Contact Center and Self service

Contact Center and Self service 2015 Benchmarking Insights Conference Park City, UT This material has been optimized for the Insights Conference audience. To get the most of this material and hear a recording of this presentation go to our http://1stquartileconsulting.com/benchmarking/customer_service_b/csdocs.html and find the table for CS Insights, then click on the Contact Center link. 1

Agenda Overview Coverage of the Study for Contact Centers and Self Service Process Models for: Manage Customer Service Inquiries Resolve Customer Meter Request 2015 Key Findings/ Points of Emphasis Performance Profiles Cost/ Service 2015 Benchmarking Results Functional-specific findings (Cost, Service, Volume and Practices) Areas of Focus and Opportunity 2

Overview 3

Coverage of the 2015 Customer Service Benchmark Study Customer Contact Contact Center Local Office Self Service Contractors Credit Inbound calls Field Service Change of Account Billing Field Orders (meter investigations) Credit Field Orders Order Management Meter Reading Manual Mobile AMR Fixed Network AMI Back Office Billing Billing Field Policies Payment Processing Revenue Management Credit Office and Outbound calls Credit Field and Inbound Contact Policies Revenue Protection: Office and Field CS Support and CS IT, Training Employees: Safety, Staffing Customer: Customer Satisfaction, First Contact Resolution and Customer Experience, Key Accounts Areas excluded: Energy Audit/Energy Efficiency Group Meter Change- out 4

Manage customer service inquiries Answer Customer Call And Validate Account Diagnosis And Confirm Issue Determine Solution Treatment Path Initiate Solution (Education, Account Maintenance, Order) Educate Customer / Set Expectations Note Account

Resolve customer meter request Answer Customer Call and Validate Account Diagnosis And Confirm Issue Create Appropriate Order Schedule Order Complete Work And Close Order Update System (CIS) Initiate Bill For Service Process

2015 Key Findings / Points Of Emphasis Volume Overall contact volume up Live volume has no change Self Service transaction volume: Web up/ IVR down Cost Cost Increased 7% over last year; Consistent spending trend since 2010 Service Service levels (live contact) have increased 7

Performance Profiles 8

Cost comparison Total 2015 CS Cost Excluding Write-offs Call Center Community Mean = $8.58* Payment Processing, 4% Credit & Collections, 8% Revenue Protection, 4% Call Center, 27% Technology, 2% Contracted Services, 15% Telecommu nications, 5% Other, 2% Billing, 19% Local Office, 4% Meter Reading, 20% Field Service, 14% Contract Labor, 10% Company Labor, 66% BL Page 2 BL5 *Costs are per Accounts * Commodity 9

Contact center Spending & Service Level Mean Cost is up 7%; Mean Service Levels Improved 4.6% to 64.7% Cost Combined Contact Center & Local Office Cost per Account * Commodity 2014YE 2013YE Mean Q1 Q2 Q3 Bars Mean Q1 Q2 Q3 Bars $9.36 $8.04 $8.87 $10.64 17 $8.65 $7.98 $9.00 $9.93 16 Contact Center Cost Per Account * Commodity $8.58 $7.16 $8.58 $9.57 17 $8.02 $7.26 $8.17 $9.22 16 Local Office Cost per Account * Commodity $1.21 $0.50 $1.02 $1.24 11 $1.26 $0.55 $1.18 $1.45 8 Service Level Average Speed Of Answer For Calls Answered By CSR (Contact Center) 100.9 46.0 90.0 111.5 16 124.0 48.2 76.5 149.8 16 Service level including abandoned calls using a 30 second target but without IVR calls: Overall Service level including abandoned calls using a 30 second target but WITH IVR calls: Overall Live calls abandoned as a percent of live incoming calls offered 64.7% 75.9% 66.9% 61.4% 14 60.1% 72.2% 67.0% 47.1% 13 75.7% 87.8% 81.8% 72.9% 10 6.6% 4.4% 5.5% 9.5% 14 8.7% 4.1% 5.9% 9.4% 14 10

