Transform complexity into simplicity!
Gartner Market Guide for Utility CIS 2024

Connect to your customers digitally with Smartflex

Providing an outstanding customer experience is essential for service providers who wish to stay relevant in an increasingly competitive environment and distinguish themselves through a customer-centric business model. To achieve these goals, they need modern tools which support effective digital interactions and the creation of strong customer relationships.

Connected people map in a self service portal

The emergence of digital tools has impacted all areas of human life and the way customers interact with their service provider is no exception. While companies used to focus primarily on their call centers, they are now looking for tools that allow customers to manage themselves and communicate through a range of digital channels. Similarly, customer service representatives need digital tools which allow them to efficiently manage customers whenever they get in touch. The Smartflex portfolio is designed to solve these challenges and support service providers in their journey to provide superior customer experience, improve customer service KPIs, and become truly customer-centric businesses.

Self-service Portal

Companies that provide robust self-service portals empower their clients with 24/7 access to all the information they need about their account. Through an engaging and user-friendly interface, the Smartflex self-service portal allows customers to view graphical representations of their usage, make payments, apply for services, enroll in incentive programs, and manage budget-based billing schemes. Furthermore, clients can personalize their experience with options such as paperless billing, automatic invoice payment, and the ability to change languages.

To ensure excellent customer experience, the Smartflex Self-service Portal features an integrated chat feature which allows customers to have personal assistance straight away. This combination of self-service and personal chat support costs less than a traditional customer service center and provides a better overall experience. Live chat is currently the most desired communication channel for new generations and yields satisfaction levels of over 70%, higher than other communication methods such as email, apps, and social media1.

Due to the growing concern for the environment, customers are increasingly engaging in active decision-making about their usage. To make these decisions effectively, they need to have current information at their fingertips, which couldn’t be easier thanks to the native integration of Smartflex’s self-service portal with its advanced CIS2. Additionally, this integration allows utilities to quickly and effectively notify customers about interruptions, outages, programs, promotions, and company news.

Smartflex also provides companies with detailed usage statistics about the self-service portal, allowing them to stay on top of customer needs and continually update the experience through the portal configuration tools. In this way, service providers manage the information and processes available in the self-service portal and provide continual updates to make sure customers are up-to-date with the latest information, programs and available offers.

CSR Application

Smartflex is designed to satisfy customers with the latest technology, fostering a digital and customer-centric approach to business which helps service providers live up to the digital expectations of new generations3. Building on this philosophy, the solution’s Customer Service Representative (CSR) application allows companies to effectively manage customer relationships with a full 360° view of customer interactions. This application provides a central hub for managing customer processes related to requests, accounts, products, multichannel communications, and information about payments and usage. All of this is made available to service representatives through an intuitive interface, designed to provide a fast and easy experience thanks to advanced searches, filters, and support for custom functions. Taking a broader view of the CSR application, it includes a range of natively-integrated functionalities which support customer segmentation and the development of commercial and financial strategies. Through the combination of support for front-line customer service and high-level strategy, the Smartflex CSR application provides a clear road for transformation into a customer-focused business.

With Smartflex, companies can exceed customer expectations and effectively engage with customers across a wide range of digital communication channels. With an outstanding self-service experience and effective customer relationship management tools, service providers can strengthen customer loyalty, reduce customer churn, and improve overall customer satisfaction.

Smartflex has integrated these capabilities into its portfolio to produce a truly holistic solution which optimizes the critical business and operational processes of service providers while maintaining a strong focus on the customer.

(1) MacDonald S. (2018). 21 Reasons Live Chat Can Help you Grow Your Business. https://www.superoffice.com/blog/live-chat-statistics/

(2) Customer Information System

(3) TMG Consulting. (2018). Utility Industry Disruption: 5 Profound Trends Impacting IT Modernization Projects. http://www.csforms.org/Conference42/Workshop%20pdfs/TMG.pdf

Share:

Smartflex is a modern, comprehensive platform dedicated to energy, water, gas, and non-traditional utility products and services. It includes four built-in applications: a customer information system, a self-service portal, meter data management, and mobile workforce management. Smartflex’s natively integrated design supports all utility business needs and evolves synchronously, reducing costs and minimizing integration and upgrade efforts.

Smartflex enables digital transformation, fosters new business model creation, and simplifies daily operations and customer experience improvements through a rule-based design and predefined workflows.