Utilities Cite Customer Service Levels, Outdated Customer Care Systems as Most Pressing Issues, New Chartwell Report Says


ATLANTA, March 24, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Driven by a need to upgrade or replace outdated customer care systems but hampered by budget constraints, more utilities are looking to forge long-term relationships with customer information systems vendors, laying the groundwork for more cost-effective system upgrades in the future.

This is among the many conclusions in The Chartwell CIS and Customer Care Systems Report 2004, the latest industry research report from Chartwell. The Chartwell CIS and Customer Care Systems Report 2004 is the flagship publication for Chartwell's Customer Care Research Series and is based on interviews with 126 officials at investor-owned utilities, municipalities and electric cooperatives across North America.

Chartwell found in its latest research that more utilities are moving toward packaged CIS solutions as they seek to improve customer service levels, replace outdated and un-supported systems and integrate the call center and billing operations with other vital areas, such as financials, field operations and outage systems. In choosing their new CIS providers, a growing number of utilities hope to establish an ongoing relationship with these vendors for continuing support and upgrades to future versions of the application at a more reasonable cost than replacing or revamping existing legacy and other customized solutions.

Participants identified their top customer care challenge as the reduction of hold times and increased performance in other areas of the call center. Other key challenges included the need to improve technology and move customers to self service options on the Web and via interactive voice response units.

The Chartwell CIS and Customer Care Systems Report 2004 is a part of the Chartwell Customer Care Research Series. The report includes a 44-page industry analysis with 34 charts and graphs, nine featured case studies on CIS and other customer care technology applications, a vendor listing featuring 22 technology and service providers, and 126 published surveys.

The Chartwell CIS and Customer Care Systems Report 2004 is only available to members of Chartwell's information and research services. Visit www.chartwellinc.com or Chartwell's online industry research library at www.energylibrary.com, where a free table of contents and information about the Series is available. Or call Juli Collins at (404) 237-9099. Press contact: Dennis Smith (404) 237-9099.



            

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