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Improving Customer Service at BTU Through Benchmarking APPA National Conference Anaheim, California - June 20, 2005. Topics. Business Process Customer Service Goals Measuring Goals Using Benchmarking Sample Benchmarking for BTU What Did They Tell Us Changes We Have Made Going Forward.

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  1. Improving Customer Service at BTU Through BenchmarkingAPPA National Conference Anaheim, California - June 20, 2005

  2. Topics • Business Process • Customer Service Goals • Measuring Goals • Using Benchmarking • Sample Benchmarking for BTU • What Did They Tell Us • Changes We Have Made • Going Forward

  3. Set Goals Measure Progress Compare to Goals Business Process

  4. Customer Service Goals • Customer Satisfaction • Timeliness on answering calls • Cost Control • Process • Reduce Inaccurate Bills • Meter Reading Accuracy • Reduce Write-Offs

  5. Measurement of Customer Service Goals • Some are Straight Forward – Cost • Some are Rather Subjective – Satisfaction • Comparisons With Others is Time Consuming

  6. Benchmarking Does All The Measurement • Compares Costs with Other Utilities • Shows Policies Which Affect Costs • Gives Statistical Data – Ex. Time of Calls • Best Practices

  7. Key Benchmarks • Overall Scorecard • Meter Readings • Billing • Credit & Collections • Field Service • Call Center • Payment Services • Internet • CIS

  8. Overall Scorecard • COST Median 1st Q N= Median 1st Q • * Customer Service Exp Per Adj Customer $42.65 $30.12 23 $46.03 $36.67 • * Customer Service Exp (Ex Sppt Proc) Per Adj Customer $36.66 $27.22 23 $40.80 $32.73 • * Customer Service Exp (Excluding Uncollectibles) Per Adj Customer $36.24 $28.45 23 $46.03 $32.91 • * Customer Service Exp (Ex Uncoll & Sppt Proc) Per Adj Customer $31.78 $24.08 23 $33.09 $27.12 • Total Call Ctr Exp Per Adj Customer $7.55 $3.80 24 $8.30 $6.20 • Total Meter Reading Exp Per Adj Customers $6.90 $5.70 22 $7.48 $5.06 • Total Field Service Exp Per Adj Customers $5.24 $2.39 16 $4.75 $2.76 • Total Billing Exp Per Adj Customers $7.42 $6.04 21 $5.66 $4.66 • Payment Processing Exp Per Adj Customers $2.58 $1.18 21 $0.94 $0.66 • Total Credit Exp (Including Uncollectibles) Per Adj Customer $8.29 $4.93 19 $9.88 $6.87 • Uncollectible Exp Per Adj Customer $3.85 $2.33 22 $7.19 $3.95 • CS Support Exp Per Adj Customers $2.35 $1.59 9 $1.11 $0.36 • SERVICE LEVELS • % of Calls Answered by CSRs Within 30 Seconds 80.0% 85.0% 18 74.0% 79.4% • % of Calls Abandoned Including Major Events 5.50% 4.08% 21 3.85% 3.00% • Overall Meter Reading Inaccuracy 0.150% 0.085% 19 0.078% 0.025% • Missed Manual Meter Reads 0.680% 0.200% 16 1.110% 0.296% • AMR Missed Meter Reads 0.460% 0.148% 9 0.590% 0.140% • Bill Inaccuracy-% Bills Adj. After Mailing To Customer 0.66% 0.06% 19 0.37% 0.20% • SAFETY • * Lost Time Incident Rate - All CS 0.00 0.00 14 1.00 0.43 • * OSHA Recordable Incident Rate - All CS 1.00 0.00 16 3.33 2.52 • * Vehicular Accident Rate per 1,000,000 Miles - All CS 0.00 0.00 13 4.63 1.45 • * These measures are included in your total score and in your process score APPA CS IOUCS

  9. Staffing Levels and Outsourcing • Company Only FTEs per 100,000 Adjusted Customers Report Page #64 (1000309) Calc: E.1/((SUM{A.2}+SUM{A.3}+SUM{A.4}+(SUM{A.5}+SUM{A.6}+SUM{A.7})*2+SUM{A.8}*3)/100000)

  10. Meter Activity Scorecard • COSTMedian 1st Q N= Median 1st Q • * Total Meter Reading Exp Per Adj Customers $6.90 $5.70 22 $7.48 $5.06 • * Total Meter Reading Exp Per Total Meter Reads $0.56 $0.47 22 $0.67 $0.44 • (Manual, R/SC AMR-Billing Read, & Interval) • SERVICE LEVELS • * Estimated R/SC Reads As a % of R/SC Reads 0.027% 0.000% 23 1.018% 0.075% • * Overall Meter Reading Inaccuracy 0.150% 0.085% 19 0.078% 0.025% • * Manual Meter Reading Inaccuracy 0.167% 0.078% 18 0.080% 0.023% • * Missed Manual Meter Reads 0.680% 0.200% 16 1.110% 0.296% • AMR Reading Inaccuracy 0.100% 0.067% 8 0.010% 0.003% • * AMR Missed Meter Reads 0.460% 0.148% 9 0.590% 0.140% • * R/SC AMR Meters % of Total Meters 1.001% 12.174% 25 0.861% 42.366% • SAFETY • * Lost Time Incident Rate Meter Reading 0.00 0.00 13 1.37 1.00 • * OSHA Recordable Incident Rate Meter Reading 0.50 0.00 14 9.04 7.15 • * Vehicular Accident Rate per 1,000,000 Miles-Meter Reading 0.00 0.00 13 8.71 0.44 • * These measures are included in your total score and in your process score • R/SC = Residential/Small Commercial; C/I = Commercial/Industrial APPA CS IOUCS