Contact Center Self Service/ Contact Composition Web Penetration Increased 2.9% to 28.2% (transactions) IVR Penetration declined 8.2 to 18.7%% Internal Self Service Measures 2014YE 2013YE Mean Q1 Q2 Q3 Bars Mean Q1 Q2 Q3 Bars Penetration of self-service (IVR): All 26.3% 31.4% 25.1% 18.7% 17 31.9% 35.9% 34.7% 24.9% 13 Penetration of self-service (web): All 37.1% 48.5% 37.0% 33.6% 16 26.8% 32.5% 27.8% 19.9% 12 Penetration of self-service (IVR): Without General/ Get Acct Info Penetration of self-service (web): Without General/ Get Acct Info Internal Measures (Contact Composition) 18.7% 21.0% 12.9% 12.4% 17 26.9% 31.3% 23.0% 18.5% 13 28.2% 37.2% 27.8% 20.0% 16 25.3% 31.7% 28.7% 20.0% 12 Live calls per customer 1.445 1.201 1.493 1.590 18 - Inbound Live Calls: Make Payment 10.1% 1.8% 9.1% 14.1% 10 4.0% 0.0% 0.3% 6.5% 14 Inbound Live Calls: Credit 24.0% 15.2% 23.3% 32.7% 12 22.7% 16.1% 25.8% 31.3% 14 Inbound Live Calls: Billing 22.7% 11.4% 26.2% 36.0% 15 21.4% 10.5% 20.8% 33.1% 14 Inbound Live Calls: Change of Account or New Customer 16.7% 12.7% 13.9% 22.2% 15 13.8% 8.5% 11.6% 13.9% 14 11

COMBINED CONTACT CENTER & LOCAL OFFICE COST PER ACCOUNT * COMMODITY 8% Change in mean yearon-year (when including Local Office) $12.00 $10.00 Combined Contact Center & Local Office Cost per Account * Commodity $8.00 $6.00 Q3 $4.00 Q2 Q1 $2.00 Mean $0.00 2010YE 2011YE 2012YE 2013YE 2014YE Mean $9.36 Quartile 1 $8.04 Quartile 2: $8.87 Quartile 3: $10.64 Mean costs are at 2010YE levels CT Page 3 FL5 12

COMBINED CONTACT CENTER & LOCAL OFFICE COST BY LOCATION PER ACCOUNT * COMMODITY 11 companies operate Local Offices. Companies range across all quartiles Companies with local offices costs place across all quartiles CT Page 5 FL5 Mean $9.36 Quartile 1 $8.04 Quartile 2: $8.87 Quartile 3: $10.64 13

CONTACT CENTER COST PER ACCOUNT * COMMODITY Mean cost is up $0.56 or 7% over last year ($8.02) $12.00 $10.00 Contact Center Cost Per Account * Commodity $8.00 Mean $8.58 Quartile 1 $7.16 Quartile 2: $8.58 Quartile 3: $9.57 $6.00 $4.00 Q3 Q2 Q1 Mean $2.00 $0.00 2010YE 2011YE 2012YE 2013YE 2014YE Spending is consistent CT Page 9 FL5 14

LOCAL OFFICE COSTS PER ACCOUNT * COMMODITY Local Office costs have declined 4% year-on-year $2.50 $2.00 Local Office Cost per Account * Commodity $1.50 Mean $1.21 Quartile 1 $0.50 Quartile 2: $1.02 Quartile 3: $1.24 $1.00 $0.50 Q3 Q2 Q1 Mean $0.00 2011YE 2012YE 2013YE 2014YE Mean continue to trend downward CT Page 14 FL5 15

LOCATIONS FOR HANDLING CUSTOMER CONTACTS (EXCLUDES KIOSKS & PAY AGENCIES) ¾ of companies are operating multi-site contact environments 16

