and payments.
For many utilities, a cloud-based communications platform that includes an integrated payment solution is a logical next step in a digitization strategy. Cloud-based Customer Communications Management for utilities helps avoid common pitfalls experienced with legacy, on-premises communications solutions, and it can also offer utilities a number of key benefits in terms of increased efficiency, improved collaboration, and enhanced customer experience.
Are you ready to explore the benefits of Doxim CCM for your utility? Chat with a utility communications specialist today
Read on to learn more about the benefits of the cloud for utilities communications and billing.
Reduced Time to Implement
For many utilities, the case for better customer communications and payment solutions is clear. Customers are becoming ever more demanding, and they expect personal, relevant, and convenient communications and payment options from their utilities. But getting buy-in for the installation and configuration of a new CCM solution can be difficult. Utility leaders worry about projects that run over time and over budget, and about software that can become obsolete shortly after installation. Given these potential drawbacks, they often ask, isn’t what we have in place sufficient?
Choosing a cloud based CCM solution can help mitigate the risks of new software, so your utility can experience the benefits of enhanced customer communications sooner. A cloud-based solution can also be made available to your business users quickly, as your CCM vendor will have a real-world tested series of best practices for streamlining the planning and implementation process.
Top-tier cloud-based CCM solutions are built with agility, stability, and scalability in mind, so you can have faith that your utility’s communication needs will be accommodated now and, in the future, regardless of growth.
By working with an industry-experienced CCM vendor, your utility can get started with a modern, omnichannel communication strategy sooner. Going cloud-based can free up both people and finances, allowing your team to focus on other critical aspects of the business.
Easy Integration with Other Solutions
If your utility is still operating a legacy, on-premises solution for communications, you are likely already experiencing problems with integrating the solution with the rest of your technology infrastructure. As the field of customer experience moves forward, your utility will want to integrate even more data and insights into your communications to make them more personal and relevant. Without interoperability between data sources and your CCM solution, this goal will be impossible to achieve.
A cloud-based CCM solution will give you a head start on creating a fully integrated customer experience technology stack. Look for a cloud-based CCM solution with a suite of API integrations, which will enable seamless integrations so your utility will have immediate access to the latest innovative tools.
Enhanced Collaboration
Cloud-based CCM makes collaboration easier, by enabling employees to work together even if they are geographically dispersed. As a result, cloud-based communications solutions can help you break down organizational data silos, so your employees, customers and third parties can communicate more easily.
Cloud-based CCM also makes enhanced communication design much simpler. Instead of relying on IT as the go-to data source, a cloud-based CCM solution will equip your business users with enhanced data visibility and self-serve capabilities across departments. This means your users will have tools to work together and be agile in response to new revenue opportunities and to improve CX, growing your organization while maintaining the intimacy and personalized service your customers seek.
Improved Customer Experience
Better access to customer data, and better tools for communication creation allow utilities to create a more consistent and rewarding customer experience as they have greater insight into behavior patterns and individual communication preferences. As you explore cloud based CCM solutions, look for platforms that can easily deliver communications through multiple channels based on customer preferences. Be sure to select a system that supports multi-step communications, so recent interactions inform subsequent outreach to the customer for a seamless experience across channels. By making your communications, and the channel through which they arrive, more targeted and personal, you will enhance the utility customer experience and build loyalty and trust with your customers.
Realize the benefits of cloud-based Customer Communications Management for utilities with Doxim
By centralizing your customer communications with a cloud based CCM platform, your utility will have more consistency and control over the customer and employee experiences you create. Your employees will benefit from enhanced customer data and improved collaboration tools, so building high-quality customer communications is easier and faster than ever before. And your valued customers will enjoy personalized and relevant experiences created by using customer data to provide insights and proactively shape the customer journey – across all communication channels.
Doxim’s modern, cloud based CCM platform will meet the needs of your IT team, your budget, and your business. It is adaptable and open, with a robust portfolio of APIs so it works seamlessly with other systems. It is built for agility, stability, and scalability, so it can grow and change with your business. And it is designed with the specific needs of utility companies and their customers in mind.
