New business models, new service processes and supply chains with new partners require seamless integration of marketing, sales and service. At the same time, it’s necessary to integrate partners into customer-related processes. In addition, all stakeholders want to have access via their preferred electronic communication channels – in other words, accessibility via all contemporary channels, such as phone, e-mail or social media.
The systems used in the energy sector so far have essentially consisted of traditional process and billing systems. Their focus up to now has been on accurate accounting and business management. However, these systems don’t support energy suppliers in meeting their customer’s wide range of expectations.
Many energy suppliers have realised that they need to expand their IT landscape to include an industry-specific customer relationship management (CRM) solution in order to be able to understand customer behaviour. Some companies fear the idea of having to manage large and lengthy projects – partly due to their past experience with custom solutions that were developed for them in the past.