TOTAL HOURS OF FULL SERVICE REGULAR INBOUND OPERATION FOR YOUR CONTACT CENTERS IN A 7-DAY WEEK Mean hours of full-time operation are down to 60 hours per week 180 160 140 Total hours of full service regular inbound operation for your contact centers in a 7-day week 120 100 80 60 Q3 Q2 Q1 Mean 40 20-2010YE 2011YE 2012YE 2013YE 2014YE Mean 60 Trend has declined steadily since 2011 Are companies realizing benefits? CT Page 42 CT95.1 17

CONTACT CENTER FTES Contact Center FTEs per 100,000 Accounts * Commodity A mean of 11.8 FTEs 16.00 14.00 12.00 10.00 8.00 6.00 Q3 Q2 Q1 Mean 4.00 2.00-2010YE 2011YE 2012YE 2013YE 2014YE SF Page 5 SF 15 Mean 11.8 Quartile 1 10.4 Quartile 2: 13.1 Quartile 3: 13.5 Mean staffing levels have increased 7% over the past two years, correlating to the cost (and Service Level increase) 18

TURNOVER RATE What is the impact on training approaches for new hires? 40 35 Turnover rate 30 25 20 15 10 Q3 Q2 Q1 Mean 5-2011YE 2012YE 2013YE 2014YE Mean 29 % Quartile 1 14 % Quartile 2: 25 % Quartile 3: 35 % Turnover rates have been increasing over the past 3 years. Up 12%. CR Page 51 CT110.1 19

AVERAGE NUMBER OF TRAINING DAYS PER YEAR PER CALL CENTER REP Companies with highest turnover also have higher training days ---ranging from 40 to 60 days Total Respondents 15 Classroom days for new rep 30.14 On the phone days for new rep 12.23 Classroom days refresher training for seasoned rep 5.58 Other 7.5 Legends 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 30 31 32 34 36 37 38 Classroom days for new rep 20 20 60 60 20 30 30 30 15 35 20 15 37 30 On the phone days for new rep 5 14 8 20 5 10 10 15 20 14 9 14 15 Classroom days refresher training 4 5 7 35 0 5 2 4 0 2 1 3 for seasoned rep Other 15 0 CT Page 87 CT213 20

INBOUND OUTSOURCED CALLS (PERCENT OF TOTAL INBOUND CALLS) Are we leveraging outsourcing enough? New customer (21, 33) Credit (33, 22, 26, 21, 37) Outage (36, 26, 32, 23) Other (36, 33, 26, 24, 22, 32) CT Page 26 CT305 Mean 14.1 % Quartile 1 16.7 % Quartile 2: 9.0 % Quartile 3: 0.2 % 21

CONTACT CENTER STAFFING Composition Companies report high levels of flexibility Mean Full Time 79% 88% of companies use some combination of part-time, extended shift or temporary labor 38% (6) use greater than 20% part-time labor (2x the level last year) Only 2 companies are staffed completely with fulltime agents CT Page 35 CT305 22

CALCULATED OCCUPANCY RATE FOR REGULAR CONTACT CENTER REPS Mean Occupancy* improved from 81% to 86% year-on-year. Recommended range is 85-91% 95% 90% Calculated occupancy rate for regular contact center reps 85% Q3 Q2 80% Q1 Mea n Mean 86 % Quartile 1 90 % Quartile 2: 87 % Quartile 3: 82 % 75% 70% Mean $6.12 Quartile 1 $5.09 Quartile 2: $5.73 Quartile 3: $6.46 2010YE 2011YE 2012YE 2013YE 2014YE Occupancy rates are up for the first time in 3 years CT Page 29 CT55.1 * The percentage of scheduled work time that employees are actually handling calls or in after call work mode. Does not include time waiting for calls. Don't include any off-phone time within calculations. The % is often called the occupancy rate 23

SHRINKAGE: AT WORK DOING SOMETHING ELSE and Total 1 hour per day is at work but doing something else (not on the phone) Mean 12 % Quartile 1 7 % Quartile 2: 12 % Quartile 3: 20 % Mean $6.12 Quartile 1 $5.09 Quartile 2: $5.73 Quartile 3: $6.46 CT Page 45 CT 105.1 $1.02 of the $8.58 Contact Center Cost Per Acct * Commodity is lost to shrinkage 24

