Time is running short and the customers call for simplicity at the time of doing paperwork.
The management digital channels are, in this respect, essential to meet the new demands.
Nowadays, when designing the company’s service points, the aim is to generate brand identity, functionality in the distribution of physical spaces and efficiency in administrative processes. By contrast, as regards the utilities industry, the same aim is not observed in its digital channels. We have learnt that most of the public service companies do not have digital self-management processes, or if they have, they are not supported by a strategy to give them true identity.
A question arises now; whether it is very expensive to implement a Portal or Virtual Office with real online management features. .We have talked with Gustavo Garcìa, co-founder of ArtdeCode, to answer this question. ArtdeCode is a company specialized in collaborating with the Utilities to improve the service quality through the incorporation of technology. “Designing a good Portal solution for Clients is expensive in terms both of time and money”. Nowadays, any software solution provided to final clients ( in this case users) involves the assembly of interdisciplinary teams so that this solution can have the level of professionalism required to fairly meet the users’ expectations, and obviously this professionalism has to be paid. The good news is that the return of this investment is so high that , I can assure, it is mandatory to implement a Clients Portal for any company of public services .Now, the chosen strategy varies significantly according to the size of the organization”, says Gustavo .
There is a large number, and in constant growth, of the public services users who are already customers of other services, where the attention is almost 100% digital. They are even very accustomed to buying products through virtual channels, either in Argentina or abroad. From buying at the supermarket up to graduating as a professional or consulting a doctor are nowadays actions that are usually done through digital channels. This brings about a huge contrast because in the case of public services customers have to move to the commercial office there and take papers to do most of the red tape. There are even some distribution companies that do not allow the customers to pay their bills in the place.
“People’s expectations are growing, and in this case, the height of the rod is not moved by companies in the Utilities sector but by the other industries that provide service to the same people and show them how easy and fast it is to operate through digital media”. Obviously, there is an ever-smaller group of users that prefer the face-to-face channels or having a person on the other end of the line. That is why these channels will co-exist with the digital media, but the barriers will become increasingly blurred due to the technological advances”, added Gustavo.
Another question arises here; why is it that the service companies have not tackled this change immediately, accompanying the pace and time of the other industries. Some of them are moving forward to achieve this but the way can become long and they can meet with limitations like lack of internal resources trained for this or else assigned to other issues that can not be neglected, budgetary matters, processes that are structured in such a way that it becomes necessary to redesign them so as to make them digital. There can be many answers to this, but “there is a need to find the way of dealing with those “stones on the path”, put them off the way and move forward to the users’ rhythm. This is the aim my partner and I set when we thought InnovaCCS. We saw the need and knew it was there where we could collaborate”. Gustavo told us.
InnovaCCS is a set of solutions whose goal is the improvement of the service quality to the client, the reduction of costs and optimization of processes. It is designed to address the complete relation with the user, from a registration up to enquiries, complaints , various formalities, online and face-to-face payments. But, it does not neglect the internal processes which are essential for each company. This solution provides tools for control, reports, back office, collection management, sending out invoices and notifications to users, and it even allows the reconciliation of all the payments that the company receives through different channels
“There are many distribution cooperatives of energy, water, gas, telephony that are even further from achieving a change like this if they seek to carry it forward with internal developments. We want InnovaCCS to be available to all companies, from the largest to the smallest cooperative, as well as to become the means that will allow them to revolutionize their processes so that they will be able to reach and meet the users’ expectations. In view of this situation, we have developed a marketing scheme tailored to each one, taking into account each company’s reality. It is necessary to break the paradigm that virtual office is unattainable and expensive. With InnovarCCS, it is not only economically feasible but also in time frames. We have implemented full processes in only three months”, Gustavo told us.
“The need for a change has been set out, it only remains to put it in the spotlight. It is not necessary to do it all together drastically. A concrete plan must be made up with achievable objectives and in stages and start slowly from the simplest. Then everything will run smoothly in an agile way”, ended Gustavo.
