Tom Curran, Head of Business Customer Service for Electric Ireland, gives an insight into how the customer care team provides support for your business.
1. How does your role contribute to helping our customers?
Knowing that our customers are happy with the service we provide is extremely satisfying. Whether resolving a complex or a standard question, the query remains open until the customer is pleased with the outcome.
Helping customers navigate their changing business circumstances during the pandemic has been challenging but the business team pulled together to give our customers the support they required.
2. The pandemic must have been a challenging time for some customers and the Business Customer Service Team. Does anything stand out for you over the last year where you were able to help a customer?
One example of where we were able to help our business customers was following the announcement of the Covid-19 temporary Supply Suspension Scheme by the CRU in May 2020. This was a challenging time for the team as many customers contacted us to take advantage of it and to reduce costs to their businesses. Delivering good news to our customers during that initial lockdown was extremely rewarding.
3. What has been the main area that you and your team have helped customers with over the last year?
During Covid-19, ESB Networks were unable to record customer meter readings because of Government guidelines. This led to a lot of calls from customers with bill queries due to estimated readings. The team requested customers to provide accurate meter readings on all calls to avoid inaccurate bills issuing. The team worked to support our business customers and help them to fully understand their bills.
4. Have you seen an increase in engagement with customers since the outset of the pandemic? If so, how have you dealt with this?
We introduced an SME Customer Satisfaction text message survey option that issues to customers following calls. This has been extremely useful during Covid-19 as it allowed us to identify customer issues quickly and provide call backs where required. This gives our customers the opportunity to provide instant feedback on their Electric Ireland experience and often praise the agent they had the call with. It has been really encouraging to pass this positive feedback to agents that were highlighted by customers.
5. How long is a typical customer engagement?
The business team reply to all customer emails within four hours. This was previously 24 hours. This is a great achievement for the team leading to a positive customer experience. Calls are answered promptly, and we have a call back process when service levels are high.
6. Describe the make up of the business team
The business team has a high level of tenure and experience. Over 80% are with us for over two years while many have over 10 years’ experience.
There are 26 agents on the business team interacting with customers. This is a blended team which means that most agents are trained in all streams of customer communication, in-bound/out-bound calls, email and webchat. The team is supported by two Team Leaders, a Quality Business Analyst, and an Operations Manager.
I have to say that everything we have achieved over the last 14 months would not have been possible without everyone on the team working hard and embracing the new processes we have implemented.
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