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Page 2: What to do with your windfall >> By Jesse Berst
Consider ATMs when they first proliferated in the 1970s and 1980s. After an initial adjustment period, customers quickly claimed to prefer ATMs to human tellers for
simple transactions. And to appreciate anywhere, anytime access. Yet an ATM transaction costs a bank far less than one involving a teller.
A similar opportunity exists today for electric power utilities. Utilities are wasting a lot of money on old-school, agent-based transactions, as I learned recently from a conversation with Greg Guthridge, Managing Director of Accenture Retail and Business Services for Utilities.
Research-based insights
Accenture's 2012 consumer research (pdf) reveals the time may be right to implement mobile and web-based self-service applications. Greg told me utilities typically handle 70% of inquiries via customer service agents and only 30% via self-service. If they would invest in developing and publicizing easy-to-use mobile and web self-service, he says, they could shift that ratio to 30%-70% instead.
While saving a whole bunch of money.
Page 2: What to do with your windfall >>
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