Implementing KPIs to drive customer satisfaction

Utility companies require technological solutions to help drive not only operational efficiency but also customer satisfaction. With the right tools in place to monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), it is possible to truly optimize field service processes which affect customer experience

“What gets measured gets improved” is a popular maxim coined by a widely influential management consultant, Peter Drucker. Based on this premise, by measuring the right field service KPIs, your company will be able to improve how field service affects customer experience.

The first step in this process is to identify what the right KPIs are; it is important that the selected KPIs are measurable and accurately track the business performance criteria you are seeking to improve. There are many ways to go about this, but normally companies opt to use standard indicators for their industry. Some examples of common KPIs for utilities include:

• Average service re-connection time
• Average work-order completion time
• Average work-order assignment time
• System average interruption frequency index (SAIFI)⁽¹⁾
• System average interruption duration index (SAIDI)⁽²⁾

You should find that the number of complaints about field service issues decreases when your customer experience KPIs show improvement; if this is not the case, you may need to reconsider your KPI selection. Conducting market research and analyzing past complaints are good ways to come up with the specific factors that are important to your customers.

Once you have selected the right KPIs, it is important that information is collected, documented and presented effectively so that you can see what initiatives are working and which areas of customer service need further work. Due to the sheer volume of data involved in tracking these KPIs, the task of processing the associated information can be quite a challenge. Traditionally companies have relied on hand-written forms which are then transferred to a spreadsheet and converted into a chart. These days, companies are more often using specialized software to automate these processes, thereby avoiding the problems of inefficiency, delays, and inaccuracies associated with manual data processing.

Energuate, a utility company which provides electric power to 95% of Guatemala, has benefited from a specialized field service solution which automatically tracks KPIs. With Smartflex, the company has enhanced the operation of its 973 work units which manage around 6,500 orders per day. Not only has the company increased productivity, but through in-built support for KPI tracking and reporting, customer experience has improved greatly.

“We have transitioned from the stone age to the information age in 3 months. We have gotten rid of the dinosaurs and now we are using a cutting-edge information system”

Jorge Antonio Guillen (Assistant manager of systems and telecommunications, Energuate)

With automatic tracking of KPIs, it is easy to see how much Smartflex has improved Energuate´s field service operation.

According to Energuate’s Commercial Manager, Paulo César Parra, the company has managed to avoid 24,000 unnecessary service suspension operations in three months thanks to the provision of current and online information through Smartflex. With this new system, the company can check the payment status of each customer prior to issuing or carrying out a disconnection order, thereby preventing user complaints and unnecessary reconnection costs.

“The solution provides current information such as the locations of work units and the work they have been assigned. It allows the generation of reports and visualization of the operation in real time. You can know exactly which work unit is performing the best for a given day or month, you know the average time to perform a task and you have the ability to control tools and materials”.

Diego Pava (Energuate Commercial Management Responsible)

Effective tracking of KPIs is essential for business transformation and continuous improvement. Smartflex gets you started with industry-standard KPIs while also allowing you to select and customize your own KPIs to ensure that you have the best tools possible to keep track of your company’s performance. With an award-winning field service solution tracking meaningful indicators of customer experience, it is easier than ever to improve customer satisfaction through results-driven management.