!Skip navigation

QAS for Utilities - The Contact Data Management Challenge

QAS for Utilities - The contact data management challenge

As a utilities company you will have a number of business objectives, all of which can be positively or negatively impacted by how your customer data is managed.

Read on to see how we can help with your utilities data challenge.

Obtain a single customer view of your customer

Utilities companies use multiple touchpoints to collect customer details, such as telephone, a company website, written application forms or through a call centre.

Obtaining a single view of each contact allows a company to understand customers better, and build up a strong relationship.

"Poor customer service is the main reason customers choose to switch companies"

Tim Ferguson, Silicon.com, 2007

Customer profiling

Retaining loyal customers is as important as acquiring new ones. This can be achieved by appropriately targeting and profiling your customer base.

Appending additional information onto the data you already hold on customers, such as Names, Business and Utility data means a complete picture of each customer can be built. This more detailed information allows utilities companies to:

  • use segmentation to drive sales through intelligent targeted marketing
  • understand customers with lifestyle and Geodemographic profiling
  • deliver a positive customer experience
  • predict customer behaviours
  • create future strategies with confidence
  • cross-sell and up-sell

Collect accurate data from the start

Collect and validate customer information as it enters your business. QAS Pro minimises data inaccuracies and save 80% of the keystrokes needed to record an accurate address. QAS Pro Web quickly and accurately validates address information when entered on a website, enhancing the customer experience.

QAS Pro and QAS Pro Web both work alongside additional datasets that supplement address information:

  • Utilities data: Use MPRN/MPAN numbers to identify customer accounts
  • Names data: Supplement addresses with forenames and surnames
  • Business data: Collect full and accurate business addresses, append telephone and fax numbers and SIC codes

Retain customers

"over 5 million people switched their electricity or gas supplier in 2007" (Ofgem)

Suppliers losing customers to rivals is evidence of vigorous competition in the energy market. Apart from price, utility companies can offer a dedicated and efficient customer service to retain customers and uphold a positive company image.

QAS Match removes duplicate customer records meaning:

  • customers aren't communicated to more than once
  • costs are lowered by removing multiple communications to the same person

Differentiate

By swiftly collecting, validating and authenticating new customer details, utilities companies can streamline the whole customer acquisition process, offering a level of service over and above that of competitors.


Top priorities for the utilities sector

Experian QAS can help you tackle two key priorities.

1) Online energy savings
Your customers will be looking for a competitive deal using comparative tools often found online. Driving new and existing customers to your website will be increasingly important for you.

Your customer's online experience must be quick and user friendly. Streamlining the sign up process will ensure customers do not navigate away from your website. Ensure contact details such as addresses are accurate with QAS Pro Web, and email addresses with QAS Email Validate.

2) Smart metering
Smart meters allow customers to submit a monthly meter reading online or via telephone, rather than pay quarterly estimated bills. With mandatory roll-out across all energy firms by 2020, companies must collect and analyse much more data about their customers.

Address details will need to be correct to ensure the successful installation of smart meters, along with additional information like MPRN, MPAN and telephone numbers.


Our global software partners

We work with software providers and systems integrators across the world to deliver accurate collection, maintenance and enhancement of contact data to users of front and back-office applications.

We have relationships with IBM, Accenture and Axon for example as well as accredited associations with SAP, Microsoft and Oracle.

Visit our Systems Integrators page for more information.

Alternatively browse our partners and our Enterprise applications partners.


See what our utilities customers have to say

"Thanks to Experian QAS, we have seen an impressive reduction in the number of properties that our Field Sales representatives are unable to locate, due to missing sub-premise information. This is fantastic as it means there has been a reduction in customer leakage levels."

Eddie Edwards, Data Manager Centrica

Our customer base includes large names such as Centrica, United Utilities, South West Water Plc and Scottish & Southern Energy.

Read our case studies below:

Centrica

Under the Centrica umbrella, British Gas undertook one of the largest CRM migration projects of its time. Experian QAS' point of capture address validation tool, QAS Pro was chosen to help this migration. "Thanks to Experian QAS, we have seen an impressive number of properties that our Field Sales representatives are unable to locate due to missing sub-premise information. This is a fantastic as it means there has been a reduction in customer leakage levels."

Download 82 KB
Wales and West Utilities

Wales & West Utilities is a leading gas distribution business, who operates, maintains and develops this network and also provides a gas emergency service. QAS Pro integrates seamlessly within their SAP CRM solution and enables it to validate new addresses. In addition, QAS Batch was deployed to help it verify addresses for emergency call-outs to domestic consumers.

Download 138 KB

"When evaluating solutions to help us cut back fraud, Experian was the clear favourite. We were impressed by the volume of data that Authenticate uses to prove identity and highlight fraudulent transactions. Since using the product, we have seen a noticeable reduction in time spent on fraud and as such our ordering process is much slicker. It makes me feel sorry for other retailers not using Experian."

Kyle Heywood, Website Manager, Beaverbrooks Jewellers

Download our retail customer case studies:

Virginia Hayward
Ensuring hampers reach the correct destination with QAS Pro On Demand. “We are one of the biggest hamper suppliers in the UK, and to maintain that level of service, QAS Pro On Demand is crucial.”
Download 140K
Grosvenor
Experian provides Grosvenor Casinos with its online Authenticate service, enabling them to validate the identity of customers at the casino door in real-time, with no need for paper-based proofs. "Authenticate has proved invaluable in enabling us to improve our understanding of the customers we have using our casinos."
Download 83K
Direct Wines
"Direct Wines is the largest operator of wine clubs in the world. Address management is critical to the company. QAS Pro is an integral part of the Direct Wines application. From the caller's point of view, there is no longer any need to give the full postal address, which makes the call quicker."
Download 73K




Software, data and services from Experian QAS