Each year Ofwat analyses how 21 companies have performed in delivering services to customers across England and Wales. Its “summary of performance” 2010/2011 report outlines that in many areas companies are performing well, yet there are areas for concern – in particular there has been a high number of supply interruptions to customers.
Ofwat has also published results of companies’ performance on customer service. This is the first year Ofwat has announced results of its new customer service measure – the Service Incentive Mechanism (SIM) which aims to make companies much more customer-centric.
The SIM shows that the overall number of complaints is falling, with a 20 per cent decrease in the number of written complaints in the last two years. Customer satisfaction with the overall manner in which companies handled their contacts and concerns was positive. Ofwat asked 17,000 customers to give their view of how well their company did on a scale of 1 to 5 (where 5 indicates they were ‘very satisfied’) and the average score of all the companies was 4.2.
As these results clearly highlight there is no question that the water industry is moving in the right direction. SIM has helped re-focus the industry’s sights on putting customers first and therefore the foundations from which profitable lifetime customer relationships can be built – but let’s not rest on our laurels.
This momentum must continue in order to ensure that customers get a fair deal and the service must be constantly maintained, not merely when they find themselves under scrutiny from regulators. In essence it should become part of their daily ethos.
Key steps are being made to ensure customer satisfaction
We must ensure that concern for the customer is appropriately managed and that the right systems and processes are in place to ensure there is an up to date, consistent and personalised approach to customer communications from the field (both in-house and via contractors) through to the operational contact centre and billing team, and offers relevant insight into what options are best for the customer.
To create a truly customer-centric environment, there really is no better way to conduct a dialogue with customers than in real-time, with a 360 degree understanding of their history with the company, and in a way that conforms to the business’s brand, tone and voice. Otherwise customers will be left feeling that perhaps these results announced by Ofwat were SIMply a one hit wonder.
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