Oracle announced its new Oracle Utilities Agent Service, a new cloud application specifically designed for utility customer service teams to solve issues faster and provide better customer support. In the Agent Service dashboard, billing, usage, and interaction history are combined into a single view to provide agents with a holistic view of their customers. This new application, coupled with AI-driven tools that let agents determine their ‘next best actions,’ helps agents resolve customer issues more effectively and suggest relevant new services to customers. An agent can inform a customer of a higher trending bill when helping to resolve a billing issue, identify ways to reduce the bill, and enroll the customer in a new rate plan based on their usage patterns or provide a rebate.
Rob Tarkoff, executive vice president and general manager, of Oracle Advertising and CX, said, “You can’t effectively use a standard CRM system to do a utility job. CX for Utilities, with the addition of Agent Service, unites Oracle’s 40-plus years in operational utility technology know-how with leading CX capabilities to engage utility customers in new ways that compel them to act. Whether a utility is trying to lower their service costs, increase uptake of new offers, or meet aggressive decarbonization goals, only Oracle brings all the applications and data together in an AI-backed framework to bring customers along on this digital journey.”
Customers can view their interactions with the utility across all available service channels, such as phone, web, email, chat, and SMS, with this new cloud-based application. This allows agents to assist customers wherever they left off in the process, for example, when they got stuck setting up an online account and had to continue over the phone. In addition to reducing the amount of time spent on employee training, the agent desktop application increases the productivity and satisfaction of employees.
Oracle Customer Experience (CX) for Utilities, an integrated suite of CX and utility-specific cloud applications, enables water, gas, and energy providers to boost performance while delivering an enhanced customer experience.
Among the capabilities of Oracle CX for Utilities are billing, rating, payment processing, collections, advanced metering, and energy efficiency. As the suite integrates customer data across operational, sales, marketing, and customer service solutions, teams are able to use customer profiles to improve customer interactions and tailor communications across the entire customer journey.