SERVICE LEVEL INCLUDING ABANDONED CALLS USING A 30 SECOND TARGET BUT WITHOUT IVR CALLS: OVERALL Mean S/L has gone up from 60.1% to 64.7% in the past year 90% 80% 70% Service level including abandoned calls using a 30 second target but without IVR calls: Overall 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% Q3 Q2 Q1 Mean 10% 0% 2011YE 2012YE 2013YE 2014YE CT Page 18 CT45.2 Mean 64.74 % Quartile 1 75.90 % Quartile 2: 66.90 % Quartile 3: 61.43 % The trend is only a slight increase since 2011YE, with Q3 reversing the downward trend 25

AVERAGE SPEED OF ANSWER FOR CALLS ANSWERED BY CSR (CONTACT CENTER) ASA (mean) has improved 18% from 124 seconds 160 140 Average Speed Of Answer For Calls Answered By CSR (Contact Center) 120 100 Mean 100.9 Quartile 1 46.0 Quartile 2: 90.0 Quartile 3: 111.5 80 60 40 20 Q3 Q2 Q1 Mean 0 2010YE 2011YE 2012YE 2013YE 2014YE Greater than a 1 minute gap in answer time between Q1 and Q3 CT Page 5 CT5.2 26

A Reference Point: Benchmarking Service Level versus Cost Quartile Service Level** 4 3 2 1 Quartile Cost* Lower Service, Lower Cost 1 Higher Service, Lower Cost 2 3 Lower Service, Higher Cost 4 Higher Service, Higher Cost Service Level is the single best measure of Contact Center Performance! Along with First Contact Resolution it is one of the best predictors of Customer Satisfaction as well There are many demographic influencers: customer demographics, wage rates, level or technology, regulatory drivers, but there are also process, customer, and business influencers that can be controlledquality, process integrity, staffing alignment with call flow, link to self-service strategy to name a few! *Note: Cost proxy was Contact Center Cost per Adjusted Customer (from FL5) **Note: Service Level proxy was Service level including abandoned calls using a 30 second target but without IVR calls: overall (CT45.2) 27

Cost Versus Service Level Comparison Quartile Quartile *Note: Estimated Service Levels for Co. 29 and 30 based on ASA data provided Companies 23, 26 and 35 did not provide Service Levels or Cost or both and are not included here A snapshot when comparing the quartiles of the two given data points provided Benchmarking in this manner is directional, but it may also be reflective of your companies stated or unstated strategy This comparison is only for illustrative purposes, but lets look at bit deeper at where some of the correlations to practices are.. 28

A Further Look at Service and the volumes we are handling ü Cost is up ü Service Levels are up What levels of volume are we handling and through what channels? What contact volume are we handling? What channels are being used? How often do our customers contact us? Why do our customers contact us? 29

TOTAL INBOUND CONTACTS BY CHANNEL PER ACCOUNT * COMMODITY There is very little change in the use of channel 8.00 7.00 Total Inbound Contacts per Account * Commodity 6.00 5.00 4.00 Q3 3.00 2.00 1.00 Q2 Q1 Mean - 2010YE 2011YE 2012YE 2013YE 2014YE Mean 5.15 Quartile 1 2.95 Quartile 2: 5.64 Quartile 3: 6.88 The trend is flat, with a slight increase over last year CT Page 22 CT305 30