  11. Total Meter Reading Expense (Including Pensions & Benefits) • Per Adjusted Customers Mean Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 $8.54 $6.35 $7.00 $10.58 Page #172.1 (1000081) Source: B.3/(A.2+A.3+A.4+(A.5+A.6+A.7)*2+A.8*3)I.9.2

  12. Total Meter Reading Expense • Per Meter Read Mean Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 $0.61 $0.47 $0.56 $0.70 Page #170 (145) Source: (B.3)/(M.3+M.20+M.21+M.22+M.16)

  13. Meter Density — Electric • Meters per Square Mile of Service Territory Mean Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 831.19 1,041.03 576.39 352.22 Page #180 (174) Source: (M.2.1+M.17)/(A.15.1)

  14. Total Billing Expense • Per Bill Issued Mean Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 $1.03 $0.73 $0.98 $1.16 Page #256 (198) Source: B.7/O.1

  15. Uncollectibles per Revenue • The difference in performance between companies is substantial, and not entirely explained by gas vs electric, or other characteristics of the companies. Water Electric Mean Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 30.31% 0.08% 0.17% 0.41% Mean Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 30.35% 0.18% 0.30% 0.45% Page #323 (80551) Source: B.17.1/A.12 Page #325 (50230) Source: B.17.3/A.14

  16. There is a trade-off between the cost of collection and the value of reduced write-offs and interest on DSO • The cost of collection plus the cost of write-off and interest on DSO equals “total credit cost" • The "total credit cost" is "U" shaped -- meaning there is a minimum cost point Annual Cost D= A + B+ C = Total Credit Cost Current Level of Activity Minimum Cost $40M C = Cost of Collection $20M B = Interest on DSO $11M $10M A = Cost of Write-offs 1.0M 2M 3M 4M 1.8M Collection Activity (e.g. 24 hour notices/yr) Note: Not to Scale Cost Optimization Framework - Credit & Collections

  17. Field Service Orders per Customer Mean Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 0.76 0.35 0.53 0.84 Page #233 (8043) Source: N.1/(A.2+A.3+A.4+A.5+A.6+A.7+A.8)

  18. Percent of Calls Answered by Call Center Representatives Within 30 Seconds Mean Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 71.6% 85.0% 80.0% 58.0% Page #120 (7446) Source: I.3.1+I.3.2

  19. Website Transactions Completed On Your Site Payment and View Bill make up the greatest percentages of completed web transactions Page #52 (91831) Source: D.1

  20. Workforce Management Software Provides Real-Time Reporting of Information Page #166 (2856) Source: L.8

  21. Customer Payment Methods More than 30% of payments are collected outside of the mail system • Methods of Receiving Payments Page #286 (315) Source: P.2

  22. Best Practices CIS Contracting Integrated Systems CIS - Features Adding Modules Deregulation-Features Field Service COA-Meters Left on-Electric Incentives-FSR COA-Meters Left on-Gas Mobile Computers Days wait to match COA Appointments Meter Reading Outsourcing % Van Drive By AMR Programs Limit Estimating-Res'l Monthly Reading - Res'l Employee Incentives % Remote Reads % Check Reads Billing Minimize Estimating In-house Print & Mail One System Electronic Bill Presentation Read to Bill Cycle Monthly Cycle Many Billing Options Payment Processing In-house Payment Proc Electronic Payment Methods Imaging Technology Local Offices Close offices On line processing Adding pay agents/stations Few pay agents/stations Credit and Collections Deposits - Write-off Disconnect Rate Offer payment agreements No Field Collections Deposits - Initiation Outbound calling Timely disconnection Late Payment Fees Credit Scoring Follow disconnect policy • Telephone Center • Days from hire to first call • 24 hr/7 Day a Week • Training - Ongoing • Variable staffing • Training - New Employees • Monitoring • Internet Services • WFMS • Calls per CSR • Empowerment • Incentives - Support • Call Monitoring • Central/Virtually Connected • ACD-Features • CTI features • Incentives - CSR • IVR/VRU - Segmentation • Reading Data From the ACD • Overflow Contracting • IVR/VRU Customer Options • Business call center • IVR/VRU - Completed Calls • Limit Overtime • Generalized Reps • Call Monitoring Software

  23. What Did They Tell BTU ? • Our Overall Costs are Low • We Do Not Use Technology as Much as Others • Answering of Calls Needs Improvement Ring, RING, RING

  24. What Changes Have We Made ? • Replacing our Phone System • IVR Completed Calls • Change Call Center Process • Replace CIS System • Created Formalized Call Center Training • Outsource Some Field Work During Peak Periods • Use More Days for Read and Leave • Considering Eliminating Field Collections • Look at AMR for Hard to Read • Track Payment Process Better

  25. How Do We Plan To Go Forward ?

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