DATA COLLECTION MANAGEMENT With mounting environmental concerns and regulatory


demands, UK energy providers face increasing pressure to achieve sustainability across all their business practices.


Lucy Klinkenberg-Matthews, head of sustainability for Paragon Customer Communications (PCC), explains how the latest technologies can help energy suppliers enhance customer experience (CX) in sustainable ways


BRINGING


SUSTAINABILITY TO CUSTOMER


EXPERIENCE (CX) S


ustainable change is an absolute for UK energy providers, necessitated by the urgent


need to improve the environment, the imposition of governance by regulators, and increasing social demand from consumers. As the sector responsible for energy supply,


energy providers face greater regulation than most when it comes to sustainability and meeting the UK’s carbon emissions targets. Though renewable generation increased by 11% in 2020 and accounted for 42.9% of total generation, there is still a long way to go to meet government targets. With the addition of regulations such as the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme and the need to disclose annual energy consumption and emissions levels, the drive for sustainability has never been greater.


CONSUMER DEMAND Energy providers also face growing pressure from consumers. According to The Independent, over 80% of UK households that switched their supplier in 2020 chose a green energy tariff – up from 54% in 2019 and 20% in 2018. Sustainability is now so important to customers that it has become a key component of CX, with 56% taking an organisation’s environmental and social practices into consideration during the purchasing process. Indeed, in 2020, 28% of UK consumers abandoned a brand because of concerns about its sustainability. This is a trend that will also affect business


customers who, because they have their own regulations to meet and green credentials to establish, have even more incentive to seek sustainable energy providers. With consumers preferring to give their


custom to companies that offer more sustainable customer experiences, energy providers, too, need


www.energymanagementmag.co.uk


to establish their eco-friendly credentials. Though they are working steadfastly to deliver greener energy to the UK, consumers believe that, just like every other company, they have a corporate responsibility to make all aspects of their operations more sustainable, and this includes their marketing and communications strategies. An energy provider’s starting point for making


progress here is having the capacity to measure the carbon impact of its communications. With this in place, it can then measure and report the progress made by implementing ‘greener’ net-zero solutions, such as app-based account management, default paperless billing, online meter reading and so forth.


TECHNOLOGY THAT DELIVERS SUSTAINABILITY For energy providers wanting to offer greener CX, meet government targets and comply with regulations, the adoption of new technology has become essential to delivering sustainable customer communications. The latest customer communications


management (CCM) platforms, for example, offer providers an effective and efficient means to establish a single, centralised, CCM delivery model whose ‘one-platform approach’ facilitates communications across all channels and technologies. This ensures that energy providers have the delivery infrastructure they need to support sustainable and frictionless CX across the spectrum of digital and traditional channels. Able to integrate with legacy systems and


unify customer data across all touchpoints, the latest CCM platforms enable organisations to implement end-to-end customer journey mapping in a way that has a much lower environmental impact compared to communications that rely on siloed systems.


With journey mapping in place, energy suppliers


have the ability to provide better outcomes and experiences for their customers, including those who are vulnerable. They will be able to pinpoint where customers are on their journey and deliver personalised, consistent and relevant messages via the customers’ preferred channels. With growing numbers of customers adopting


digital technologies and with increasing numbers of communication channels being available for them, the ability to deliver omnichannel communications via customers’ preferred channels is not only essential to providing enhanced CX; it also increases the chances that marketing and other messages will be read and acted upon in a timely manner. Having complete visibility of all your


communications and activity across myriad channels can eliminate often undiscovered communication gaps. By doing so, enterprises can avoid potentially costly missed opportunities, and ensure duplicated communications are eliminated, reducing wasted time and resources to minimise their sustainability footprint. Another important attribute of the latest


CCMs is that they measure the carbon emissions that result from communications. This plays a dual role in that it provides the accurate data companies need for compliance reporting while also highlighting areas where further sustainability improvements can be made. Energy providers that effectively analyse the sustainability impacts of their communication products throughout their life cycle and choose supply partners who can support and help deliver their long-term sustainability goals and aspirations, stand to benefit greatly.


Paragon Customer Communications www.paragon-cc.co.uk


ENERGY MANAGEMENT - Autumn 2021 31


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