Addressing Transactions versus look-up (or Informational) Activities: What counts as a transaction In the past 3 years, 1QC have sought to better capture and address completed transactions versus what we are calling look-up activities: Transaction = customer executes an actual transaction with the utility- an inquiry, an order, a request for service, payment, account set-up, credit action etc. Look-up = customer accesses a self-service channel, typically IVR, Web, or Mobile, to view general information (General Info) about the company or view Customer Service information about their account (Get Acct Info) but does not transact or conduct a transaction, e.g. it is informational Activities that represented a look-up, should have been placed in General Company Information category or Get Info. These should go in either the Web, IVR, or Mobile category What should not have counted as a transaction (by transaction category): Simple Web hits where the customer may hit the web site (and you capture it) but there is no transaction or you (the company) don t know the reason for the activity Accessing the IVR but then opting out to a CSR or Agent before completing a transaction (the Agent live contact is a transaction, the initial IVR entry and opt-out is not); Customer hang-ups in the IVR (no transaction) 31

TRANSACTIONS PER ACCOUNT * COMMODITY (NOT INCLUDING GET ACCT AND GEN'L INFO FOR WEB, IVR, MOBILE) Slightly over one contact has been removed 6.00 5.00 Inbound Transactions by Transaction Type per Account * Commodity (Not Including Get Acct and Gen'l Info for Web, IVR, Mobile) 4.00 3.00 Q3 Mean 4.2 Quartile 1 2.9 Quartile 2: 4.1 Quartile 3: 5.4 2.00 1.00 Q2 Q1 Mean - 2011YE 2012YE 2013YE 2014YE There is a 2 transaction gap between Q1 and Q3 CT Page 30 CT305 32

PERCENT OF INBOUND TRANSACTIONS BY CHANNEL (NOT INCLUDING IVR AND WEB GET INFO AND COMPANY INFORMATION) Live Calls represent an average of 40% of contacts Fax, Letter, Email, 3% In Person, 4% IVR, 20% Web, 29% Live Outsource, 11% Live Company, 29% Mobile, 4% CT Page 33 CT305 33

INBOUND LIVE CALLS PER ACCOUNT * COMMODITY Live calls volume is unchanged 2.50 Inbound Live Calls Per Accounts * Commodity 2.00 1.50 Mean 1.45 Quartile 1 1.20 Quartile 2: 1.49 Quartile 3: 1.59 1.00 0.50 - Mean $6.12 Quartile 1 $5.09 Quartile 2: $5.73 Quartile 3: $6.46 2010YE 2011YE 2012YE 2013YE 2014YE Q3 Q2 Q1 Mean CT Page 35 CT305 The 5-year trend has stayed flat Do we understand these contacts? 34

Understanding our Live Contacts a Benchmarker s look at our progress Do you understand why (the key reasons) your customers are contacting you? Do you understand the volumes of these types of contacts? Do you understand your ability to effectively handle these contacts the first time done once, done right through the entire process (not only what happens in your Contact Center), and identify where the failure points are? Can you measure your effectiveness in delivering contact resolution, as well as where you have training processes/needs etc. Do you have an actionable process to communicate performance and results for the above in a manner that enables and measures improvement steps and outcomes? 35

INBOUND LIVE CALLS BY TYPE 3 contact types make up 41% of our contact volume even with high % of Other % Live Contacts Sign up for services, 1% Other, 23% Credit, 16% Provide Email, 1% Low Income, 2% Make payment, 6% Gen l Company Info, 3% Get Acct Info, 6% Outage, 8% New Cust/ COA, 13% Billing issue, 12% Blended, 8% CT Page 37 CT305 36

SELF-SERVICE (IVR) per Account * Commodity- EXCLUDING GENERAL COMPANY & ACCOUNT INFO Payments and Outage Reporting are the main IVR transaction type Mean 0.87 Quartile 1 1.17 Quartile 2: 0.75 Quartile 3:.0.66 IVR volumes, net of general and get info are trending flat 37

SELF-SERVICE (WEB) per Account * Commodity- EXCLUDING GENERAL COMPANY & ACCOUNT INFO Web transaction types are nearly all Payment Mean 1.7 Quartile 1 2.5 Quartile 2: 0.75 Quartile 3: 0.66 Web Payment volume has grown (as measured in the Contact Center) What other transactions can be automated? 38

What do you Measure and understand about your IVR? With what frequency are we tracking performance? What changes happen as a result? Rate of change? Legends Total 21 Respondents 22 24 25 26 27 28 31 33 34 35 36 37 38 Only that the customer entered the Only that the customer entered the IVR 28.57% IVR Which transaction channel the Which transaction channel the customer enters 64.29% customer enters Where in the IVR the customer Where in the IVR the customer spends time navigates to etc 50.00% spends time navigates to etc Usability metrics time in a branch Usability metrics time in a branch activities 42.86% activities When the customer may opt out When the customer may opt out and whether they actually completed a 35.71% and whether they actually transaction or not completed a transaction or not Can track and measure the entire Can track and measure the entire lifecycle of the customers experience in 57.14% lifecycle of the customers the IVR from entry to exit experience in the IVR from entry to exit We know what transaction the We know what transaction the customer was trying to complete when they 64.29% customer was trying to opt out to a CSR or hang up complete when they opt out to a CSR or hang up Other Other 28.57% SS Page 5 SS5 39

COUNTING TRANSACTIONS FOR PURPOSES OF MEASURING SELF-SERVICE What counts? Out of industry perspective says only contacts that are entirely completed should count Legends 21 22 24 25 26 27 28 31 33 34 35 36 37 38 All contacts that go into the IVR Contacts that are entirely completed Customer opts out to any agent while in IVR Customer hangs up while in the IVR Customer completes an IVR transaction then selects to transfer to an agent Customer goes through and listens to all prompts information but does not authenticate and hangs up Customer goes through and listens to all prompts information and authenticates then hangs up before completing a transaction SS Page 7 SS9 40

INBOUND TRANSACTIONs (ALL Channels) BY TYPE Accurately measuring and understanding inbound transaction volume is essential to your success 44% of the companies reported greater than 20% of their transactions in Other and/or Blended CT Page 32 CT305 41

Time in the IVR and time customer is waiting This is your customer experience for live calls On average it takes 3 minutes before a customer speaks with a CSR Is the time in the IVR acceptable given the benefit customer get? CT Page 4 CT5 Mean 441.56 Quartile 1 367.83 Quartile 2: 439.00 Quartile 3: 507.83 TOTAL 'CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE' TIME FOR LIVE CALLS: OVERALL [10] 42

TOTAL HANDLING TIME FOR LIVE CALLS: OVERALL Now that customer has gotten to you can you afford to have them on the phone this long. In that time, are we: Consistent? Delivering to the process? CT Page 6 CT5.3 and CT10.2 Mean 337.05 Quartile 1 295.75 Quartile 2: 324.00 Quartile 3: 426.00 43

areas of Focus and Opportunity 44

areas of Focus and Opportunity Volume Do you understand the volume of inbound contacts and transactions (by type, segment, and channel) Do you understand what contacts are driving rework? Driving multiple live calls? Cost Are the costs you are incurring helping attain an improvement in your process to deliver service or simply chasing the service you want? Service Are your self-service efforts resulting in reduction in contacts, repeat contacts? Are you handling live contacts with consistent quality aimed at resolution and repeat volume reduction Are you handling contacts in the appropriate channel? 45

Thank you for your Input and Participation! Your Presenters Ken Buckstaff Ken.Buckstaff@1QConsulting.com 310-922-0783 Gene Dimitrov Gene.Dimitrov@1QConsulting.com 301-535-0590 Rob Earle Rob.Earle@1QConsulting.com 315-944-7610 Debi Cook Debi.Cook@1QConsulting.com 760-272-7277 About 1QC First Quartile Consulting is a utility-focused consultancy providing a full range of consulting services including continuous process improvement, change management, benchmarking and more. You can count on a proven process that assesses and optimizes your resources, processes, leadership management and technology to align your business needs with your customer s needs. Visit us at www.1stquartileconsulting.com Follow our updates on LinkedIn Corporate Office 400 Continental Blvd. Suite 600 El Segundo, CA 90245 (310) 426-2790 Satellite Offices Maryland Montana New York Texas Wisconsin 46